Raisins

Description

      The raisins are dried grapes. All grapes are, however, not suitable for making raisins. The grapes, which are very sweet, are only selected for drying. Raisins have high nourishing qualities.

Origin and Distribution

      Raisins have been used as food from very ancient times. They had been known to the traders of the Mediterranean Coast even in Greek and Roman ages. Raisins are produced in several parts of the world, but the great bulk of world product comes from Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, California, Australia and South Africa.

Pomegranate

Description

      The pomegranate is a very delicious and semi-seedy fruit. It has refreshing and soothing qualities and is easier to digest than any other fruit. The fruit has been held in high esteem from time immemorial as a food and a medicine. It is symbolic of plenty and a basket of pomegranates was chosen as a symbol of the 18th International Horticultural Congress held in 1970. The pomegranate is a six-sided fruit of fairly large size, with tough, leathery skin. It is divided inside into several cells containing numerous angular seeds. These seeds are surrounded by a succulent coating of pink or crimson color with a delicious sub-acid flavor. The sweet ruby-pink and the sour varieties are most popular.

Date

Description

      The date is one of the most nourishing fruits. It is a food of great importance and is called the bread of the Sahara. But its use is now universal. It is included in the categories of both dry and fresh fruit. The date is a cylindrical fruit of yellow to reddish brown color. It has' fleshy pericarp surrounding a single seed containing 60 to 70 per cent sugar. The tree-ripe fresh date is delicious fruit. It, however, undergoes fermentation very rapidly. It is, therefore, dried in the sun. The fruit loses about 35 per cent of its weight In the process of drying.

Banana

Description

      The banana is one of the oldest and best known fruits of the world. It is delicious and seedless and is available in all seasons at a price which is within everybody's reach. It is a very hygienic fruit as it comes in a germ-proof package. Its thick covering provides an excellent protection against bacteria and contamination. The mature fruits vary in sizes and may be greenish, yellow or reddish in color.

Grapes

Description

Grapes are one of the most valuable fruits; they are delicious, highly nutritious and most easily digestible. They are one of Nature's precious gifts for the revitalization of the human system.

Spherical or ovoid in shape, the grape is a form of berry; they are of innumerable varieties differing in size, shape, color, aroma and taste, The sizes vary from as big as plums to as small as peas. They are found in various colors such as green, black, red and blue.

Grapefruit

Description

      The grapefruit occupies a high place among the citrus fruits because of its flavor, its appetizing properties and its refreshing qualities. The fruit is often very large-larger than the human head It varies in color and may have a pale yellow or pinkish flesh. The rind is usually quarter to half an inch thick.

Fig

Description

The fig occupies a high position among fruits. Soft, sweet and pulpy, this delicious fruit promotes health. It is a pear-shaped hollow fruit, with sugary pulp and a large number of small seeds of golden color sticking to the wall of the cavity. It is variable in size and color. The ripe fresh fruit is juicy, wholesome and delicious. However, being highly perishable, it is sold in the world markets in its dry form.

Papaya

Description

The papaya has been regarded as one of the most valuable of tropical fruits. It is a large, f1eshv, hollow berry up to 50-60 cm. in diameter and usually weighs from ½ kg to 2 kg. It is cylindrical or pear-shaped. The central cavity is surrounded by hundreds of small seeds, though sometimes seedless varieties of the fruit are also found.

The fruit has a thin smooth skin. It is dark green in color at first, but as the papaya ripens, it changes to bright yellowish or orange. Inside, the thick juicy flesh has a soft melting quality, and may be yellow or pink. It has a delicate aroma and delicious f1avor.

Orange

Description

The orange is one of the finest gifts of nature. It is the most popular wide-spread of the citrus fruits. It is a very delicious and nourishing fruit which is up to 12 cm. in diameter, though most common ones are only 6 to 8 cm. in diameter. The fruit grows on a spreading evergreen tree, up to 12 m. tall, with dark green leaves and fragrant flowers.

            There are many varieties of oranges. The more important ones are loose-skinned orange, tight-skinned orange and sour orange. The loose-skinned orange is very popular in India and the tight-skinned one is very popular in Europe.

Mango

Description

The mango enjoys a unique status among the fruits. It is the most popular fruit of the tropics and is called 'The King of Asiatic fruits'. It is regarded as a valuable item of diet and a household remedy. The mango is fleshy drupe, variable in size and shape, with varying mixtures of green, yellow and red color. Inside the fruit is stony endocarp, variable in size. Mango grows on a large, erect, branched, evergreen tree. The leaves, when fully grown, are stiff, pointed and deep glossy green. These are used in ceremonial decorations. The dry twigs are used to light sacred fires. The worst type of mangoes is very fibrous with turpentine flavor, but the best are juicy, sweet, with very little fiber and a deliciously piquant flavor.

Coconut Benefit

Description

The coconut is known as a 'wonder-food'. It is a near perfect diet, as it contains almost all the essential nutrients needed by the human body. It is also considered a sacred fruit and holds a very high place in all religious ceremonies.

The coconut is 20 to 30 cm. long, somewhat three-sided. The outermost part of the fruit is green and shining when tender. It becomes rough and matty after its maturity. It is almost entirely water-proof and very hard. Beneath this is a thick layer of stout fibres, the layer being at times over 25 mm. in thickness. Then follows a hard, stonelike layer, about 6 mm. thick. The inside of this stony layer is lined with a fairly thick coating of soft, milky-white flesh. The cavity inside the flesh is filled with a watery fluid. It grows on a tall stately, unbranched tree, with a terminal crown of leaves, growing to a height of 20 te 30 m.

Apple

Description

The apple is a sub-acid fruit and one of the most valuable of all the fruits It is a fleshy fruit, with tough skin, ranging in color from greenish yellow to red. It is usually five to seven cm

in diametf,1r and has pinkish or yellowish white flesh. The apple is considered "protective" and most wholesome food. Apart from its energy value, it plays an important role in the normal development of metabolic functions-i.e. the chemical and physical changes that take place within the body and enable its continued growth and functioning.

Ginger

Aromatic, pungent and spicy, ginger adds a special flavor and zest to Asian stir fries and many fruit and vegetable dishes. Fresh ginger root is available year round in the produce section of your local market.

Ginger is the underground rhizome of the ginger plant with a firm, striated texture. The flesh of the ginger rhizome can be yellow, white or red in color, depending upon the variety. It is covered with a brownish skin that may either be thick or thin, depending upon whether the plant was harvested when it was mature or young.

Lime and Lemon

Lime and lemon yellow is a pair of sisters. Lime green, orange-like skin smooth, pale flavor leaned smell also. Lemon yellow exudes a rich fragrance, skin texture detail. Two lemons, different fate. Yellow lemon used for Western, European cuisine. Fresh lemon juice with the sea to catch a delicious flavor. Another common role is lemonade, Evian, France on a good lemon with the best, a liter of water about three slices of lemon, the taste between the Ruoyouruowu, most are distant. Green Lemon is the Southeast Asian beauty.

Lemon

I love lemon. I love lemon so much that I actually eat and enjoy the taste of the rind (limes too!). Lemon is one of my favorite fruits, and as a result, I use it for a lot of things. My most favorite ways to enjoy lemon include:
• Drinking it in my water: I carry a Camelback bottle filled with lemon water with me all day.
• Drinking it with tea and honey: It is a great cure for a sore throat.
• Chicken Piccata: My recipe is always beefed up with lemon, and has actually been called ‘infamously lemony.’

Curcuma

Description

Medicinal Parts

The medicinal parts are the dried, tuberous rhizomes cut into slices.

Flower and Fruit

The inflorescence is large; it is purple or crimson. The corolla has a red margin. Otherwise it is very similar to Curcuma domesticate.

Leaves, Stem, and Root

The plant is a 1.75 m high, leafy perennial. The leaves are in long, thin sheaths on the rhizome. The leaf blades are broadly lance late or oblong and have a narrow, purple mark on the midrib. The main rhizome is thickened like a tuber, ovate, the size of a fist with numerous roots, and thin lateral rhizomes. The roots terminate partially in ovate tubers.

Habitat

Curcuma is indigenous to the forests of Indonesia and the Malaysian peninsula. It is cultivated mainly on Java, in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Production

Japanese turmeric consists of the sliced, dried, tuberous rhizomes of Curcuma xanthorrhiza. Curcuma is cultivated and harvested in the second year of growth. After the rhizome has been washed, the main thick root is isolated, cut and dried at a temperature of 50ºC.

Not to be confused with

The rhizome of Curcuma domesticates.

Other Names

Tewon Lawa, Temu Lawak

Garlic Benefits

Garlic Benefits of Health

           The relationship between humans in garlic goes back deep into history. In ancient Egypt garlic was believed to give physical strength. In Rome and Greece people believed that garlic gave warriors and athletes strength.  In China, garlic was used to heal respiratory decease and in Russia garlic was used as an antidote to poison and snake bites and to treat the plague.

CrabApple