Walk into any Kerala house compound and you are standing inside a working farm that most people who live there never call one. The പറമ്പ്, Kerala's homestead garden, is studied by agroforestry researchers worldwide, and everything in it has a Malayalam name used daily. You learn the coconut palm and every part of it (and the one-vowel difference between തെങ്ങ് and തേങ്ങ), the banana and its leaf, jackfruit, mango and cashew, pepper growing as a vine up the palms, and tapioca, a South American root that became Kerala comfort food. Words and phrases in this class: പറമ്പ് (parambu) – the house compound, homestead garden തെങ്ങ് (thengu) – coconut palm (the tree) തേങ്ങ (thenga) – coconut (the nut) കരിക്ക് (karikku) – tender coconut, for drinking ചകിരി (chakiri) – coir fibre വെളിച്ചെണ്ണ (velichenna) – coconut oil വാഴ (vaazha) – banana plant വാഴയില (vaazhayila) – banana leaf പ്ലാവ് (plaavu) – jackfruit tree ചക്ക (chakka) – jackfruit മാവ് (maavu) – mango tree കണ്ണിമാങ്ങ (kannimaanga) – tiny raw mango, for pickle കുരുമുളക് (kurumulaku) – black pepper കപ്പയും മീൻ കറിയും (kappayum meen kariyum) – tapioca with fish curry In this class: • The പറമ്പ്: a whole farm in a house compound • The coconut, used completely, and the tree-or-nut trap • Banana, jackfruit, mango and cashew, and what Kerala makes from them • Pepper as a garden vine, and tapioca's journey from South America Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.