Garcinia atroviridis (asam gelugor)

Asam Gelugur (asam meaning sour or a sour relish and gelugur is the name of the tree) is found wild from the Malaysian Peninsular to Thailand and Myanmar. The plant is divided into two widely known species, namely Garcinia cambogia commonly found in southern India, while other species, namely Garcinia atroviridis are commonly found in the Malay Peninsula region.

Garcinia atroviridis, is a distinctive colonial to columnar tree with a characteristic architecture. Many closely spaced branches, drooping at their ends, emerge almost horizontally from the main trunk. Old trees have more rounded crowns. The fleshy and shiny green leaves are large, from 13 to 30 cm long.

The fruit contains fruiting acids such as citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acid and ascorbic acid that have an antioxidant activity. Hydroxycitric acid is found in the fruits and in the rind of certain Garcinia fruits. (-)-Hydroxycitric acid, or (-)-HCA, is the principal acid of fruit rinds.

The ripe fruits which are a bright orange-yellow are sliced, dried and used in curries or stewed in plenty of sugar and eaten. This acid fruit is sliced and dried, and sometimes used to give acidity to cooked dishes in place of tamarind. In Thailand, the Garcinia atroviridis is incorporated into their Tom-Yum soup mix, a famous hot and sour Thai soup.

Apart from being used as flavouring agent, Garcinia atroviridis is also used in many ways to promote health traditionally. Previous investigations of the plant reported many interesting potential of antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-obesity and lipid metabolism, cytotoxicity, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial and antinicotine stress activities.
Garcinia atroviridis (asam gelugor)