Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c40.212

v3.c40.212

The *karil*, or *khair* (the *capparis*, or caper-bush), is well known both in Hindustan and the desert: there they use it as a pickle, but here it is stored up as a culinary article of importance. The bush is from ten to fifteen feet in height, spreading very wide; there are no leaves on its evergreen twig-like branches, which bear a red flower, and the fruit is about the size of a large black currant. When gathered, it is steeped for twenty-four hours in water, which is then poured off, and it undergoes, afterwards, two similar operations, when the deleterious properties are carried off; they are then boiled and eaten with a little salt, or by those who can afford it, dressed in *ghi* and eaten with bread. Many families possess a stock of twenty maunds.