• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

CooksInfo

  • Home
  • Encyclopaedia
  • Kitchenware
  • Recipes
  • Food Calendar
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
  • Encyclopaedia
  • Kitchenware
  • Food Calendar
×
Home » Spices » Kokum

Kokum

Kokum is the dried skin of a fruit related to mangosteens.

It is both tart and astringent in taste. In the southern states of India, it is used to sour food, as vinegar or lemon juice would be elsewhere.

It gives dishes a pinky purple colour.

When the skins are used in a dish, they are usually left whole. Watch for hard seeds still attached to them when you bite down.

The fruit comes from a tree also called Kokum. It is a tropical evergreen tree that grows up to 50 feet (15 metres) tall. The fruit is small, bright red, just about 1 ½ inches (4 cm) wide, with 5 to 8 seeds in it.. The fruit is allowed to ripen fully, to dark purple then to black, before picking. Harvesting starts in late April, and continues for about 6 weeks until early June.

The fruit is often halved before drying. When dried, it will be black and curly, and its edges will have curled up. If halved, you’ll see the seeds inside. It is also available as just dried skins. When being harvested just for the skins, the skin is removed, the fruit is juiced, the skins are soaked in the juice, and then sun-dried.

The darker the colour, the fresher it is.

Kokum is used a lot with fish curries. Three to four skins are usually called for per dish. Kokum can be salty, so don’t add further salt until after you’ve added these and tasted.

The sour juice is also used for soft drinks in summer in Maharashtra, with lots of sugar, sometimes flavoured with cumin seed. It is also used in pickled items and chutneys.

Kokum Butter

Kokum Butter is pressed from the seeds. It makes a semi-solid vegetable fat that is processed until it is white and has almost no smell. It is very stable at room temperature. It is not edible, but is used for cosmetics. It can also be processed so that it can be used as a substitute for cocoa butter.

Cooking Tips

Simmer fruit or peel for 8 to 10 minutes, let cool, then strain out the fruit and discard. Use the liquid.

Substitutes

Lime juice, tamarind paste (1 teaspoon of paste for each peel called for in the recipe)

Equivalents

1 oz (30g) = 4 tablespoons

Storage Hints

Store in airtight container at room temperature for up to a year.

History Notes

Kokum is native to southern India’s western coast, particularly Maharashtra State.

Language Notes

Called “Asem Candis” in Western Sumatra, Indonesia.

Other names

AKA: Asem Candis, Black Kokum, Cocum, Kokam, Kokum Butter Tree, Kokum Skins, Mangosteen Oil Tree
Scientific Name: Garcinia indica
Italian: Cocum
French: Cocum
German: Kokam
Spanish: Cocum
Indian: Kokam, Kokum

This page first published: Jun 27, 2004 · Updated: Jun 7, 2018.

This web site generates income from affiliated links and ads at no cost to you to fund continued research · Information on this site is Copyright © 2023· Feel free to cite correctly, but copying whole pages for your website is content theft and will be DCMA'd.

Tagged With: Indian Food

Primary Sidebar

Search

    Today is

  • Lemon Chiffon Cake Day
    Lemon chiffon cake

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • About this site
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright enforced!
  • Terms & Conditions

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Site

  • Recipes
  • Encyclopaedia
  • Kitchenware
  • Food Calendar

This web site generates income from affiliated links and ads at no cost to you to fund continued research · The text on this site is © Copyright.