Namakatti/Vibuthikatti

Once we visited Tirupathi and other places around, after we finished the Darshanam, we were standing out near one of the puja stalls.

There I found this Namakatti, just like vibuthi (Holy Ash), I found it good and picked some pieces. After that I asked my mom, she told it is made of clay, I wondered if it is made of clay then it should have more uses than only applying as Nammam. So here is what I found.

Pimples:

As we all know, almost all clay can be used as face packs. This is also used for that one purpose.

Take a piece of namakatti and put small amount of water on rubbing stone and rub the namakatti on it, ( the same way you will make a paste for Nammam).

Apply that paste on pimple and leave overnight. You will find results.

Stomach Pains:

This works effectively for Heat Stomach pains. The paste is applied around belly button and can be left overnight. It gives a lot relief, mostly for kids as we can’t give tablets for everything

         

Sore throat: 

Apply the Paste on throat.

Heat Rashes/ Diaper Rashes:

It works well for all heat rashes and baby diaper rashes. Take the paste and apply the rash, leave it and wash it after it get dried.

Eye abscess:

Apply the paste on the eye and leave it overnight. You will get results in a day.

Skin Blisters:

Application of paste of Namakatti (Naamakatti) frequently for effective cure.

How it is made: 

So as I have doubt you all will have doubt how it is made here is a video.

It goes through 3-4 four step process before made it into shapes. This is made and supplied all over India from Thiruvanmiyur, Tamil Nadu,

The making process gives the nice smell for it and as it is clay when mixed with water it gives petrichor. 

Where it is Available : 

It is available almost in all pooja Stores.

Actually there are two shapes like show in above image, use the one as shown in below image.

The below shown is also Vibuthi/Nammakatti and used for appling Nammama and for medical uses. But i will share the details in my next post. The difference is it looks more white than Nammakatti.
(the middle in the image)

As it is made with clay, there will no expire date, Use it , dry it, store it and use it again.

References:

http://www.mommyswall.com/benefits-namakatti-tilak/

https://in.pinterest.com/pin/552816922980161661/

http://www.tamilspider.com/resources/8320-Daily-health-practices-followed-by-our-ancient.aspx

http://www.wildturmeric.net/2013/05/nama-katti-for-eye-abscess.html

http://uni5.co/index.php/en/remedies.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI_8CutU3qQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfQV0xWPMAU&spfreload=10

Mitti ka Kushboo (The earthy smell after Rain)

This article is dedicated to Puri (The one who gave idea ;))

If a sunny Day ends with a Rain, the thought reminds me the Pleasant smell of the Earth, I always want to capture all this flavors and store it, of course which is not possible…

 
So I wonder why the Earth gives pleasing scents when it’s raining or wet (like watering plants, In India we wash our front yards and put Rangoli/Muggu)…

If you are eager to know, then you need to read this…

Petrichor

As everything has a name, the pleasant scent is called Petrichor. After a lot experiments the Australian researches Sabel Joy Bear and Richard G. Thomas named it as Petrichor in 1965. This Word is derived from Greek, Petri means stone and chor means the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods.

Do you know why?

Australian Sabel and Richard described that, during dry times, some plants releases oils to save their babies(seeds) during dryness and duress (that is why oil is observed during the seed germination) which is absorbed by clay based soil and rocks.

Now what happens when it rains, this oil is released into air along with Geosmin (a metabolic by-product of certain bacteria)

 As this is done in 1965, The MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) researches in 2015 conducted once more this research and described that, this pleasant smell is due to air bubbles trapped by the rain drop as soon as they hit the ground.

Have you seen the fog or the Smoke during the start stage of rain, these naughty bubbles are shoot upwards and erupts as fizz, and suspends in air forming smoke and fog known as aerosols same like water produces aerosols when falls on water , more simple just like aerosols air fresheners.

Extra Care

These tiny particles not only releases the oils but the bacteria and viruses which are unnoticeable, that’s how we will start sneezing when its starts raining.

Now I am eagerly waiting for the first drizzles after the summer. 

Video link: https://youtu.be/Waqmq_GTyjA

https://youtu.be/PDrElHWBT6A

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150115-how-the-smell-of-rain-happens

http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/atmospheric/question479.htm

http://www.livescience.com/49520-smell-of-rain-aerosols.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrichor

https://www.scienceabc.com/nature/petrichor-why-the-smell-of-soil-after-the-first-rain-is-so-sweet.html
P.S. all images belongs to owners.

Japanese Mud Food

After the Journey of Clay Cuisines, Japanese Mud foods are ridiculously wonderful,

Ne Quittez Pas , you may be wondering what this means, actually this is the French restaurant in Tokyo, Japan which means “Please Don’t Leave”.

It offers French Dishes and “Dirt Dishes”, Of course you can think it may Mud Chocolate Cake type dishes, if you think in that way well you just stepped into Wet Mud Pit.

Dirt dishes are purely made of Mud, dirt, soil, whatever you call.

Chef Toshio Tanabe uses this safe soil which is taken from 10 miles underground and tested in lab for impurities like pollution, contamination, lead which he buys from Kanuma, Tochigi.

He uses two types of soils, mostly Black soil and white soil for lighter food.

His cuisine contains of six dishes 

Potato and Soil Soup

Dirt risotto with sautéed sea bass

Salad with dirt dressing

Dirt Ice cream

Dirt gratin

soil mint tea.

Aspic with Oriental Clams and Top Layer of Sediment

After the dirt arrives, he lightly cooks it to release the flavour, then runs it through a sieve to remove any stray grains of sand.

But Tanabe’s pride and joy is the “soil surprise,” a dirt-covered potato ball with a truffle centre.

References:

http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2013/01/22/japanese-restaurant-serves-up-110-dirt-meal.html

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/30/japanese-restaurant-serves-meal-of-dirt-for-110/

http://www.mediaite.com/food/japanese-chef-mud-tasting-menu/

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2016/06/04/mud-based-ramen-touted-to-have-thickest-broth-in-all-of-japan/

http://www.thatsnerdalicious.com/restaurants/japanese-restaurant-offering-food-made-with-dirt/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/16/dirt-diner_n_2666592.html

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2013/jan/30/mud-latest-culinary-sensation-tokyo

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/02/28/the-best-restaurant-in-japan-servesfrench-food-and-dirt-soup/

http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/japanese-restaurant-uses-dirt-as-the-main-ingredient-for-its-expensive-dishes.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2451089/Ne-Quittez-Pas-Japanese-diners-served-soil-based-dishes-restaurant.html

Clay Cuisine of Peru 

During my search about clay, I found this clay cuisine of Lima, Capital of Peru. Of course which is rare...

From the street food to the fine dining restaurant, this city have a lot of great food to offer.

The Central Restaurante offers the following :

Baked Potatoes with Clay Sauce 

On a stone in the center of the plate, three small discs, resembling grey skipping stones with jagged edges, looks like stones from the side of a lakeshore, but these were completely edible. Each one represented a silky puree of those potatoes, coated in edible Chaco clay from some remote part of Peru.

"Dry Andes" (3200 m) of Central Restaurante

This was fascinating - edible clay from the plains of Chaco, served cold. Which was sweet, slightly gritty and tasted of black sesame

Green Highlands

This dessert began with the most interesting ingredient, eatable clay from the Titicaca region mixed with chocolate. Buried under these clay is a 70% coco chocolate sorbet. Surrounding this sorbet are some Lucama fruit biscuit.

The NYC Wine and Food Festival which has Peru cuisines offers

Cacao and Chaco Clay, chocolate ganache, Chaco clay and dragon fruit

Where does this clay come from?

Acora, Puno, Sicuani Titicaca region they call it as Chaco, Pieces with red streaks or with materials that degrade the homogeneity of this product are not allowed.  After having chosen the material it’s exposed to the light and allowed to dry since “it’s not consumed fresh”.

It is known that this material of very fine grain is composed of a clayey mineral with colloidal characteristics.  In mineralogy, it has been established that it is composed of crystals of great purity.  It can come from places around clay licks, which are saline zones enjoyed by the cattle, in accordance with known reports.

This clay has been utilized in Peru since the Pre-Inca times with various uses.  Among those, the most common is to accompany bitter potatoes.  According to Malpica (1970) and Frisancho (1988), this was the means by which the indigenous people of the time assured adequate intake of calcium and iron in their diet.

For the farmers in general, the recently-harvested potato can be sour and piquant.  So with the goal of neutralizing these effects, they are seasoned with a sauce prepared with clay and quite a lot of salt.

According to Laboratory report from the INIA of Puno showed the panorama of mineral content, particularly from the area of Acora, each 100 grams of Chaco sample contained 6 mg of calcium, 2.4 mg of iron, 2.03 mg of zinc, and 2 mg of magnesium.

In Peru, the ingestion of Chaco has been directly related to that of one indigenous ingredient, the potato.

Uses and how to use:

• It is used in soaps, detergent, and toothpaste.
• It’s also used like mazamorras and beverages.
• It’s also used medicinally for its astringent properties .
• It is a first aid. It is good for stomach infections, ulcers, parasites, as well as for stomach acidity caused by drinking alcohol. It detoxes and at the same time mineralizes the stomach.

Soak two or three teaspoons of Chaco in a glass of warm water. Wait for half an hour for it to dissolve. Then you stir it and drink it. It is recommended that you drink it in the morning, mid-morning, mid afternoon, and an hour and a half after your last meal of the day.

Where we can buy this clay?

Chaco is sold in the majority of the popular markets of our city: the San Pedro market, the Ccascaparo, Ttio, and Wanchac. This clay is available to everyone in little bags in the section of medicinal herbs.

(Note: I am not sure any changes in the dishes above as everything I wrote is from reading, All images belongs to owners)

References:

http://cuzcoeats.com/casera-ines-recommends-nutritional-medicinal-chaco-clay/
http://www.materiniciativa.com/en/edible-clay-from-acora/
http://www.stevedolinsky.com/where-to-eat-in-lima-peru
https://iwillmakeualist.com/tag/the-nomad-bar/
https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/why-perus-altiplano-farmers-eat-clay-with-their-potatoes
http://insert-food.blogspot.in/2014/06/central-lima-peru.html
http://www.travelwithwinny.com/central-restaurante-review-lima/

Eating Mud during Droughts 

This story I heard from my Amma, I always find it amusing, So here i am sharing it.

Once upon time there was Drought in Andhra, which is called dokkala karuvu / Guntur karuvu / Nandana karuvu/ pedda karuvu/ Dhatu karuvu, Valasa Karuvu, musti karuvu / Dobba Karuvu (karuvu - drought) . At that time, in Guntur district, there were so many dead bodies from Ongole to Machilipatnam. Even the highway from Godavari districts to Chennai had so many dead bodies. East India Company did not recognize the intensity of this drought in time, and because of that many people died. There was not enough food or water for anybody. The drought was more in Guntur district than other districts. That's why it was called as Guntur drought. It lasted for 22 months and was described as most grievous calamity of its kind experienced in British India since the beginning of the century. 

People started moving from one place to another, during that time, the situation was so agonizing so people began to consume Erra Matti (red mud) mixing with curd or milk and prickly pear fruit and a number of other wild plants and roots including the pith of the flowering stalks of the American aloe' and the leaves of Devadaru (Sethia Indica) due to scarcity of food grains.

Below is the picture of the people during drought. 

For more info on drought :
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/1710/8/08_chapter%202.pdf

Hello Everyone,

Here I will share different types of Mud, clay, dirt etc available all over world and their uses, facts.