Kokum Seeds

Kokum is an evergreen tree with drooping branches and glossy leaves, native to the forests of coastal western India. Its round fruit is about the size of a small plum, dark purple-red when ripe, and contains a sour, juicy red pulp with five to eight large seeds. The seeds are flat, oval and roughly 2 cm across, and are about 40 percent fat by weight. After the pulp is removed, the seeds are dried and crushed, and the fat is extracted. Kokum butter is a pale, brittle, almost odourless solid at room temperature, which melts at about body temperature. It is sold as blocks or flakes for cosmetics, and in some regions as an edible fat.

Garcinia indica is native to the Western Ghats and the coastal strip of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka in India, where it grows in humid evergreen forests and is also cultivated around homes. It is related to mangosteen, with which it shares the genus Garcinia. The name kokum, also spelled kokam, is from Marathi and Konkani, and the tree is widely known by local names such as amsol and bhirand. The species name indica indicates its Indian origin.

Kokum has been used on India's west coast for many centuries. Communities in Konkan and Goa dried the rind for souring curries and as a cooling drink, while the seeds were gathered and boiled or pounded to extract the fat, which was used for cooking, as a medicine for skin and burns, and for lamps, and soap. Ayurvedic texts mention the plant for digestive and skin purposes. During the colonial period, kokum butter was recognised as a minor export commodity, and it was used as a substitute for cocoa butter in some confectionery and as a base for ointments. In the twentieth century, the industry stayed mostly small and household based, though small factories in Maharashtra and Karnataka processed seeds into butter. Since the late twentieth century, the cosmetics industry, seeking natural butters for lotions and lip balms, has increased global demand for kokum butter. Today the fruit is also exported as dried rind, syrup and concentrate, while seed butter is traded as a specialty fat.

Kokum butter is used in moisturisers, soaps and lip balms, and as an ingredient in chocolate-like confections in some countries. In Konkan cuisine, the fat has been used for cooking and for making sweets, though it is less common today. The dried rind, a separate product, is added to curries and drinks such as sol kadhi. The seed cake is used as fertiliser or fuel. Traditional medicine used the butter for cracked skin, burns and wounds.

Kokum butter is mostly stearic and oleic acid, a saturated and monounsaturated fat combination that is firm and slow to oxidise. Used on skin, it is regarded as an emollient and is rarely allergenic. Research on kokum rind, which contains hydroxycitric acid and garcinol, has examined effects on weight and inflammation, but findings are preliminary, and the seeds themselves have not been extensively studied as a food.