MB Herbals Bael Powder (227g)

Bael or Bilva is one of my favourite fruits. With a strong rose, floral and citrus taste. Sometimes like a sour orange marmelade with that mint-like heaviness you can get from lime or lemon. Aegle marmelos is a member of Rutaceae just as the citrus genus is, so if you’re hip to citrus this is an odd and different flavour profile to pay with.

After being told I need to boost fiber intake, I've started to prepare more smoothies and have been exploring different unfamiliar flavors and nutritional profiles to try to come up with smoothies I like but that aren't too sweet. I got this powder to try, not knowing at all what to expect. First of all, the bael powder smells wonderful in the bag. I can't describe it, but my body immediately reacted to it with "I need this!" Not I want this, I NEED this. (Those of you who have been trying to cultivate a "listen to your body" way of eating will know what I mean.) Tasting a bit of it on the tip of my finger, I wasn't overly impressed with the flavor, but I blended a teaspoon of it into about a half cup of cold milk to see what it was like all by itself, and it was delicious! Again, I don't know how to describe it, but, again, my body said "I NEED this!" I like that it's a little sweet but not overly sweet. It has a complex, interesting flavor. I started looking for recipes using bael online to see what flavors might pair best with it, and lemon and cardamom seem to be used most frequently. It doesn't go very well with ginger, I discovered, but in some water or milk with a little frozen fruit ought to be just right.

I first experienced this wonderful powder in Thailand. There, I learned the Thai's use it for all sorts of health benefits. So I figured all powders from this fruit must be the same and back home I can get the best organic powder. However, this tastes like cardboard. I cannot drink it. The texture and color and flavor are nothing like what a purchased in Thailand. It does not even dissolve well in hot water.

Decent product with poor packaging - because of this company specifically. It's hard to keep it closed. if you buy it, take it out and put it into a sealed jar or something.

So I was a little concerned about this product to start, because I'm not that big into supplements but I figure that they can't all be bad and a lot of them are very helpful for health and stuff like that. Probiotics. etcetera Let me list my concerns I had before trying this and what I thought after: *Taste - I was concerned that this may taste bad but honestly it tastes pretty unremarkable. There definitely is a taste but nothing particularly good or bad. It tastes healthy, if you know what I mean. *Safety - Are my arms going to fall off? Nope! Now, having said that, I am mildly allergic to this. Nothing too bad though. Just some mouth tingling. I'm also mildly allergic to orange peel/oil and this is less severe than that. So I'm mentioning this in case anyone else might be allergic to oranges you may want to rethink this *Efficacy - Is this actually going to do anything? Yes. Yes! A thousand times yes! lol. To avoid getting graphic lets just say this has balanced out my morning constitution and I feel emptier, cleaner and lighter. I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of the bag. Things I wasn't expecting: *This does NOT dissolve that well. Check out my picture. Now I don't know that it matters so much -- medically speaking it may reduce the bioavailability of the supplement (Meaning you have to take more to get the recommended dose) but whatever. I'm not a pharmacist. I've tried regular stirring, mashing with a spoon, and using a protein shaker sports-bottle. The latter was the best at mixing it up, but it definitely clumps together more than I thought it would. -1 for clumping; I figure there is something that could have been done to make it less clumpy. *What it actually feels like: A few minutes/hour after taking I feel a little nauseous and/or full. Similar to that of a high fiber supplement. However, I can't tell if this is a result of my mild allergy or whatever, I have no idea. So it isn't anything to complain about -- I'm definitely not complaining -- I like this and what it does.