If you have neem trees in your campus or in your backyard this is the time to harvest its flowers and put them to good use, now and later.
This is what Giridharan Kesavan of Abiramapuram is doing these past days.
This IT professional spreads a plastic sheet or a long cloth under the two trees that have bloomed this season and collects the flowers that drop down.
The collection is cleaned and the whole lot is dried in the sun. “Do this over two days to make sure the flowers can preserve well. We have stocked them at our home for as long as two years,” he says.
Once dried, Giridharan packs the dried neem flowers in airtight containers; these are used to make rasam mainly and also added to other dishes.
Meanwhile, neem flowers ( veppam poo) are also being sold by hawkers on South Mada Street, Mylapore, quoting 50 rupees for a padi.
- Photo: Giridharan K.
