In South India, a drumstick is not something used to make music but an unusual vegetable, almost unknown in the United States. The long pods come from a tropical tree and are prepared in a multitude of ways, most often in the light lentil and vegetable stew called "sambar." The drumstick is cut into pieces an inch or two long and is eaten by chewing the delicate pulp while avoiding the woody fibers. The drumstick tree is one of the most useful plants in cultivation - the leaves are chopped and used as a vegetable, while the roots, bark and sap are used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine.
