A review: Food, medicinal and nutraceutical properties of bael fruit (Aegle marmelos)

Abstract

Bael, Aegle marmelos belongs to family Rutaceae. It is a Indian origin tree having an altitude of 1200 metre. This tree is versatile as all different parts of this tree such as leaves, roots, seed, bark and fruit etc have different dimensions of applications. They contain a large number of coumarins, alkaloids, sterols and essential oils and owing to these, they can be used as anti-microfilarial, antifungal, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, hypoglycaemic, antidyslipidemic, immunomodulatory, antiproliferative, wound healing, anti-fertility, and insecticidal abilities. Apart from using in the aforementioned way, by utilizing post-harvest techniques, this tree can be seen as a income source for the needful farmers. A large number of by products such as candy, panjiri, toffee, jam etc are also made by the fruit by using various post-harvest technologies which also helps to reduce the post-harvest losses and hence increases the shelf life which further helps in value addition and in generation a good income for a needy farmer. Other aspects of potential use of Aegle marmelos such as phytochemical, ethnobotanical and pharmacological evaluations have been reported in this literature.