**1. Introduction**

Food is essential for life, and the main sources of food for animals especially for humans are different parts of the plant such as leaf, stem, fruits, seeds, flowers, and roots. Plants and their parts are not only used as a food but are also used as medicines. This is due to the presence of active chemical components in parts of the plant. Nowadays, various research and study applications have focused on the active chemical constituents of the plants and their functions due to the effectiveness, less side effects, synthesized easily, and most importantly economically feasible. Traditional uses of plants and plant parts also demonstrate the direction to use plants for the specific type of disease. *A. marmelos* (L.) Correa (**Figure 1**) is a very important indigenous plant to the Indian subcontinent for over 5000 years because of its economically feasible dietery and medicinal uses. The fruits of bael are of

**Figure 1.** *Leaves and fruits of Aegle marmelos.*

dietetic use, and the fruit pulp is used to make delights such as murabba, puddings, and juice. The subtropical fruit *A. marmelos* or commonly known as bael belongs to the Rutaceae family [1]. *A. marmelos* L*.*, known by different names in different languages, such as Bel, Beli, and Belgiri in Hindi, Bilva, Shivadrums, Shivaphala, and Vilva in Sanskrit and Bael, Bengal quince, Indian quince, holy fruit, and golden apple in English and also known as Japanese bitter orange, stone apple, or wood apple (**Table 1**) [2]. In India, it is cultivated as a temple garden plant, and the leaves of *A. marmelos* are used to pray to Lord Shiva.

In different fields of science and technology, every part of this plant has a great utilization to cure many diseases. The variety of fruits is smaller in size than the other variety in the similar cultivated type [1]. Most common cultivar varieties of *A. marmelos*/Bael are Kagzi Gonda, Gonda no 1, Gonda no 2, Kagzi Etawah, Mirzapuri, and Baghel [1]. The potential effects of bael in different medicinal systems such as Ayurvedic, Unani, and Siddha have been already in use, and it


#### **Table 1.**

*Various names of Aegle marmelos in different languages.*

*Medicinal Uses with Immense Economic Potential and Nutritional Properties… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102876*

states the functionality and feasibility of bael [3]. Many researches studies on bael approved that it consists of many nutritional elements such as a large group of phytochemicals, which includes alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, phenolic acids, and coumarins. Except the above chemicals, other class of beneficial compounds such as amino acids, vitamins, a wide range of organic acids, carbohydrates, fatty acids, fibers, minerals make bael a highly nutritious fruit with immense health benefits, and the natural availability makes it economically feasible [4]. *A. marmelos* may cure gastrointestinal diseases such as diabetes, cardiac issues, and inflammationrelated problems. It can acquire protective effects against the wound, microbes, radiation, free radical generation, and depression. The natural healing power of *A. marmelos* is proved by many research studies and applications [5]. *A. marmelos* fruit is a natural source of antioxidants and functional foods. It can be used in its dehydrated form such as jam, slab, bael powder, which makes it more useful for any kinds of season. *A. marmelos* and its various products and its various uses and applications make it extremely profitable, and the availability provides greater advantage over other similar kind [6, 7]. All seeds of *A. marmelos* are surrounded by gum having adhesive, waterproofing, and oil emulsion coating properties [8]. Due to the digestive and stomachic properties of bael, it is used in the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery [9]. It acquires tannins, reducing sugar, high amount of pectin, and very small amount of nonreducing sugar [10]. Due to presoluble and insoluble mucilaginous dietary fiber and pectin, it has great nutritional values. Many minerals and vitamins such as riboflavin, ascorbic acid, thiamine, niacin, vitamin A, calcium, and phosphorus are found in bael, which makes it healthy food [11]. Focus of this review is to highlight the composition of beneficial nutrients, formulation, and their medicinal uses with availability, quantification of phytochemicals, and economic view for production. This article will also be helpful for the industries for the production of medicines, bael products, food supplements and also helpful for researchers to make it more fruitful.

### **2. Botanical description**

The growth of the *A. marmelos* tree is slow, and the height is nearly about 762 cm and 90–120 cm in girth [12], with a somewhat spiny branches of stem are observed in the bael tree [13]. Branches are armed with straight sharp axillary thrones, 2.5 cm long. Leaves alternate, 3 – foliate, rarely 5 – foliate; petiole 2.5–6.3 cm long, terete, 2.5 cm long. Leaflets 5–10 by 2.5–6.3 cm, ovate or ovate – lanceolates, crenate, acuminate, membranous, pellucid-punctate, the lateral opposite, subsessile, the terminal long petioluled. **Table 2** shows the botanical classification of bael.

The color of the leaves is different in different phase of the leaves; it is very green and fresh to see in the early stages, but later on it looks like dark green in color [13]. On observing the bark of the tree, it has been found that it is thick in nature, and


**Table 2.**

*Botanical classification of Aegle marmelos/bael.*

after slightly thrashing the bark, then gum secretion is also observed, and it becomes thicker with the presence of air [13]. *A. marmelos* flower is hypogynous and bisexual in nature, and it smells sweet. The greenish-white bael flowers are collectively held by some lateral panicles, which are held by leaf axil [1, 14]. *A. marmelos* fruit has a hard, woody exocarp, and the fruit color is mainly yellowish green, having a diameter of 5.3–7.2 cm, with an approximate weight of 77.2 g, volume of 73.7 mL, and sphericity of 93.72 ± 2.78% [15]. The color of the fruit pulp may vary from bright orange to sunset yellow, and the pulp contains seeds that are present in grooves and is surrounded by thick, clear mucilage. It contains some dots on the outer surface and also contains numerous seeds, which are hard and having thread-like hairs over their outer surface, which is white. The fruit is greenish when unripe, and upon ripening, it turns into yellowish color. Both ripe and unripe fruits are used for their medicinal values [16, 17].
