The New Nation - Internet Edition

-Jamayet Ali

Tarmuj (Water melon) is one of the most popular and familiar fruits in our country. But it is not our native fruit. It is reported to have originated in the Kalahari desert of South Africa from where it has been migrated to other countries of the world. Besides Bangladesh, it grows well in Turkey, USA, Japan, Egypt, Italy, Brazil, Greece, Syria, Mexico, Spain, Thailand, Argentina, India and Iraq. In our country Tarmuj is mainly grown in the districts of Mymensingh, Tangail, Faridpur, Chittagong, Chittagong Hilltracts, Noakhali, Comilla, Sylhet etc. Being drought resistant it is grown in hot and dry regions. But it can also be grown on wide variety of soils ranging from high sandy-loams to clayey loams. However, it thrives best on deep rich wel1-drained sandy loams. As a result, it is often cultivated on moist sandy river-beds during the dry season. It can also be grown on garden, gravelly and acidic soils. The land is prepared by ploughing 2-3 times and planking. It is then laid out into 2-4 metre wide beds with 60 cm wide furrows between them. In river beds under each hill, manure is added and then covered with 58cm of loose soil before planting the seed. The crop requires weekly irrigation till the fruits have set. Excessive irrigation may result in fruit cracking. In river beds it requires less number of irrigation. In remote areas where irrigation facilities are scarce and in undulating terrain, earthen pitchers can be provided for irrigating the vines.

Botanical name ofTarmuj is Citrullus vulgaris. Every part of Tarmuj is useful but it is valued mainly for the sweet spongy; juicy pulp. The pulp is eaten fresh especially during the hot summer months for its cooling effect. It is also made into a refreshing squash. The pulp cut into cubes or balls is added to fruit salad to enhance its taste and appearance. The size of the fruit and colour of the rind do not always indicate the maturity of the fruit with the flat palm; a mature fruit emits a mutffed sound. The juicy pulp has been successfully canned and bottled and sold in USA and other European countries as a dietetic drink. It contains a high content of potassium which imparts to it diuretic properties. It is thus useful for treating patients with kidney ailments. It is also useful in blending food products having high natural acidity such as plum, apple paste etc. Combinations containing upto 61-80 percent of water melon juice / pulp with orange, grapes and pineapple are acceptable.

Food scientists after analysis have shown that Tarmuj is rich in food values. Edible 100 gms. of T arm uj contain: mineral matter, 0.3; fibre, 0.2; energy, 16k cal; protein, 0.2; fat, 0.2; carbohydrate, 3.3g/100g; oxalic acid, 11; calcium, 11; magnesium, 13; sodium, 27.3; potassium, 160; copper, 0.05; sulphur, 42; chlorine, 21; thiamine, 0.02; riboflavin, 0.04; vitamin C, 1; niacin, 0.1 and iron, 7.9mg/lOOg. The green and red portions of the fruit can be separated and processed separately. The red portion is made into a squash or syrup while the green portion is made into pickles and preserves. The pulp does not lend itself to easy preservation. When preserved in pure form with or without the addition of acid, it losses its palatability (Food Processes and Analyses, Mohammad Yunus, BARC, Dhaka; Wealth of India, Raw Materials, Vol. III, 606)

Seed of tarmuj is rich in oil and unsaturated acids. The oil has a pleasant odour and taste and can be used directly as a cooking oil. The fatty acid composition of the seed oil apparent absence of any harmful constituents makes it an excellent edible oil. Besides, it can be used as an illuminant as a lubricating oil for surface coating material, and in the manufacture of soap. The defatted seed meal is exceptionally high in protein. It contains 66.2% protein (Lysine being the limiting amino acid) which is more than in soybean, peanut or sunflower seed meals. The very high content of oil in the whole seeds and of protein in the defatted meal could make commercial cultivation of these seeds for edible oil and protein a lucrative business. Comparisons of the content of seed meal with FAO/WHO recommended protein and amino acid requirements of human subjects, indicates that this meal will by itself adequately supplement the high carbohydrate-low protein diets of people in the tropics.

Medicinal Properties: Tarmuj is also familiar for its medicinal properties. As it contains a high content of potassium, it imparts to it diuretic properties. It is thus useful for treating patients with kidney ailments. It is also useful in blending food products having high natural acidity such as plum puree or apple paste. Improper storage of pulp leads to contamination. The contaminated pulp makes an excellent substratum for growth of intestinal parasite bacteria. They can multiply rapidly in such juice and develop toxicity, as such the pulp is strongly suspected to be associated with outbreak of food poisoning. The seeds on separation from the pulp are dried in the sun. They are often substituted peanuts in parts of Africa. Salted and cooked, they are eaten as appetizer.

The carnels are roasted and ground and added to sauces and soups to enrich their flavour and consistency. The kernels are low in carbohydrate content. So they are suitable as food for diabeties. The leaves are considered as a febrifuge in the Philippines. The fruit juice is a cooling drink prescribed in strangury and urinary complaints. The fruit rind is dried and incinerated and applied to sores. The pericarp is given in diarrhoea. The seeds are cooling and demulcent, purgative and diuretic. They are used in the treatment of cancer (Wealth of India, Raw Materials, Vol.-III, Ca-Ci)

Medicine: The unripe fruit is sweet; cooling, fattening, strengthening, aphrodisiac, astringent to the bowels; indigestible; cures jaundice. The ripe fruit is sweet; cures "kapha" and "Vata"; causes biliousness. The seed is sweet, fattening, aphrodisiac. The leaves are bitter, haematinic (Ayurveda). The fruit is tasteless when unripe, sweet when ripe; cooling, expectorant, diuretic, stomachic; purifies the blood; allays thirst; cures biliousness; good for sore eyes. The seeds are tonic to the brain (Yunani)

The seeds are used as a cooling medicine. In Bombay, they are also considered diuretic and strengthening. The Vytians prescribe the juice of the fruit to quench thirst, and also as an antiseptic in typhus fever (Ainslie). The fruit is used as a purgative in Sind.

The juice of the pulp is given in Guiana as a cooling enema. An emulsion of the seeds is made into a poultice with the pounded leaves and applied hot in cases of intestinal inflammation. The fruit pulp was formally used in the Western Province of the Cape Colony as a cathartic in dropsy and other complaints (Indian Medicinal Plants, K.R. Kirtikar & B.D. Basu, Vol.-II, 1149-50).

Medicinal values: The seeds are used as a cooling medicine. Dr. Dymoc says that they are in great demand and kept decorticated and ready for use. In Bombay they are considered cooling, diuretic and strengthening. Ainslie remarks that the Vytians prescribe the juice of the fruit to quench thirst, and also as an antiseptic in typhus fever, in which cases he himself administered it with good results. Special Opinius: " Cooling as well as a diuretic (Assistant Surgeon Anund Chunder Mukerji, Noakhally) (Dictionary of the Economic Products Of India, Watt, Vol.- 11, 332)

Properties and uses: Fruit pulp and juice are cooling, refreshing and laxative. Seeds possess diuretic property. Fruit is useful in the treatment of urinary affections, hepatic congestion and intestinal catarrh. seeds possess demulcent, diuretic, vermifuge, nutritive, aphrodisiac and anthelmintic properties. They paralyse tape worm and round worm incats. Citrullin and arginine are thought to in crease urea production in the liver, thus increasing the flow of urine. The ripe fruit pulp is nutritious, cooling and refreshing and is eaten as a delicious fruit all over the world to relieve thirst (Medicinal Plants of Bangladesh, Second Edition, Abdul Ghani, 116).