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12 Wonderful Facts About Chompoo (Pink Apple)

Chompoo is a rose apple or Malabar plum. The fruit is pear-shaped, pitted with a pink skin and dense white flesh, similar in texture and appearance to an apple. When chilled, its pulp is an excellent thirst quencher. There are also white, green and red colors, usually the lighter, the sweeter. The season is from April to June.

  1. Chompoo is considered one of the favorite fruits of children. It does not need to be cleaned, it has no pits.
  2. Chompoo is a tree of the myrtle family, native to eastern India. It has long been grown in Sri Lanka, Indochina, and the Pacific islands.
  3. In 1762 it was introduced to Jamaica and spread to the Antilles, Bahamas, Bermuda, and the plains of Central and South America; from southern Mexico to Peru.
  4. Since the end of the nineteenth century, it has been cultivated in tropical Africa, on the Pembe Islands, Zanzibar, Reunion, and Australia.
  5. Although the fruit is called apple, it does not in any way resemble the fruit we know, neither in shape nor in taste.
  6. Chompoo is widely used in traditional medicine in those countries where it grows.
  7. The juice from the leaves of the Malay tree serves as a facial lotion. Fruit pulp and seeds, leaves, bark have antimicrobial action; they are also used to regulate blood pressure and treat colds.
  8. They taste like sweetened water, and sometimes just water, odorless and tasteless. When chilled, it is an excellent thirst quencher.
  9. The fruits of the Pink Apple are eaten fresh, stewed with sugar. They are used to make jams, jellies, syrups, and sauces.
  10. At home, their halves are often filled with a mixture of rice and meat, poured over with tomato sauce, seasoned with chopped garlic, and baked for about 20 minutes.
  11. They are also canned in combination with other fruits. The essential oil is extracted from the leaves. The bark of the tree is rich in tannin.
  12. Exotic chompoo has no contraindications; everyone can use it. Of course, it is worth remembering the possibility of individual intolerance and the fact that it is necessary to consume the fruit in reasonable quantities.
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16 Amazing Facts About Sweet Рotato

The plant belongs to the bindweed family. Unlike potatoes, which are tuber (stem thickening), sweet potatoes form root thickenings. Storage root – this is what the sweet potato roots are called abroad, which most fully reflects their essence. In addition, all parts of the plant are edible: leaves and young shoots are actively used for food. What do you know about Sweet Рotato?

  1. Worldwide, sweet potatoes are the sixth most important food staple after rice, wheat, potatoes, corn and cassava. However, in developing countries, it is the fifth most important food crop (it is grown more than any other root-tuberous crop). More than 105 million metric tons are produced annually worldwide; 95% of which are grown in developing countries.
  2. The sweet potato can grow up to 2500 meters above sea level. It requires less resources and labor to grow than other crops such as corn, etc. It can also be cultivated in areas with extreme growing conditions: dry periods, poor soil. Here it acts as a cheap “nutritional solution” in developing countries that need to grow more food in a smaller area.
  3. Sweet potato roots have a wide range of skin and pulp colors. It ranges from white to yellow, orange and deep purple. Varieties with bright orange flesh are an important source of beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. Only 125 g of this sweet potato provides the daily requirement for provitamin A of a preschool child.
  4. In addition, sweet potatoes are also a valuable source of vitamins B, C, and E, and they contain moderate amounts of iron and zinc.
  5. US dietitians are studying the potential anti-cancer properties of anthocyanins, which are present in the purple varieties of this crop.
  6. Sweet potato comes from Latin America, but today it is Asia that is the world’s largest producer of this crop: more than 90 million tons. China is the leader here. He not only grows, but also consumes the largest amount of sweet potatoes. The plant is used for food production, animal feed and processing (starch, flour, alcohol, food additives and dyes, etc.).
  7. The importance of sweet potatoes as a food crop is growing at an enormous rate in some parts of the world. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa, it is outpacing the growth rate of other major products. It was also tasted in Europe. This refers to countries that traditionally did not grow sweet potatoes: France, Great Britain, Germany (consumption of sweet potatoes by the population is growing from year to year).
  8. Sweet potatoes are used not only in human nutrition. It is a source of healthy and cheap animal feed. Recent studies have shown that animals fed high-protein sweet potato tops produce less methane gas than those fed with other foods. This potentially contributes to significant reductions in harmful global emissions.
  9. This wonderful crop produces more “edible” kilograms per hectare than any other (including corn and white potatoes). This is why sweet potato is considered one of the first plants to be cultivated in space stations.
  10. Batat more than once rescued the population of different countries during the “difficult periods” of their development. In America, he saved the first colonial settlements of Europeans from starvation. During the Civil War and the Great Depression in the United States, it allowed tens of thousands of people to survive. The Japanese used it when typhoons destroyed their rice fields. Made it possible for millions of people to survive in starving China in the early 1960s. The sweet potato came to the rescue in Uganda in the 1990s when a virus wiped out the cassava crop.
  11. Fresh sweet potatoes, stored for a long time in a modern refrigerator, develops a fragile taste and a hardened heart.
  12. When Columbus brought the first sweet potato roots to Spain, his first biographer wrote: “Christopher discovered one island called Hispaniola (present-day Haiti), whose inhabitants eat a special root bread. A small bush grows tubers the size of a pear or small pumpkin. They are dug out of the ground in the same way as our radish or turnip, dried in the sun, chopped, ground into flour and baked from it into bread, which is consumed boiled. The natives call these tubers “Achies”).
  13. It took the British 200 years to accept ordinary potatoes (they call them “Irish”) as suitable for human nutrition, but sweet potatoes immediately became a rare and expensive delicacy.
  14. Before becoming the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and the first president, George Washington was a yam farmer!
  15. In the industry of various countries, not only food products, semi-finished products and ethyl alcohol (from 10 kg of sweet potato yield up to 1.7 liters) are made from sweet potatoes, but also biofuel: bioethanol.
  16. In Japan, the following experiment was successfully carried out: an electric current of 2 A was passed through a sweet potato root crop for 5 minutes. As a result, the amount of antioxidants increased almost one and a half times! This technique had no effect on the taste of sweet potatoes.
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13 Awesome Facts About Kiwi

Kiwi is a young fruit that appeared only in the middle of the 20th century as a result of the cultivation of a vine called “gourmet Actinidia”.

  1. In China, the homeland of the kiwi, it is called the “monkey peach” because of the hairy skin that covers the fruit.
  2. Despite its large size and hairy skin, the kiwi is a berry. Chinese emperors in ancient times used it as an aphrodisiac.
  3. Wild kiwi weighs only 30 grams, while cultivated already about 70-100.
  4. The Europeans called kiwi the Chinese gooseberry, although they are not actually related. Kiwi is a liana, and gooseberry is a bush.
  5. Because of its taste and nutritional value, kiwi is grown in many countries around the world. These are mainly countries with a subtropical climate, kiwi is especially widely produced in Italy, New Zealand, Chile, Greece.
  6. All kiwi varieties usually have green flesh, but there is the Gold kiwi variety (“golden kiwi” or “yellow kiwi”), the fruits of which have yellow flesh.
  7. When describing the taste of kiwi, they speak of a combination of gooseberry, strawberry, banana, melon, apple, cherry, and pineapple aromas. Kiwi is eaten fresh, the jam is made from it, jelly is made, and added to salads.
  8. There are many recipes for desserts and drinks with kiwi. Kiwi is perfect for filling pies, it can also be used to make jams and marmalades.
  9. Kiwi peel contains more antioxidants than pulp. It has antiseptic properties, but it is not recommended for hypersensitivity of the oral mucosa.
  10. Interestingly, kiwi contains more vitamin C than citrus fruits. The high potassium content makes kiwi useful for some forms of hypertension, iodine deficiency.
  11. Rich in vitamins, micro-, and macroelements, kiwi reduces the risk of cancer, diseases of the cardiovascular system, can burn fats, and reduces the risk of blood clots.
  12. Kiwi is used in the manufacture of cosmetic masks for cleansing, moisturizing, rejuvenating, nourishing the skin. Due to a large number of fruit acids, kiwi is often used as a peeling.
  13. Researchers at Baylor University in Dallas carefully studied the properties of 27 foods to determine which fruits are most beneficial for our body. As a result, experts noted that kiwi is one of the healthiest fruits.
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Food

11 Unusual Facts About Snake Fruit Salak

A fast-growing, low-rise tropical palm tree with many feathery-leaved trunks, the petioles, and axes of which are covered with thorns. Bunches of red-brown fruit grow just above the ground at the base of the trunk. Scaly, rough, thorny, and resembling snakeskin fruits of salak (hence the name – snake fruit, similar to small onions. The pulp is beige-yellow, sweet, aromatic, and has a specific taste.

  1. This fruit grows on a palm tree and has many small thorns. To clean it, you need to get used to it or you can easily chop off all your hands.
  2. The homeland of the Salak is Southeast Asia – Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, in other countries, it is very rare.
  3. It is believed that the most delicious varieties grow in Java near Yogyakarta and Bali.
  4. The taste of the fruit differs depending on the variety.
  5. Some describe it as sweet and sour with a nutty flavor, some say the taste resembles something like cherries, gooseberries, and strawberries, for others something like a mixture of banana and pineapple, and others describe it as cotton wool filled with valerian with the same smell and taste.
  6. Unripe fruits are either very bitter or tart-sour. Let us remind you that it all depends on the variety of salak. By the way, and outwardly, they are different from round to almond-shaped. But all one is brown.
  7. The pulp has several or one segment and different intensities of beige color. Again, it depends on the salak species.
  8. Salak (snake fruit) contains tannin, which removes all harmful substances from the body, has astringent, hemostatic, antidiarrheal, and anti hemorrhoidal properties.
  9. Typically, the fruit is eaten raw, but it can also be used boiled and candied. Unripe fruits have a sour and astringent taste and are pickled like pickles.
  10. Even though there are no special contraindications to the use of salak, it is not necessary to lean on it in large quantities at the first acquaintance with this fruit.
  11. For those who are not accustomed to tropical fruits, such “overeating” can be expressed in itching, rashes, and digestive upset – in other words, allergies.
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11 Amazing Facts About Eggplants

Eggplants are starting to appear in our markets, and gourmets are in a hurry to seize the moment when the vegetable is available for sale. Eggplants contain vitamins C, B, B2, PP, carotene, as well as potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and iron, this vegetable is good for the brain. What do you know about Eggplant?

  1. Eggplants are included in national cuisines all over the world – from China to America.
  2. In some countries, eggplants are eaten raw because they retain more nutrients in their raw state.
  3. When cooking, eggplants significantly decrease in volume, losing liquid, so you should definitely take this fact into account if you are thinking of a dish from these vegetables.
  4. Eggplants are eaten with or without the peel. It is believed that the peel is completely indigestible by our body, so it is better to remove the excess load for the stomach.
  5. Eggplant looks very harmonious as part of vegetable stews and sautés, as it combines with seasonal vegetables in the best possible way – tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini. Eggplant is an excellent side dish for fish and meat, and also tolerates the neighborhood with fermented milk products – cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese.
  6. There are many types of eggplant, but the most useful are narrow oblong fruits with almost black skin.
  7. Overripe eggplants are undesirable for consumption, as they contain a poisonous substance – solanine.
  8. Eggplants go well with spices such as basil, garlic, onion, thyme, rosemary, cumin, coriander, tarragon.
  9. Eating eggplants can lower blood cholesterol levels, improve heart function, and solve problems of the intestines, liver, and kidneys.
  10. Eggplants relieve swelling and normalize the water-salt balance in the body, remove salts.
  11. In Europe, eggplants began to be eaten in the 15th century, but their industrial cultivation began much later, only in the 19th century.
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15 Enchanting Facts About Carambola

Carambola, or star fruit, is one of the exotic fruits that is a traditional food for people in Indonesia, Thailand, India, and other countries of Southeast Asia.

  1. The fruit has several names – starfruit, carom, star apple, tropical star. Several names of the fruit are associated with the star, and all because in the context of the slices of carambola are very similar to five-pointed stars.
  2. Fruits grow on low evergreen trees of the oxalis family, which reach a height of 3-5 m. The leaves of the tree are acacia-like, reaching 30 cm in length.
  3. The fruits are crispy and juicy, with an unusual oblong shape, with growths like sharp ribs. Ripe fruits are amber-yellow in color, up to 15 cm in length. Inside there are seeds that look like pumpkin seeds.
  4. Carambola is eaten with the peel. The fruit tastes like a combination of apple, citrus, grape, and pear.
  5. Carambola is divided into 2 types: sweet with large fruits up to 12 cm in length, and sour, with small fruits and sharper edges of the ribs.
  6. Carambola varieties differ in their taste. Some resemble a combination of an apple with grapes, a plum with a gooseberry, or a rose apple. There are several main varieties of this plant.
  7. The leaves of the tree curl up like the wings of a butterfly when they lack light or are touched.
  8. The carambola flowers have a very original taste; they are used as seasonings for salads. The unripe fruits are used as vegetables, and a delicious stew is obtained from stewed green star fruit.
  9. In India, the fruit is used as an effective hangover cure. Residents of Sri Lanka clean hard-to-remove stains from tissues with fruit juice.
  10. Green fruits are used to whiten dentures due to a large amount of oxalic acid.
  11. The leaves of the plant are similar in taste to spinach, they are actively used in cooking, especially in India.
  12. Fruit juice perfectly quenches thirst on hot days.
  13. Unripe fruits in Thailand are used as a shine for brass and copper products.
  14. Fruits contain a lot of vitamins C, A, and group B, they contain sodium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, magnesium, ascorbic acid, and fiber. The fruit is very useful and has medicinal properties.
  15. In the traditional medicine of warm countries, where the fruit comes from, carambola leaves, seeds, fruits, and flowers are used to treat many health problems.

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10 Amazing Facts About Basils

Although the scope of its application is not as wide as it could be – all because of the powerful aroma of basil, which makes it unconditionally dominate in combination with delicate foods – where basil is appropriate, it literally transforms the dish, breathing new life into it. And of course, there are many other interesting facts to tell about the basilica.

  1. Basil comes from central and tropical Asia and Africa – according to one of the versions, we owe the origin of the basil to India. However, in the Mediterranean, basil grew extensively already in antiquity and is an integral part of Mediterranean cuisine.
  2. The name “basil” goes back to the Greek “royal”, “royal”. The Greeks believed that only the monarch himself, armed with a golden sickle, has the right to collect the basilica.
  3. In addition, the ancient Greeks, and with them, the Romans believed that basil would rise only if the sowers shouted curses and shouted wildly.
  4. In general, there are many superstitions associated with basil. For example, it was widely believed that a basil leaf, forgotten under an inverted bowl, after a while turns into a scorpion. Some even believed that sniffing basil would trigger a scorpion in the brain.
  5. It was also believed that Salome covered the severed head of John the Baptist in a pot of basil to hide the smell of decay. Let us also mention the terrible story told by Boccaccio about a girl who watered a pot of basil with her tears, in which the head of her lover was buried. Later, this story inspired the English poet John Keats to create the poem Isabella, or a pot of basil. However, it seems to me that the fault is not basil, but the overly violent and painful imagination of some creative personalities.
  6. However, the stories associated with the basil do not have to be chilling. In Italy, basil has always been considered a symbol of love, and in Romania, a young man who accepts a basil stalk as a gift from a girl agrees to be engaged. In Mexico, they believe that basil protects from the fact that the beloved will lay eyes on someone else, in Haiti, basil is generally considered a powerful amulet.
  7. A mixture of basil and rosemary is used as a salt substitute in a salt-free diet.
  8. Basil leaves are a valuable source of vitamin P-rutin and provitamin A. In addition, the aerial part of the plant is rich in essential oils, and therefore basil is widely used in medicine as an aphrodisiac and general tonic, to stimulate digestion and arouse appetite.
  9. Basil goes well with tomatoes and is one of the main ingredients of pesto, so a rare Italian dish does without basil.
  10. Basil is also famous for the fact that it suits almost any dish – fish, meat, vegetables. In addition, you can always add a spicy flavor to food by seasoning it with vinegar or olive oil infused with basil.
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10 Amazing Facts About Beans

Beans are a unique plant that is grown almost all over the world. What do you know about Beans?

  1. Beans are a unique plant that is grown almost all over the world. The total cultivated area of beans reaches 130 million square kilometers worldwide. The USA grows the largest amount of soybeans.
  2. The largest volumes of peas and beans are grown in Russia.
  3. Beans are very rich in nutrients. In addition, beans contain several times more protein than other foods. Because of this, beans are used dry or fresh for feeding animals and nature in human nutrition.
  4. The bean fruit can be very different. Usually, all fruits differ from each other in size (slightly).
  5. There are beans that are woven, and there are those that are compact.
  6. Basically, the roots of beans run deep underground, which naturally allows you to enrich the soil with nutrients.
  7. The beans tolerate cold very well and germinate even at temperatures around 5 degrees. However, beans are very fond of moisture, so growing them in dry areas is problematic.
  8. Beans can be grown in front of almost any other plant, as beans saturate the soil with nutrients and minerals, which other plants do not.
  9. The beans can grow alone, but they can grow with other plants. For example, you can plant beans along with corn so they grow up better, and use corn as a base to curl more.
  10. You need to sow beans quite early, to a depth of about 5 centimeters. You need to harvest the beans when about 70-80% of the crop is dry. Only in this case, it will be possible to obtain the maximum yield from the entire plantation.
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10 Amazing Facts About Luffa

Each gardener has a corner on his site where he grows plants not only for food and benefit but also for the soul. This is how liana became for me – luffa. It belongs to the pumpkin family. It grows wild in India and Africa. This is a herbaceous liana-like plant of enormous size, has a powerful root system, rounded-heart-shaped, pointed leaves. Flowers are dioecious, yellow, rather decorative.

  1. More common is the Egyptian luffa, known as cylindrical, or pumpkin. It is grown mainly for the production of sponges. Doctors believe that natural washcloths are the best remedy for a wellness massage. In cosmetology, they are also used as a mild peeling agent, as well as for the prevention and control of cellulite.
  2. Luffa acute-angled, or ribbed, is more often used for food. She is more early maturing. Young fruits are fragile, juicy, aromatic, starchy, contain vitamins, calcium salts, and phosphoric acid. It is consumed fresh, like cucumbers, soups, sauces are prepared, and fried in oil is served with meat dishes. Infusion of luffa fruits is used in folk medicine.
  3. The fruits of these types of loofah are different: in the “washcloth” – cylindrical up to 70 cm long, up to 15 cm thick; in acute-angled – ribbed, clavate or pear-shaped, 15-40 cm long, 5-8 cm thick. Seeds in fruits are flat, black, rarely white, with a firm dense skin that does not allow moisture to pass through for a long time. Therefore, before sowing, the seeds are soaked in warm water for 2-3 days, changing the water every day.
  4. Luffa among the pumpkin seeds is the most demanding for heat and humidity. The growing season (until the seeds are fully ripe) is 180-200 days. The optimum temperature for growth and development is 25-30C. At a temperature of + 10C, its growth slows down, the seeds do not germinate, so it is best to grow luffa through seedlings. 30-day-old plants are planted in a permanent location, such as a greenhouse or along with a net that wraps around an arch or veranda on the sunny side of the house.
  5. Luffa needs frequent watering, especially when growing leaves. Responds well to spraying. Over the summer, it is advisable to feed her 3-4 times with a solution of mullein or chicken droppings.
  6. In mid-latitudes, it is quite possible to provide yourself with washcloths from your own beds.
  7. To do this, leave 2-3 fruits on the plant. Under favorable conditions and correct agricultural practices, 3-5 large cylindrical luffa fruits and 6-8 sharp-ribbed luffa fruits can be obtained from each plant.
  8. How to make a Luffa? It’s not tricky either. It is necessary to dip the fruit in boiling water for 10-15 minutes. Then remove the peel, shake out the seeds and rinse well in soapy water. The natural washcloth is ready.
  9. And also, for a long time, seals for mechanisms, hats, shoes, mats, and soap have been made from fruits. Luffa was also appreciated by manufacturers of pet products because toys made from it are an excellent toothbrush for beloved pets.
  10. There is no doubt about the decorativeness of the washcloths. Yellow bell-shaped flowers look very beautiful against the background of green leaves. You can decorate a gazebo with a loofah liana, hide from inquisitive neighbors by planting it by the fence, or simply disguise some garden bed.
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9 Amazing Facts About Broccoli

Broccoli is a very healthy and tasty cabbage that is given to babies as a complementary food and is called the “product of the 21st century.” Here are some interesting facts about this bright and beautiful cabbage.

  1. Broccoli is one of the oldest vegetables on earth. It did not exist in the wild: scientists found out that this variety of cabbage was bred in the 6-5 centuries BC. In the 1st century BC, the ancient Roman scientist Pliny wrote a description of broccoli, where he called it “a blessed plant.”
  2. Despite the fact that in ancient Rome broccoli was very popular, the rest of the world did not even know about its existence. After Rome, broccoli was recognized in ancient Greece – more than 2,000 years ago. Then, centuries later, broccoli came to Byzantium (modern Turkey), and from there it spread throughout the world.
  3. The name “broccoli” was popular only in Rome. In the rest of the world, it was called “Italian asparagus” – everywhere except in Germany. There they called the cabbage “Brown Copf” – brown head.
  4. Since then, more than 200 varieties of broccoli have been developed. Despite such a large number of species, only 6 varieties are mainly grown. And recently, scientists have created another variety, Beneforte – this broccoli contains three times more beneficial anti-cancer substances than ordinary cabbage.
  5. Broccoli is considered a negative calorie food. This is the name of foods, the digestion of which the body spends more calories than they contain. By the way, the calorie content of broccoli is very low: only 34 kcal per 100 grams.
  6. And that’s why broccoli is used for weight loss. It is a part of many diets. For example, recently broccoli has become very popular in America: more than 76,000 tons of this cabbage are eaten there a year!
  7. Moreover, this cabbage is very useful and contains almost all the substances the body needs. It is considered a superfood: broccoli contains a large amount of antioxidants, vitamins A, E, and C, PP and B group, many minerals, proteins, and carbohydrates.
  8. By the way, the proteins that are part of broccoli are compared with proteins of animal origin. In terms of their nutritional properties, they are practically equivalent, but they are much easier to digest.
  9. In order for the beneficial properties of broccoli not to be destroyed, it must be cooked correctly: it is best to steam the cabbage, lightly fry or bake it, eat it raw. You should not overcook broccoli: it should be damp, and tastier, and healthier.
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