Phulwara oil is extracted from seeds of Phulwara tree ( Diploknema butyracea; family

Sapotaceae 240px, '' Madhuca longifolia'' var. ''latifolia'' in Narsapur, Medak district, India The Sapotaceae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants belonging to the order (biology), order Ericales. The family includes about 800 species of ev ...

). Phulwara Trees are also known locally as Chiuri Trees, Kaeleb Trees, or Butter Nut Trees. Refined Phulwara Oil is marketed as Phulwara Ghee.

Habitat

The Phulwara Tree is a tree native to Nepal and adjoining areas of India. It grows in the sub- Himalayan tract between 300 and 1500 meters above sea level. The tree also grows in the Andaman Islands.

Tree

The Phulwara is a medium-size

deciduous tree In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

with a straight trunk. It typically attains a height of 15 to 22

meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

s and a girth of 1.5 to 1.8 meters. In the Andaman Islands it can reach a

height Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is). For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is ab ...

of 21 to 36 meters and a girth of 1.5 to 2.4 meters. In the hills of Kumaun, the tree attains a girth of 3 meters. The bark is dark grey or brown. The tree typically begins to yield fruits after five to nine years, reaching full potential in about fifteen years. It can yield fruits for fifty to sixty years.

Leaves

The leaves form clusters at the end of branches that may be pink or white in colour. Normally, they are elliptically shaped, and are 20 to 35 mm long by 9 to 18 cm width.

Flowers

The flowers, which are 2.0 to 2.5 cm in diameter, are white or pale yellow in colour and have a sweet fragrance.

Fruit

The fruit is an oval shaped berry, 2.0 to 4.5 cm in diameter. The fruit has a bright shiny green or blackish skin. The pericarp is thick and soft. The fruit ripens during the months of May and August. The fruit is sweet and edible, containing 8.5% sugars & 5.6% crude fibre. The seed constitutes twenty percent of the fruit. Typically three seeds are present in a single fruit. The seeds are black and sparkling, 1.5 to 2.0 cm in length, with an almond shaped white kernel containing saponins. The seed coat varies from thin to thick and woody to crusty. The seeds contain 42-47% oil and the kernel contains 60-66% oil. 100 seeds weigh approximately 78 grams. The average annual fruit yield per tree is about .

Seed collection

Ripened Phulwara fruits are collected by hand or by beating the plant with long

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

sticks. The harvested fruits are dried in shade for eight to twelve days. Seeds can be separated from fruits either manually or mechanically. If the quantity of fruits is relatively small, the fruits are crushed manually and the seeds separated. For larger quantities, a roller machine is used for seed extraction. The machine sequences the fruit through trays, collecting fresh fruit at one end and the seeds at the lower end.

Oil extraction

Oil is extracted from the kernel of Phulwara seeds. The outer shell of seeds is removed by adopting traditional or mechanical methods. In the traditional method, the seeds are boiled in water and softened seeds are placed on the floor and pressed until the kernels come out. In the mechanical system, the shell of the seed is removed by a

decorticator A decorticator (from Latin: ''cortex'', bark) is a machine for stripping the skin, Bark (botany), bark, or rind off nuts, wood, plant stalks, grain, etc., in preparation for further processing. History In 1933, a farmer named Bernagozzi from Bo ...

machine. After cleaning and drying, the seeds are pounded into a fine powder using a traditional pounder called Dhiki. The powder is steamed on a perforated plate over a boiling pan. Oil is then extracted using a traditional oil expeller known locally as Chepuwa.

Properties of oil

The oil has a bitter taste due to impurities such as saponins, which accompany the extracted fat. Post-extraction filtration or purification is necessary for the ghee to become edible. Table-Physical characters of oil Composition of fatty acids Phulwara oil contains 56.6% palmitic acid and 3.6% stearic acid, both of which are

saturated fatty acid A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone and fatty acids that each contain a long linear or branched c ...

s. It also contains 36.0% oleic acid along with 3.8% linoleic acid, both of which are unsaturated fatty acids. Oleic acid is a mono-

unsaturated fatty acid In chemistry, particularly in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, ...

and has one double bond at the 9th carbon of its hydrocarbon chain. Linoleic acid has two double bonds in the hydrocarbon chain of the acid. Table-physical and chemical characters of fat

Uses of oil

Phulwara ghee is the main source of edible oil for more than one hundred thousand people. The Ghee is used to cook vegetables and roti (Nepali bread). Chiuri butter is used in confectionery,

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field an ...

, vegetable ghee production, candle manufacturing and

soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...

making. It has been found to be effective for rheumatism. It is also used as an additive in animal ghee.

References

{{Non-timber forest products, state=expanded Vegetable oils Diploknema Food and drink in India Environment of Uttarakhand