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.
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Our Government says that Fruits and Veggies Matter
The Jack of all Fruits
Jackfruit is the largest fruit in the world that grows on a tree. It can easily weigh 60 lbs to 70 lbs!! It is oblong in shape and the color of the exterior is greenish-yellow. The exterior of the fruit is quite prickly and it takes quite some effort to cut open the fruit and extract the edible parts. Once the jackfruit is cut open, there are pods that contain the edible flesh and the seed. Since the fruit is very sticky to cut open and clean, a simple trick is to use some oil on your hands and knife.
Jackfruit is indigenous to southern India. It is used in South Indian and Southeast Asian cuisines. The edible portions of the unripe jackfruit is cooked and incorporated into curries and similar dishes. It can also be fried as chips. Ripe jackfruit is edible uncooked as a fruit and has a unique taste and texture. The jackfruit seeds can be boiled or baked like beans. According to the USDA standard release reports on raw fruits and juices, jackfruit is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals.
Millet is Great and Gluten Free
Millet is a family of crops that have been widely grown around the world for several thousand years. They can be grown in areas that are at risk of drought. India is the world's top producer of millet. Eight of the top ten countries in the world in terms of millet production are in Africa. China is the only other Asian country apart from India, in the top ten.
Millet provides 11% protein by weight, almost like wheat. Millet varieties are rich in niacin, B6, folic acid, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, and zinc.
Millet can be cooked and eaten like other grains. Millet flour is used to make flat bread. Millets contain no gluten and are not suitable for raised bread. Some varieties of millet are used as fodder for animals or as bird-feed. Alcoholic drinks are also brewed using Millet in some countries. Millet is an interesting grain to incorporate into your diet.
Let us go Nuts
If you are like me, then you would love to feast on peanuts, cashews, almonds and other nuts. Of course, I am talking about consumption in moderation and not an epicurean nut fest :-)
Botanical and culinary definitions of nuts vary widely. In this article, nuts are defined to mean any oily kernel or seed found within a shell and used in food. For example, peanut is a legume and not a true nut by botanical definition. We assume that peanut is a nut based on our culinary definition. It does have the word nut in it and I think that is sufficient :-)
Nuts generally have a high oil content and are a great source of nutrients and energy. A large number of seeds and kernels (nuts) are edible and used in cooking, eaten raw, sprouted, and roasted. Most of us probably eat raw nuts rarely, baring walnuts or pecans. Peanuts and cashews are popular roasted and usually contain additional oils and salt.
One interesting and really tasty way to eat peanuts is to eat it boiled. I always loved to eat peanuts this way growing up. Boil water and add the peanuts still in its shell to the boiling water. You can also add a pinch of salt to the boiling water. The unshelled peanuts are left to soak in the boiling water for some time and the peanuts actually get cooked. You can drain the water and allow the unshelled peanut to sit. It has an amazing taste that you do not get raw or roasted.
Some nuts are pressed for oil that can be used in cooking. Some common nuts that are consumed include almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts, pistachio, cashew, peanuts, pecans, soybeans, hazel nuts, sunflower seeds, and pine nuts.
Nuts contain linoleic and linolenic acids (fatty acids), which are critical for growth, physical development, mental development, healthy hair and skin, blood pressure control, immunological responses and blood clotting. Nuts are also an excellent natural source of vitamins E, F, and G (docopherol, an antioxidant). Nuts are rich in protein, folate, fiber, and essential minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, and selenium. According to the US Government nutrition website and My Pyramid, sunflower seeds, almonds, and hazelnuts are the richest sources of vitamin E in this food group.
Cashews and peanuts are used a lot in Indian, Thai and other Asian cuisines. Roughly 1% of the US population are thought to be allergic to some kind of nuts.
This article is based on research and reference to the USDA, MyPyramid, Nutrition.gov, Wikipedia and health.gov
Drumsticks grow on a tree
These drumsticks are for real. The botanical name for this tree is Moringa Oleifera. Referred to as "Murungai" in the native Tamil language, this tree bears a vegetable that resembles a drum stick, the percussion instrument. It is a long green pod and inside the pod are seeds embedded in an edible flesh. Both the fleshy vegetable and the leaves of the tree are extremely nutritious.
The leaves are asignificant source of beta-carotene, Vitamin C, protein, iron, and potassium.
A traditional dish in Kerala and Tamil Nadu is the Adai, which is made from various lentils and shaped like a pancake. The similarity ends there, The Adai tastes a quadrillion times better than a pancake. The drumstick leaves are added to the Adai batter and when the Adai is made, these leaves are embedded in it and cooked. The drumstick pod, which is a foot to a couple of feet in length, is chopped into small 3 to 4 inch pieces and cooked with sambhar. A variety of other dishes are also made with drumstick vegetable and the leaves.
A future post will deal with making Adai incorporating drumstick leaves.
Tamarind for the daily grind
Tamarind is a tropic tree indigenous to tropical Africa and grown widely in Asia and other tropical regions. The tamarind fruit is used in many Asian cusines and to a lesser extent in South Americam and Carribean cusines.
The fruit consists of a pod with the acidic flesh of the fruit inside with several seeds. As the fruit ripens, the flesh inside the pod turns from a greenish color to a brown color. Research has shown the pulp to be rich in calcium, phosphorous, iron, and other vitamins and minerals. Tamarind fruit pulp, leaves, bark, roots, and flowers are also used for medicinal purposes in ayurveda, a form of practising holistic medicine.
There are some really good dishes that are prepared with Tamarind as a key ingredient. Tamarind rice is very popular in South India. In fact, certain temples distribute tamarind rice to devotees. Sambhar and Rasam are two other popular dishes in South India that use tamarind paste along with dals (lentils) and vegetables. There are many varieties of these two dishes that they warrant an article on their own.
In the western world, tamarind is used in preparing Worcestershire sauce. It is not suitable for vegetarian consumptions due to other ingredients. There are variations of the sauce that are available for vegetarians. Tamarind is also used in many chutneys and soft drinks. Tamarind is a really flexible, multi-use, exotic tree (and fruit) with a good impact on health that it is a must to incorporate into your lifestyle.
Please check the recipes category for dishes that use tamarind as an ingredient. We will feature some original multi-cusine recipes that are a fusion of popular techniques used to incorporate tamarind.
