Amla

Phyllanthus emblica

Phyllanthaceae

Indian gooseberry — a sour, tannic fruit that Ayurveda treats as a rasayana, and that kitchens pickle in sugar and spice.

Culinary sour fruit. A cornerstone of triphala. Fresh fruit is seasonal; most kitchens meet it dried or as a murabba.

Parts used: Fruit
Traditional notes: Kitchen sour and preserve · Traditional recovery food · Triphala component
Grow · USDA 6b: Tropical tree, USDA 10–12; greenhouse north A nursery tree if you have a climate. Most kitchens buy the fruit. In work: Oct · Nov · Dec · Jan
Harvest: Fruit when fully sized, still hard, in the tropical winter.

A jar of dried amla is the honest harvest north.
The aftertaste turning sweet is the old quality test.

Safety

Very large tannin doses on an empty ulcerated gut

Lore

Sanskrit āmalaki. It is said to contain a dwelling of Lakshmi, which is a lot of goddess for a sour marble. Charaka lists it as a rasayana. The British called it gooseberry because they needed a word. Triphala is three fruits arguing in one powder; this is the sour one.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.