Friday, May 11, 2012

HEALTH BENEFITS OF GUAVA and MY FAVORITE STRAWBERRY GUAVA


I saw my Guava Soup recipe on my 'popular post' list, last week. I am surprised to saw my 2 yrs old post got your attention but it also hit me to one of my post drafts that been been queuing since...uhm well since.. 2010?! X_X. How time flies! LOL.
To make it worst, I said on that post that I will talk about the health benefits of Guava on the next post too! Big time. I should finish the post draft before the Guava recipe appears again on my popular post list and you read what I promised you there. Haha.
Well, I sure tried that for the last couple days and am glad I finally can post it today. So aye aye captain, lets go to the topic right meow. YAY.

Guava is one of my fav fruit and since I live in tropical country, it easy to find it.

From all types of Guavas, my fav are "Red" guava like shown in the picture above- bought them in the traditional market this morning and couldn't get the bigger size and as you read on my title, another type of Guava on my favorite list is definitely the strawberry Guava.

Its called Strawberry guava because this red-fruited variety has an excellent strawberry like flavor

I used to call them Jambu England- as the seller told me.I was kinda raised my eyebrows when I heard how they named them-makes these tropical fruits comes from a non tropical country so to my curiosity I decide to investigate more and found out that Strawberry guava was originate from Colombia and Brazil, I found out also that Psidium cattleilanum  a.k.a Strawberry Guava named in honor a notable English horticulturist Sir William Cattley. Still according to my source, the strawberry guava also commonly known as Cattley Guava or Peruvian Guava- I guess those names are a bit hard to be spelled for local so they just call them Jambu England or England Guava in English for practicality reason. 

Anyway, if you are not familiar with strawberry guava. Here's how they look like.


I have the tree at my front yard besides the mango tree and also Durian tree- my brother Rio, just planted last week.

I bought the Strawberry guava tree about 3 years ago, it cost almost $40. Glad it grows on the new soil I also bought along with the tree coz me and my family like the taste very much, even the kids in my neighborhood likes them. Those kids like to pick the fruits even when they are not ripe yet and yea so its everybody's tree now. Its okay, hehehe.

As you can see the fruits are  small, to 1-2 inch around. The strawberry guava I have at home is the 'Longpipes' variety so the fruit turns red when ripe. The fruit will fall and disappear quickly into the soil if it is not picked.

Here's the strawberry guava my other brother Angga picked for me- fresh from the tree. Sorry for the poor quality pic. I took the pic when I type this with my webcam and forgot to clean the lens. D'oh.


Because the tree and the fruits looks pretty, some might prefer to use the tree just for their house ornament but we like the fruit so its not just an ornament at our house.


This dark red skinned guava tastes sweet, a bit sour and very juicy with very soft and sweet pulp - excellent strawberry like flavor . The seed are small and white in color.

You might ask why I like and fav Guava. Its because of its richness in nutrients. Guava has brilliant health benefits.

"A few guavas in the season keeps the doctor away for the whole year"

Guava is very rich of vitamins, protein and minerals with no cholesterol and less digestible carbohydrates is very filling and satisfies appetite very easily.

Because of its richness in nutrients, Guava also helps people who want to lose weight but ironically it helps gaining weight in lean or thin people. They keeps your metabolism right helping proper absorption of nutrients.

When I am doing my research for guava a.k.a browsing :D, it said that guava leaf extract helps control diabetes. From another source, it said that Guava was used for century to treat diabetes in China.

I am not diabetic but I have diabetes gen in the family so I always interesting with how to treat and most importantly how to prevent diabetes  and that sounds like a good news for me so again to my curiosity I investigate it more and found out that recent study conducted in rats shown eating guava with its skin increase blood sugar  91% so if you have high blood sugar make sure you peel off its skin and eat before it too ripe. (research published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research and conducted by researchers at the Medicinal Research Laboratory of the University of Allahabad blood sugar levels in rats injected with guava peel extract rose by 91% in sub-diabetic rats within two hours of administration and by 27% in normal rats after eight hours of administration)

However do eat the Guava.
Guava has like 4 times vitamin C of one Orange-which also my fav fruit actually. It is also less acidic and very high in fiber- contains almost 9grams of fiber per cup so it also helps to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. Guava also full of iron, Calsium besides other beneficial vitamins. 

Another good news for me is how Guava rich of a carotenoids called the lypocene. The lypocene can reduce the risk of cancer and since I have cancer gen in my family also, any healthy foods that can prevent cancer are always on my top food list.

And those who wants to have healthy looking skin, you gonna like this. Do you know that being rich of astringent, Guava- especially immature guava and guava leafs, can improve the texture and the health of your skin.
How so?
Astringents shrink and dissolve the oil in the skin as they  are responsible for shrinking tissues. Guava also can also keep the skin glowing, fresh and wrinkle free since Guava rich of vitamin A, B, C and the mineral potassium.
Not only for your skin, Astringents are also alkaline in nature which help guava fight bacterial infections such as diarrhea and dysentery.

With so many health benefits, this very simple yet very tasty Guava, is easy to eat too.

Biting off a piece of the rind and sucking out the insides that's how I like to eat the strawberry guava.

When it comes to "Red' guava-and since I always prefer the medium rip one, I use different methods: I slice it and dip it into a peanut sauce or just eat it like an apple.
I always like to eat the Guava with the skin and the seeds too coz they are very crunchy and tasty

Or I can cook the "Red" Guava and make the refreshing Guava soup like shown in the picture below.

So if you don't  have idea  what to serve this weekend- especially in a hot day like in Bandung today, why not try to cook this Guava soup.

Its easy and doesn't take much time to cook either and yes I shared the recipe  HERE


Have fun cooking, I am eating my strawberry guava here. Yum!I wish I can share them with you!

Bhu bye now but I will come back with more updates so stay tune peps, not in other "nesia" but @mignonesia. Wink. >‿♥.

Source:
wikipedia
livestrong
ehow
lifemojo
mediconews
botanical-journeys-plant-guides
guavaleafextract
healthmad
timesofindia.indiatimes
caloriecount.about.com/calories-guavas-strawberry-i9140?size=4

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