Ethnic recipes from the tribes of Jawhar and Shahapur forest division: Maharashtra, India

BACKGROUND: Tribals have developed their tradition of the food system by using native plants having nutritional as well as medicinal values. Different parts of wild edible plants are consumed by them in various forms such as curry, pickles, fried, etc. Such knowledge is applied to cope with starvation and survive in unfavorable conditions. But this valuable information is not preserved well by the next generation. Therefore, there is a need to systematically record such unexplored traditional knowledge for further detailed study. Present study aimed to document and record wild edible plants and details of the recipes prepared by the tribal of Jawhar and Shahapur forest division. METHODS: A Medico-Ethno Botanical Survey was carried out in Jawhar and Shahapur forest divisions of Maharashtra during the year 2018–19. The study includes the documentation of the traditionally used edible plants by the ethnic group of people in the studied area and is presented systematically. RESULT: A total of 34 recipes prepared from 32 different species were described in detail. Out of 32 species, 28 species are wild and only four species are cultivated on the farm or yard. Ten recipes using leaves (fresh and dried), six using fruits, five using flowers, six using tubers (dry and curry of Dioscorea bulbifera L.), four using pods, two using seeds, and one recipe using shoot are reported, which are not familiar in the urban areas. The use of ash for the processing of Dioscorea species to make it more palatable was found as a unique method. CONCLUSION: Vegetable recipes of nine species were reported as noteworthy after validating from the available literature. Further investigation of collected data from the perspective of their phytochemical and nutraceutical studies may provide better nutritional and medicinal sources for the future.