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Why Eggplant is called Eggplant?

PWB — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 04:03:22 +0000

Many have wondered why this purple and/or green vegetable widely available in many Asian countries is called Eggplant. A simple question boggled many young minds, why eggplant is called eggplant? Something seems isn’t right? But yes, it is known named eggplant for reasons. View the web story below to know.

Why Eggplant is called Eggplant

A bit more facts about Eggplant / Aubergine / Brinjal

in 2018, China and India combined produced 87% of world’s total brinjal.
Other than egg-like round shape and long ones, brinjal comes in in the shape of green bellpepper and small cherry.
Aubergine is full of nutrients
Brinjal is used as vegetable, but it is fruit by botanical definition. Technically it is a berry.
Commonly believed that, Brinjal originated in India.

View Story slides here

Sources:

Images : Mostly from Pixabay, ClearPNG, Wikipedia, and Pexels.
Information: wikipedia, Healthline

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Barbados Cherry (Acerola) – Powerhouse of Vitamin C

PWB — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 18:09:18 +0000

My cousin recently duped by a Nursery, believing he was buying Cherry plant. After few days the fruit came and he shared the images with me and I was laughing. It was not cherry, but looks like cherry tomatoes with 3 big seeds. After searching for some time, not an easy search as this is very uncommon fruit, I found it is actually a cherry, but alas! It is Barbados Cherry or Acerola, scientific name Malpighia emarginata, a tropical fruit native to mostly South America.

Left: Ripe Barbados Cherry (Image source). Right: Flower and unripe Barbados cherry (Own Image)

Ripe Barbados Cherry (Image source).

What caught me off-guard is the amount of vitamin C it contains, which is only rivaled by couple of few other fruits. It contains 1,500+ mg per 100g of vitamin C whereas 100g of regular lemons and oranges have around 52mg vitamin C. For adults, the recommended daily amount for vitamin C is 65 to 90 milligrams (mg) a day, and the upper limit is 2,000 mg a day.

This is kind of big news to me, as the CoronaVirus pandemic is ravaging the world since the beginning of 2020, and with no known cure people are looking to strengthen their immunity by taking vitamins from natural sources or from pharmaceuticals.

Vitamin C Comparison and Daily Need

Vitamin C of Barbados Cherry (Acerola)

1,677.6mg/100g

Daily recommended Vitamin C for well being:

65mg to 90mg

Upper limit is 2000mg/day.

Amla: 600mg/100mg

Guava: 228mg/100g

Bell Pepper (Not green): 128mg/100mg

Kiwifruit: 92.7mg/100g

Broccoli: 89.2mg/100g

Papaya: 61mg/100g

Orange and Lemon: 53mg/100g

Pineapple: 47.8mg/100g

Lime (Green lemons): 29mg/100mg

The plant and climate

This small tree can grow upto 6m (20ft) and a tropical plant native to South America. It also grows well in sub-tropical areas of Asia, like India and Bangladesh.

“Acerola can be propagated by seed, cutting, or other methods. It prefers dry, sandy soil and full sun, and cannot endure temperatures lower than 30 °F/-1 °C. Because of its shallow roots, it has very low tolerance to winds.” – Wikipedia

Used for

“The fruit is edible and widely consumed in the species’ native area, and is cultivated elsewhere for its high vitamin C content. About 1677 mg of vitamin C are in 100 g of fruit. The fruit can be used to make juices and pulps, vitamin C concentrate, and baby food, among other things.

A comparative analysis of antioxidant potency among a variety of frozen juice pulps was carried out, including the acerola fruit. Among the 11 fruit pulps tested, acerola was the highest-scoring fruit, meaning it had the most antioxidant potency, with a Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity score of 53.2 mg.” – Wikipedia.

Photo Gallery: Barbados Cherry (Acerola)

The article is based on the Barbados Cherry tree planted and taken care of by my cousin M. Arefin (Ziko). All photos are taken by him except for one mentioned above.

The post Barbados Cherry (Acerola) – Powerhouse of Vitamin C appeared first on Magazine of Fun and Curosity.

Exotic and Rare Fruits from around the world – Part 1

PWB — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 13:02:01 +0000

The incredible biodiversity of Earth produces even more incredible diverse varieties of exotic fruits. I’m sure that most of us never heard of the fruits that are celebrated in other parts of the world. This article is about those exotic and rare fruits that we may never able to taste.

The article is divided into multiple parts, with each part contains list of five rare and exotic fruits. Please let us know if you want to add some info or if we put give any wrong information. This list includes the following exotic and rare fruits; Cloudberry, Chocolate pudding fruit, Jabuticaba, Rollinia and Peanut butter fruit.

Cloudberry

This wonderful golden-yellow berry grows only in very cold region of the world – the Northern Hemisphere. It’s very soft and juicy when ripe. The cloudberries have very distinctive tart taste and considered a delicacy particularly in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Consisting of between 5 and 25 drupelets, each fruit is initially pale red, ripening into golden-yellow colour.

Cloudberry is known as Bakeapple in Newfoundland and Labrador, the easternmost province of Canada, where it grows in abundance. Interestingly the province celebrate two festivals dedicated to cloudberry aka bakeapple – Bakeapple Folk Festival in Forteau and Garnish Bakeapple Festival.

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Scientific Name: Rubus Chamaemorus
Known As: Clouberry, Bakeapple (Newfoundland and Labrador), Yellowberry, Nordic Berry, Knotberry or Knoutberry (England), Aqpik or Salmonberry (Alaska), Averin or Evron (Scotland)
Where It Grows: Grows naturally throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Greenland, Canada (especialy in Newfoundland and Labrador) , Alaska, Finland, Sweden, Poland, across northern Russia, Norway, etc.
More Info: Wikipedia
Image Source: Canva.com

Chocolate Pudding Fruit

Chocolate pudding fruit or black sapote is a species of persimmon. Unlike commonly loved persimmon which is bright orange from inside and outside, Chocolate pudding fruit’s skin green. But inside is, as the name suggest, chocolate colour when ripe. The ripe fruit takes a flavour, texture and colour compared to Chocolate pudding.

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Scientific Name: Diospyros nigra
Known As: Chocolate pudding fruit, Black sapote, Black soapapple, Zapote prieto (Spanish)
Where It Grows: Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, Colombia
More Info: Wikipedia
Image Source: Canva.com

Jabuticaba

Jabuticaba fruits look like purple grapes with a thicker, tougher skin. It looks so close to grape that it is known as “Tree Grape”. But the interesting fact of this fruit is the way it grows. Unlike other fruits it grows around the tree trunk. Sometime it covers the most of tree trunk and looks like a tree from alien planet.

The thick, purple, skin of Jabuticaba encases a sweet, white or rosy pink gelatinous flesh. It is commonly available in Brazilian market. But the fresh fruit began to ferment within 3 to 4 days of harvest. Because of this short life-span jabuticaba is rarely seen outside the area of cultivation. The fruit is often used to make jams, tarts, strong wines, and liqueurs.

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Scientific Name: Plinia Cauliflora
Known As: Jabuticaba or Jaboticaba, nicknamed “Tree Grape”
Where It Grows: Native to Brazil’s Minas Gerais, Goias and Sao Paulo state. Some species of Jaboticaba are also indigenous to Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, northeastern Argentina, and Paraguay but are quite different to the Jabuticaba mentioned here.
More Info: Wikipedia
Image Source: wikimedia.com

Rollinia

Rollinia is incredibly tasty ‘lemon meringue pie’ flavoured fruit from Brazil. Very creamy and soft textured edible part is covered with very intimidating soft thorny skin. It is green when unripe, ripening to yellow and bruises and blackens with handling, giving it an unappealing appearance. Due to its short shelf life of less than a week the availability is restricted to cultivation areas.

The fruit is eaten fresh when ripe. Rollinia’s cousin known as Custard apple is available throughout the Asia, but they are very different in size and taste.

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Scientific Name: Rollinia deliciosa
Known As: Biribá or Wild sugar-apple, Aratiku
Where It Grows: Grows naturally in Brazil and few part f the surrounding contries
More info: Wikipedia
Image Source: frasercoastnursery.com.au, Youtube

Peanut Butter Fruit

This delicious grape size fruit is known for unusual taste and texture of peanut butter when eaten fresh. The dense pulp is very creamy and has a hint of sweetness. Peanut butter fruit’s colour ranges from orange to red, resembles a grape tomato. It is very fibrous and full of antioxidant. The fruit has two big seeds and as per Wikipedia, they are poisonous. But peanut butter fruit is highly perishable and should be eaten as soon as they are ripe.

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Scientific Name: Bunchosia armeniaca
Known As: Peanut Butter Fruit, Bunchosia, Green Plum, Monk’s Plum
Where It Grows: Native to northwestern South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil and Perú)
More info: Wikipedia
Image Source: dengarden.com

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