Bosanfrill
Nutritious fruit of the Astrensea.
"Generations ago it was just a source of food. Then in the time of my parents it became medicine. Now we use it for tea. It is almost as important to our way of life as the fish of the Astrensea. That's saying a lot given how much fish we eat."
From Sea to Table
The bosanfrill grows only in the waters of the Astrensea and has long been part of the diet of the Tamin people who live on the Geetan Archipelago. The plant loses most of its life during the winter with much of its foliage washing up on the rocky shores near where it grows. In the spring it begins to recover growing new stalks in a lighter shade of green. Come the end of summer, the bosanfrill fruit - yellow with a medium sized berry-like spherical or ovular flesh - is most abundant. During this time the people try to harvest what they can before the fish eat it all. The bosanfrill is so bountiful that some fruit almost always remains come autumn. During this season the fruit harvested is at its least bitter - though it is still far from appetizing.Ending Red Lung
When the deadly red lung swept through Bral at the end of the first decade of the Time of Exploration many died, even then Emperor Sugaar Dodai. It was thought to have originated from the Mountainfolk of Bral but unfortunately for the Tamin, it had come from Grara with whom they had frequent contact through trade and travel - even if not from people of Grara but those who dealt with them in Zinato or Burim. The disease eventually reached the Geetan Archipelago and spread from island to island through trade and travel. Before any measures could be taken every community was impacted. Amid the death and increasing squalor, some began feeding the healthiest food they knew of to the infected. Ingestion of the fruit of the bosanfrill proved to have no effect on outcomes. Desperate to save her community, Vaer Zideen looked for anything that might help. None of the traditional remedies of the region had any effect. As the story goes, she was staring out over the water while somone was harvesting the fruit of the bosanfrill and just left the rest of the plant piled on the rocks desperate to get the food back to his sick family. Vaer took the leftovers and began her work. The result was a medicine made by mixing boiled water with the dried and powdered form of the leaves and stalk of the bosanfrill. It did not save everyone who took it but it improved the odds. Beyond that, it was learned that taking the medicine before getting sick reduced the chances of contracting red lung. Her work - and the bosanfrill - saved many lives across the archipelago and would go on to become a valuable export for the small nation as her medicine began to make its way across Breharan.Stub Article
This article is just a stub for now and will be expanded upon later.Old Article
This article was written in the past and does not meet my current standards for any number of article quality, layout, or content.In-Progress Article
This article is being worked on, perhaps not at this very moment, but it is being worked on.Feeding the Kids
Due to the highly bitter taste of the bosanfrill's fruit, it is often a struggle for parents to get their children to eat it. Some tell stories of bad things that happen to those that don't eat it, others make the kids sit at the table until it is all eaten, but most try to make it more palatable. Mixed with sugar it becomes much easier to stomach but all sugar in Tamazee is imported so it hasn't always been very common. Diced and fried with some salt is not nearly as good as sugar but is still better than raw. Stewed and hidden under many other ingredients is the most common way it is fed to children. Adults eat the fruit raw, just taking big bites out of it, especially when they are in season. Slices or cubes are dried or preserved for the rest of the year.Astrenza's Gifts
While the fish are the part of the sea most often called a blessing from Astrenza, all of the bounty of the sea are considered so by the Tamin. As more and more uses of the bosanfrill were found, more depictions of the Heart of the Sky began to include the plant around her feet."What rests in the spring, grows in the summer, matures in the winter, and dies in the winter?"
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