Kratin
Thai ( horse tamarind) :
Other local names are Sa tor bao, Tor bao, Sa tor tess, Kratin dok kao,
Kratin, Kratin ban, Pak kan tin, Pak nong bok, Sa ket, Sa ket kok and
Sa ket bok.
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Kratin
is a kind of vegetable that is most familiar to Thais. Fresh young leaves
and flowers are favourite for dipping with chilli paste (Nam Prik).
It is also popular as a side dish for fresh oyster and papaya salad.
Fried Kratin with pork can also be interesting dish. Its fresh seeds
are green which Thai southerners usually use to mix with their traditional
dish, Kao Yam (Rice salad) or Kha nom jeen (soft round noodles with
curry).
As herbal substance,
astringent bark is used as astringency. Roots are made nourishing medicine,
also help releasing gas and relief leucorrhea. Young branch and leaves
are used to mix nourish food for stocks. Trunks are used to produce
good quality cinder.
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General Characteristic:
Formerly native South American. Fast growing, evergreen leaves, well
grown at high ground or hillside flat area. Villagers usually grow as
house fences. Tree-type shrubs, about 10 metres high, compound leaves.
Petioles are 15-30 centimeters long, split into 3-10 pairs of minor
petioles, which are 10 centimeters long. Small leaves, 5-20 pairs, are
similar to those of tamarinds'. Outer edges are parallel to apex with
6-21 millimeters long and 1.5-5 millimeters wide.
Flowers
are small, round, white and aromatic.
Fruits
are flat, 12-18 centimeters long, 2 centimeters wide. Seeds within
fruits are oval and flat. A sheath contains 15-30 seeds.
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Translator : Aketawan Manowongsa
24 March 2000
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