Antibacterial activity of homemade Indian tomato tamarind soup (rasam) against common pathogens

Systematic consumption of traditional foods is a popular way of treating diseases in India. Rasam, a soup of spices and tomato with a tamarind base, is a home remedy for viral infections such as the common cold. While its ingredients have been shown to possess antibacterial properties, the antibacterial activity of rasam itself has not been widely studied. Here, we investigate if rasam, prepared under household conditions, exhibits antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, two common pathogenic bacteria. Due to the antibacterial properties of its ingredients, we hypothesized that rasam would also exhibit antibacterial activity. We observed the growth of each of the bacteria in nutrient broth media with different concentrations of rasam and found that rasam did not exhibit any antibacterial activity. Our results show rasam prepared under household conditions lacks antibacterial activity despite its ingredients possessing such properties. Future studies may aim to understand the reason for the lack of antibacterial properties of spices in the dish when prepared under household conditions and may use alternate methods of preparation and experimentation to further investigate the dish’s antibacterial potential.