Description

🥒 Clove beans, also known as Ipomoea muricata, Nithya Vazhuthana in Malayalam, or Mookuthi Avarai, are a unique vine vegetable native to India and closely related to the morning glory family—not true beans at all!

🌿 Botanical & Growing Profile

• Growth habit: Perennial vine; climbs fences or trellises
• Fruit shape: Long pedicels with swollen, bulb-like tips
• Climate: Grows year-round in tropical regions like Kerala
• Soil: Garden soil mixed with cocopeat and vermicompost
• Sunlight: Full sun after germination
• Watering: Regular, but avoid waterlogging

🌱 Cultivation Tips

• Sowing: Directly from seeds; germinates in 4–6 days
• Transplanting: Move outdoors once seedlings are strong
• Support: Needs trellis or fencing to climb
• Harvest: Tender fruits ready in 60–70 days; crop lasts 150–170 days
• Yield: 2.5–4.5 kg per plant; ~5–6 tonnes per hectare

🍽️ Culinary & Medicinal Uses

• Cooking: Tender fruits used in stir-fries, curries, and traditional Kerala dishes
• Nutrition: Rich in fiber, vitamin C, potassium, and calcium
• Traditional remedies:
  • Powdered fruit used for fever
  • Plant juice sprayed to repel bugs

🌟 Why It’s Special

• Grows in all seasons—hence the name Nithya (eternal)
• Low maintenance and pesticide-free
• Rare and culturally significant in Kerala and coastal India3