Fruits of India: passion fruit, mango, carambola, papaya. Description, taste

Going to popular places of rest, for example, in India, young travelers are interested in: what kind of fruits grow there? Which of them can be eaten and how to do it correctly? After all, unfamiliar food unexpectedly can harm digestion. Fruits of India are represented by a fairly wide range of names. Traditionally, in the country of yogis and fans of the vegetarian attitude towards the world, they are consumed a lot and with great pleasure. And one of these jungle gifts is even a national symbol. About this and many other interesting things we will tell in our article.

Fruits of India

This country is quite extensive in its area and has a huge population. It is located in several climatic zones, which allows to cultivate a large number of plant names. The most famous are mangoes, passion fruit and papaya, guava and chiku, carambola. In general, this exotic. There are peaches and apricots, kiwi, banana, pomegranates and pineapples, apples and grapes more familiar to us. Such fruit abundance is due to the fact that the Himalayas ridge gives many regions of the country excellent protection against cold winds from the north, unfavorable for the growth of air currents. And, in general, in India you can meet and taste the tourists fruits, characteristic as for the tropical, subtropical and subequatorial climate, and for the temperate.

Mango

Mango is one of the symbols and the national fruit of India. Indians themselves say that in the country there are as many varieties of this fruit as there are dialects (according to unverified data from 800 to 1000). The word itself comes from Tamil "mang kai", which translates as "unripe fruit". The national fruit of India boasts such species as chauza, duscheri, totapuri, kesar, nilam. Fruits are distinguished, huge, with a watermelon the size of a bainganpalli, the king of varieties is Alfonso. And all this is mango! In this country, almost every region can boast of its own variety. And for the traveler there is a good opportunity for sampling and selection, among taste variety. Eat fruit in a natural and processed form, sprinkling with a salt dressing, peppers. Of them, make juice (by the way, in the USSR, this fruit was known precisely for tasty mango nectar imported from a friendly fraternal state), adzhika, sweets, add to many culinary dishes. So do not be surprised if you are offered two different kinds of fruit in different parts of India, but they will be called in one word - mangoes!

Passion fruit

About how the passion fruit looks, until recently many Russians had no idea. Meanwhile, in India, this evergreen liana, growing in the tropics, or rather, its fruits, is very popular. Although the homeland of the vine is considered South America, it is cultivated with great success in India (and throughout the world: from Israel to Hawaii). But, by the way, the very name of the fruit went from the Indian word. What does the passion fruit look like? This rounded fruit is yellowish-green with specks of color. They have a sourish-sweet taste, which excellently invigorates and tones in the heat (it's very popular and tasty - to mix the pieces with yoghurt or orange juice). Passion fruit is widely used in medicine to create medicines. There are a lot of useful substances in its pulp. Among them, iron, which is necessary for hematopoiesis and strengthening of immune defense, amino acids and vitamins. The fruit is also used for cosmetic purposes (creams and masks).

"The poor man's cow"

Fruits of India are represented by avocado. It is here that this fruit is called such a strange name - "the poor man's cow". The fruit of the plant of the laurel family is very useful and caloric, and the plant itself has the oldest history (perhaps they were regretted by dinosaurs that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago). The flesh of the fresh avocado is soft, soft, resembles the structure of the oil, it has a yellow-green hue. The fruit contains a lot of usefulness, and it tastes pretty good. Its name is "poor man's cow" - it was received in India due to its caloric value (100 g / 240 kcal), and there are more amino acids in it than in citrus and bananas. No wonder that in 1995 he was listed in the record book, as the most nutritious of all existing fruits.

What does papaya look like?

These fruits are cultivated on all continents, where there is a suitable climate. But India is one of the first places to grow papaya: more than four thousand tons per year. The plant was called a "melon tree". What does papaya look like? Remotely fruit resembles a melon (hence the name happened). The product itself has a low calorie content (39 kcal / 100 grams), which is interesting for nutritionists of different countries. But you should always remember that papaya should be consumed only fully ripe. An unfertilized fruit is dangerous to human health and can cause allergic reactions, rather serious (it is not for nothing that folk medicine uses an unripe fruit as a powerful contraceptive and a drug for abortion). So be extremely careful when buying and using it.

Carambola

This is also a very interesting food exotica. The fruit has a specific taste (as the classic of humor used to say), reminiscent of a mixture of apple, cucumber and gooseberry. And in appearance looks like a star. The local harvest is removed twice a year: 1 - in January, 2 - May. How to eat carambola? This information can be very useful for a novice traveler.

1. Straight with the peel without cleaning. You need to choose the most yellow in appearance peel fruit, then the flesh inside will be ripe, juicy, sweet.
2. How to eat carambola? It can also be cleaned, sliced, added to vegetable and fruit salads to give them an original taste.
3. This fruit is also decorated with meat dishes, and the top of the culinary art is a pie filled with carambola.

Guava

Fruits of India are represented by this very exotic fruit. Remotely it resembles a lemon. This is a recognized record for vitamin indicators (there are much more in them than, for example, in citrus fruits) - guava. Its taste is sour-sweet. The use in culinary art is the same as that of citrus fruits: juice, seasonings to dishes and salads to give them acidity, sweets, sherbet. To choose the right guava, for example, in the market in GOA or India, you need to probe a few of these fruits. Take the softest guava. It is also necessary to inspect the fetus for the presence of cuts and bruises. By external color, guava should be bright green, turning yellow (do not take dark green or brown fruits). There is guava you can just do it: just wash and cut into slices (like apples).

Dates

The most high-calorie fruits of India are dates (tamarinds). Of these, more than 100 culinary dishes are prepared. This is the most amazing in its properties of fruits, which are not one thousand years are called to strengthen the health and immunity of man. At present, the composition of this product of nature, rich in vitamins, microelements, amino acids, and useful carbohydrates has been scrupulously studied. Scientists say that the date contains a good half of Mendeleyev's table. They argue that if you eat only dates and water, then you can stretch more than one year in full health and good spirits. But anyway, all the splendor of the varieties that grow in India, with pleasure, is consumed by local residents and tourists. And they say that these valuable fruits significantly reduce the risk of strokes and heart disease, therefore, many Indians who regularly eat dates, never suffer from heart disease.

The sweetest fruit of India

He is a sapodilla or chiku. To taste the European, he can recall a mixture of honey, molasses, persimmons, figs - cloying and viscous. But, although the pulp is full of sweet, fruit, however, is not too high-calorie, and therefore - valuable for nutrition (83 kcal / 100 g). Initially, the sapodilla grew in South America, but from there it moved to India, where very suitable conditions for its cultivation.

Bananas

As in all tropical countries, in India bananas are at every turn. They grow literally everywhere, but many varieties are much different in appearance from those that we are accustomed to eating in Russia. They are larger in size and original to their taste, and in the markets are sold not by weight, but either individually, or huge bunches of 10-15-20 pieces, so that you can completely eat the whole company.

Kiwi

This "Chinese gooseberry" can be found in India in a wide distribution. These are small oval-shaped berries that, with their fleecy brownish surface, resemble gooseberries, only very large ones. And kiwi from afar on the counter reminds ordinary potatoes, in appearance, of course. Under the skin of the fruit - a juicy pulp, which varies in color, depending on the varieties: from green to yellow. In the pulp are black inclusions - seeds that are also edible and have a sour taste. The product itself is sweet and sour, reminiscent of the taste of a mixture of gooseberry, pineapple and apple. Choose a smooth, dent and scratch fruit, the softer, the richer inside. If you take a solid, then they may well be at home and have only a little time to wait. Use this exotic fruit (although, what an exotic: it's on and the shelves of Russian supermarkets are full) in several ways. You can eat just like that, peeling off the skin and cutting into slices. You can eat a spoon, not cutting, and making only a small hole from above, like a lid. Kiwi is good also in fruit salads and desserts in combination with ice cream and cream - just lick your fingers! And, in general, the given fruit has quite "got accustomed" on counters of the markets and shops so you for certain already had time to try it, having made the culinary travel to the exotic countries.