Tag Archives: Fruit

Sugar Apple

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Sugar Apple

Sugar apples are sweet delicacies with no added sugar. Amazing, right?

  • Sugar apples are a type of fruit grown on trees that have their origins in the Americas.
  • The scientific name of the plant bearing sugar apples is Annona squamosa and it is from the family Annonaceae, the family of custard apples, however many commercial varieties are hybrids of Annona squamosa and Annona cherimola, of which the fruit is sometimes known as ‘atemoya’.
  • A ‘sugar apple’ is also known as ‘ata’, ‘aati’, ‘annon’, ‘sweetsop’, ‘pineapple sugar-apple’ – which usually refers to the hybrid ‘atemoya’, ‘sweet apple’, and ‘custard apple’, although the latter term can also refer to fruit of other species in the same genus.
  • Sugar apples are a heart, conical or roundish shape, and generally reach a diameter of 5 to 15 centimetres (2 to 6 inches) or more and can weigh between 100 grams and 3 kilograms (3.5 ounces to 6.6 pounds), depending on the species or variety.
  • Sugar apples are typically bumpy in appearance, and their skin is generally a dark green colour which changes to a light green, sometimes with a yellow, blue or red tinge when ripe, and, the flesh is a white or creamy colour.

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Custard Apple
Image courtesy of Hort Innovation
  • The flesh of sugar apples is quite slippery and juicy, and has a soft texture; and depending on the variety, it may have segments.
  • Sugar apples notably have a flavour comparable to custard, and are otherwise particularly sweet, and they are usually eaten raw and sometimes made into a drink with the addition of ice-cream or milk.
  • Sugar apples are popularly cultivated in a number of regions around the world, including parts of Asia and Australia, as well as other tropical or sub-tropical areas.
  • Around 20 to 40 black seeds can be found in most sugar apple varieties, which contain a toxin and thus should not be consumed.
  • Sugar apples are extremely high in vitamin C and are a good source of vitamin B6 and fibre, and they contain many other vitamins and minerals.
Bibliography:
Sugar Apple, 2016, Purdue Agriculture, https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/sugar_apple.html
Sugar-apple, 2016, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar-apple
Australian Custard Apples, 2016, Hort Innovation, http://www.custardapple.com.au/

Blackberry

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Blackberry

Remember those days when you could skip out to the woods and pick some blackberries?

  • Blackberries are a fruit often considered a berry, even though technically speaking they aren’t, and various species originated in parts of America, Asia, Europe and northern Africa.
  • Blackberries grow on a variety of plant species from the Rubus genus, that comes from the family Rosaceae, the family of roses.
  • Blackberries’ are also known as ‘bramble berries’, ‘brambles’, and ‘black-caps’, although this name is technically reserved for referring to a raspberry variety coloured black.
  • Although similar to a raspberry, a blackberry can be distinguished by its stem’s habit to break at the branch when ripe, unlike its cousin, which breaks at the fruit.
  • Wild varieties of blackberry plants will typically contain sharp prickles that have have the ability to rip through thick fabric, although many commercially grown varieties have been cultivated to not feature any.
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Blackberry
Image courtesy of threelayercake/Flickr
  • Usually blackberries will contain nutritious seeds and they form in small druplets that make up the fruit.
  • In 2005, the United States was the largest producer of blackberries in the world, producing approximately 31,840 tonnes (35,100 tons).
  • Blackberries are commonly eaten raw or cooked, often in desserts, and they can be made into jam, or used to flavour wine and jelly.
  • Blackberry fruits are typically a purple or black colour, and they are usually a red colour when they are not yet ripe.
  • Blackberries are very high in vitamin K, vitamin C and manganese, as well as fibre, and they are contain many other vitamins and minerals.
Bibliography:
Blackberry, 2016, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberry
Blackberries, n.d, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, http://www.almanac.com/plant/blackberries
Worldwide Production of Blackberries, n.d, Berry Grape, http://berrygrape.org/files/newsletters/blackberryworldwide.pdf

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Langsat

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Langsat

Langsats are just one of those many exotic fruits from Southeast Asia.

  • Langsat is the edible fruit of a tree that originates from countries of Southeast Asia, and it is commonly eaten raw, but can also be cooked.
  • The scientific name of the tree bearing langsats is Lansium parasiticum, also known as Lansium domesticum, and it is from the family Meliaceae, the family of mahogany.
  • ‘Langsat’ fruit is also known as ‘lanzone’, ‘lansone’, ‘langsak’, ‘longkong’, ‘duku’, and other names, depending on the country and language.
  • The langsat tree typically grows to a height of 10 to 20 metres (33 to 66 feet), and the trees may bear fruit twice a year, depending on the climate.
  • Langsat fruit are usually around 2 to 5 centimetres (0.8 to 2 inches) in length and ovoid or spherical in shape, and they grown in bunches of two to thirty.
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Langsat
Image courtesy of Yun Huang Yong/Flickr
  • The flavour of langsats is sweet to sour, and is often compared to a blend of grape and grapefruit.
  • The flesh of langsats is a translucent white colour, while the skin is a yellow or brown colour and can either be thick or thin, depending on the variety, and is usually peeled off before eating.
  • Each individual langsat contains five or six segments, and one to three seeds that expel a taste of bitterness once eaten.
  • Langsats are high in vitamin B, phosphorus and vitamin A, and they contain other beneficial vitamins and minerals.
  • When ripe, langsats can drop from their host tree with ease, even with just a few shakes, and once picked, they are best stored in cool conditions, or eaten soon after ripening.
Bibliography:
Health Benefits of Langsat Fruit, 2015, Medindia, http://www.medindia.net/patients/lifestyleandwellness/top-9-health-benefits-of-langsat-fruit.htm
Langsat and Duku, 1982, The Archives of The Rare Fruit Council of Australia, http://rfcarchives.org.au/Next/Fruits/LangsatDuku/LangsatDuku5-82.htm
Lansium Parasiticum, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansium_parasiticum
Morton J, Langsat, 1987, Purdue Agriculture, https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/langsat.html
Nelson B, 15 Fruits You’ve Probably Never Heard Of, 2010, Mother Nature Network, http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/photos/15-fruits-youve-probably-never-heard-of/langsat

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Persimmon

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Persimmon

Persimmons are a sugar sweet fruit.

  • Persimmons are a fruit native to China and they are popularly eaten in other Asian countries such as South Korea and Japan, where they have been grown for hundreds of years.
  • The trees persimmons are grown on are from the Diospyros genus from the family Ebenaceae, a family of flowering trees and shrubs including ebony used in the wood trade.
  • While there are a number of different species of the fruit tree, the most commonly grown is Diospyros kaki, or ‘Japanese’, ‘Asian’, or ‘kaki’ persimmon, as it is commonly known.
  • Persimmons generally grow to be 1.5 to 10 centimetres (0.6 to 4 inches) in diameter, depending on the species or variety, while they are most commonly between 6 and 8.5 centimetres (2.4 to 3.3 inches) wide and can be shaped like acorns, hearts, spheres, apples and pumpkins.
  • Sometimes persimmons need to be peeled before eating, though they can be eaten raw, dried, or cooked, and they are often used in variety of desserts and baked goods.

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  • The word ‘persimmon’ comes from the native eastern United States language named Powhatan, from the term ‘pasimenan‘, meaning ‘dry or dried fruit’.
  • The colour of persimmons ranges between different shades of red, yellow, and orange, and less commonly – purple, brown and black.
  • Persimmons have a sweet flavour and are either ‘astringent’ and only edible when fully ripe and soft with a somewhat jelly-like flesh, or ‘non-astringent’ and able to be eaten when crisp and firm, as well as soft.
  • The tannin chemical in unripe persimmons causes the astringent fruit to taste bitter, and it can react with weak acids in the human stomach to create hard phytobezoar compounds that are potentially dangerous.
  • Persimmons are very high in vitamin A, manganese, fibre and vitamin C, and they have been used for medicinal purposes to treat a variety of ailments.
Bibliography:
Diospyros kaki – Thumb., 2012, Plants For A Future, http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Diospyros+kaki
Morton J, Japanese Persimmon, 1987, Purdue Agriculture, https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/japanese_persimmon.html
Persimmon, 1996, California Rare Fruit Growers, http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/persimmon.html
Persimmon, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon

 

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Grapefruit

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Grapefruit

Take your pick choosing the sweet or the sour grapefruit.

  • Grapefruit is a fruit that was created through cross breeding of the sweet orange and pomelo fruits, both of which are native to Asia.
  • The scientific name of a grapefruit is Citrus x paradisi, and it is from the family Rutaceae, the family of citrus.
  • Grapefruit are typically a roundish shape and grow to sizes of 10 to 15 centimetres (4 to 6 inches) in diameter, while the tree they grow on has an average height of 5 to 6 metres (16 to 20 feet).
  • The colour of grapefruit skin is usually yellow, orange or a pink-yellow, while the flesh is coloured white, pink, red, yellow or orange.
  • Grapefruit grow on trees in bunches, comparable to those of grapes, hence the fruit’s common name.
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Grapefruit
Image courtesy of isox4/Flickr
  • China produced the greatest amount of grapefruit in the world in 2012, with roughly 3,800,000 tonnes (4,200,000 tons) of the world’s total of just over 8,040,000 tonnes (8,860,000 tons).
  • Generally grapefruit is eaten raw, either without additions or added to desserts for flavour, although it can be cooked to reduce its sourness, and the fruit can also be juiced.
  • It is thought that grapefruit were crossbred through natural pollination and were discovered on the island of Barbados in the Lesser Antilles in the Carribbean, and were later classified scientifically around 1830.
  • Grapefruit have a strange flavour, a combination of both sour and sweet, the sweetness varying depending on the variety, and the fruit is also quite juicy.
  • Grapefruit is extremely high in vitamin C, is a very good source of vitamin A as well as a good source of fibre, and it contains many other vitamins and minerals.
Bibliography:
Grapefruit, 2011, Fresh for Kids, http://www.freshforkids.com.au/fruit_pages/grapefruit/grapefruit.html
Grapefruit, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapefruit
Grapefruit, 2015, The World’s Healthiest Foods, http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=25

Rhubarb

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Rhubarb

Try to hear past all the rhubarb.

  • Rhubarb is an edible stalk-based vegetable that grows as a perennial, native to Siberia and other parts of central and eastern Asia.
  • The scientific name of rhubarb is Rheum rhabarbarum and it is from the family Polygonaceae, the family of knotweed.
  • Although normally considered a vegetable, rhubarb is sometimes known as a fruit, even leading to a court in the United State’s New York to declare the food a fruit in 1947.
  • Rhubarb is grown both outdoors and indoors successfully, particularly in greenhouses where mild temperatures can be retained all year; and the produce varies in texture, taste and colour depending on where it was grown.
  • The stalks of rhubarb are stereotypically coloured red and they have leaves that are green, although stalks may also be pink, or partially or fully green.
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Rhubarb
Image courtesy of H. Michael Milley/Flickr
  • Commonly rhubarb stalks are cooked by gently boiling them, and the vegetable is often made into sauces or other dishes, as well as added to desserts such as pies and tarts.
  • The texture of rhubarb is quite crisp, and it has a very tart flavour, causing it to often have the addition of sugar to sweeten it.
  • The leaves of a rhubarb plant are toxic due to chemicals they contain, like oxalic acid, which can negatively impact human health upon consumption.
  • For thousands of years, rhubarb has been used medicinally, especially in China, and it has been used for digestive issues, as a laxative, and for numerous other health complaints.
  • Rhubarb is very high in vitamin K, and is high in manganese, potassium, calcium, fibre and vitamin C.
Bibliography:
Rhubarb, 2011, Fresh For Kids, http://www.freshforkids.com.au/veg_pages/rhubarb/rhubarb.html
Rhubarb, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb

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