The literature on the plant features somewhat conflicting accounts of use, as a species both edible and toxic/medicinal, pointing to the conclusion that it should be regarded as suspect and treated with caution. The whole plant is said to be toxic (even, according to some sources, very toxic) and to be used medicinally as a
diuretic,
sedative and
cough medicine. The tender leaves have, on occasion, been cooked as a
leaf vegetable or pot herb (e.g. in the cuisine of
Tanzania), yet the
decoction of the leaves has been used as an
insecticide to treat
head lice; while the juice of the fresh leaves has been used to treat
amoebiasis. Unspecified medicinal uses of the leaves have also been recorded in the
folk medicine of
Brazil and
Madagascar. The rather dry, brown berries within the papery calyces have an odour reminiscent of cooking oil and, although described in at least one source as being poisonous, are eaten by the
Raji people of
Nepal. The seeds are said to be edible, but also to be employed as an insecticide and medicinally as an
antipyretic, being boiled with water and taken for fever,
indigestion and
constipation, thus further implying
laxative properties. The seeds are used in
traditional Tibetan medicine in which system they are described as having an acrid taste and to possess 'a cooling, very poisonous potency' manifested in effects that are
analgesic,
anthelmintic,
antibiotic,
anti-inflammatory and antipyretic; being used also to treat
toothache,
impotence and unspecified 'contagious disorders' and furthermore to 'increase bodily vigour' (i.e. to function as an
adaptogen) if consumed in regular doses.
Nicandra physalodes is used as a folk remedy in several countries in the
Himalaya, including
Himachal Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh, Nepal and
Sikkim, although it is not native to the region. This may be due to a popular recognition of a familial resemblance – particularly in regard to calyces inflated at fruiting – to several native Solanaceous plants of the Himalaya long used in traditional medical practices, the genera involved being
Anisodus,
Physochlaina,
Przewalskia and
Scopolia (all belonging to tribe Hyoscyameae of subfamily Solanoideae). The much valued (and consequently over-harvested) species
Anisodus tanguticus is perhaps particularly relevant in this context. Nicandra seeds have been used for at least a century in Southwestern China to produce the
jelly used in the dessert known as
bingfen (: literal translation:
iced rice noodles), known usually in the west as
crystal jelly or
ice jelly and said to have been invented in the
Qing dynasty. The jelly is prepared by pouring a quantity of the small, plump, brown seeds into an envelope of
cheesecloth, soaking them for a time and then scrubbing them vigorously in a bowl of mineral water in order to liberate the
pectin which they contain.
Slaked lime is then stirred into the pectin-rich solution, causing it to set after a few hours into a delicate, yellowish jelly of neutral flavour. This gelatinous product is relished, not for its taste, but for its intriguing and pleasant texture and it serves as a 'blank canvas' for a variety of flavourings – notably a locally-produced, unrefined, brown sugar syrup with a
molasses-like taste. Desserts based upon
crystal jelly are particularly popular in the city of
Chengdu, where they are valued both for the cooling relief they afford to those irked by the humid summer heat and the equally cooling contrast which they provide to the often highly-spiced, local
Sichuan cuisine (see also
Mala (seasoning). In the southern United States, the juice of the plant has been mixed with milk as a poisoned bait for
houseflies and
blow flies in the same way in which the crumbled caps of the fungus
Amanita muscaria were used in parts of Europe. However, the flies were said to be killed outright, rather than merely stupefied, as in the case of the mushroom/milk infusion. ==Chemistry==