Botanical Name:Gnetum gnemon
Family: Gnetaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Gnetophyta
Class: Gnetopsida
Order: Gnetales
Genus: Gnetum
Species: G. gnemon
Synonyms:
*Gnemon ovalifolia (Poir.) Kuntze
*Gnetum acutatum Miq.
*Gnetum gnemon f. stipitatum Markgr.
*Gnetum gnemon f. volubile Markgr.
*Gnetum gnemon var. gnemon
*Gnetum gnemon var. laurinum Blume
*Gnetum gnemon var. lucidum Blume
Common Names: Gnemon, Melinjo, Belinjo, Kuliat/Culiat, Bago, Bigo and Padi oats or Paddy oats.
Habitat: Melinjo is native to southeast Asia and the western Pacific Ocean islands, from Mizoram and Assam in India, south and east through Indonesia and Malaysia to the Philippines and Fiji.
Description:
Melinjo trees are small to medium, dioecious and evergreen, growing to 5 to 10 m in height depending on the species.The leaves are evergreen, opposite, 8–20 cm long and 3–10 cm broad, entire, emerging bronze-coloured, maturing glossy dark green. The fruit-like female strobilus consist of little but skin and a large nut-like seed 2–4 cm long inside. Male strobili are small, arranged in long stalks, and are often mistaken for flowers. The fruit can grow up to 1-3.5 cm long and half as wide. Its shape ranges from ellipsoid to ovoid and color ranges from yellow, purple-red to orange-red. The fruit has large seeds of ovoid or ellipsoid shape. The tree has woody, round and gray bark. It has well branched stem, cylindrical bole and 40 cm as a diameter….….CLICK & SEE
Fleshy strobili weigh about 5.5 g, the seed alone 3.8 g. Strobili mature mainly from June to September in NE Philippines. The red (ripe) strobili are eaten by birds, mammals and reptiles.
Edible Uses:
Melinjo is native to Indonesia and widely used in Indonesian cuisine. The seeds are used for sayur asem (sour vegetable soup) and also, made into raw chips that later need to be deep-fried as crackers (emping, a type of krupuk). The crackers have a slightly bitter taste and are frequently served as a snack or accompaniment to Indonesian dishes. The leaves are also commonly used for vegetable dishes in Indonesia and southern Thailand.
This plant is commonly cultivated throughout the Aceh region and is regarded as a vegetable of high status. Its male strobili, young leaves and female strobilus are used as ingredients in traditional vegetable curry called kuah pliek. This dish is served on all important traditional occasions, such as khanduri and keureudja. In the Pidie district, the women pick the red-skinned ripe fruit and make keureupuk muling from it. In Java, the young leaves and unpeeled seeds are used for ingredients in a dish called sayur asem.
Nutritional Value:
The serving size of 100 grams of Melinjo fruit grants 92 calories, 72.6 gm of moisture, 5.2 gm of protein, 2.1 gm of fat, 1.8 gm of ash, 13.3 gm of carbohydrate and 5.2 gm of crude fiber. It also provides 1478.265 of manganese, 211.11% of copper, 195% of iron, 107.27% of zinc, 13.28% of potassium, 12.38% of magnesium, 11.71% of phosphorus, 10.40% of protein and 10.23% of carbohydrate.
Health Benefits:
Traditional uses:
*In traditional medicine, the sap of leaf is used to cure eye ailments in traditional medicine.
*The Melinjo seeds are used to increase stamina.
*During early days, this plant is mixed with other ingredients to treat the dog bites.
*The plants help to treat the diseases such as anemia.
*The protein found in this plant helps to eliminate free radicals which lead to the diseases such as high cholesterol, hypertension, blood vessels narrowing, premature aging etc.
Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.
Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnetum_gnemon
https://www.healthbenefitstimes.com/melinjo/
