Our Government says that Fruits and Veggies Matter

Friday, December 4, 2009

CDC has an excellent website on fruits and vegetables called fruits and vegetables matter.  CDC encourages everyone to get a healthy dose of fruits.  Fruits and vegetables are sources of many vitamins, minerals and other natural substances that may help protect you from chronic diseases, they say, and we at booaah completeluy agree.

On their website, CDC has a section called fruits and vegetables of the month.   For the month of December,  the fruit of the month are exotic fruits, namely, Kumquat, Sapote, Uglie Fruit, Pepino Melon, and Cherimoya.  Well at least CDC likes one of the exotic fruits on my top ten list of exotic fruits, the Sapote (Sapota or Chiku).  Incorporating some of the exotic fruits into one's diet will neatly fit into the vegetarian MyPyramid plan.

Sapote is grown only in Florida and California within the United States.  This fruit is a native of Mexico but some varieties are also grown in parts of Asia and South America. While Sapota stores at room temperature, it ripes quickly within 3 - 5 days. Sapote has soft orange flesh and has a sweet, mild flavor.  Sapotes vary in size from that of a lime to an apple or orange and are bright green or brown in color.  There is even Sapota flavored ice cream now available.