Feijoa - useful properties and contraindications of autumn berries. Recipes for health

Green oblong berries with an exotic and unusual name "feijoa" have long appeared on the shelves of our stores. However, rarely anyone buys this fruit, not knowing about its healing and gustatory qualities. Doctors recommend that you definitely include the beneficial properties and contraindications of which we will now study in your diet.

Useful composition of feijoa

The healing properties of feijoa are due to its composition, which contains a rich vitamin and mineral complex of components.

Feijoa Composition

The unique property of feijoa is that it is the only plant in existence where the iodine content is higher than in red fish and seafood. This property is used in the treatment of various endocrine diseases and disorders of the thyroid gland.

Feijoa, due to the very high content of essential oils and antioxidants, negatively affects the state of pathogenic microorganisms and has a powerful antibacterial and antifungal effect.

The high concentration of vitamins in feijoa, the benefits and harms of which have long been known to doctors, helps to prevent and prevent the development and exacerbation of many diseases, and in some cases even completely cure the disease:

• Vitamin C - prevents the development of colds.
• Vitamin B2 - helps to balance the level of hormones, promotes tissue renewal.
• Vitamin B1 - affects the regulation of metabolic processes, improves performance of cardio-vascular system and stimulates brain activity.
• Vitamin B3 - prevents the development cancer cells, normalizes the work of the gastrointestinal tract.
• Vitamin B6 - improves muscle function, prevents cramps and numbness of the limbs.
• Vitamin B5 - prevents the development of diseases of the pulmonary and respiratory systems.
• Vitamin PP - contributes to the normalization nervous system.

The easily digestible fats and proteins that the fruit contains make it possible to classify it as a dietary product. Only 2-3 fruits can saturate the body, fully providing it not only with all the necessary trace elements and vitamins, but also with enzymes involved in the production of energy for life.

What is useful feijoa

Beneficial features feijoa are used to treat and prevent a host of diseases, as well as to improve overall well-being and resist various viruses and infections.

Feijoa is useful:

• With beriberi and depletion of the body, due to immunomodulatory properties. The fruit is very useful to use during periods of exacerbation of seasonal colds, in postoperative periods, as well as after serious illnesses.
• For colds - essential oils and vitamin C help to cope with viruses.
• For problems with gastrointestinal tract, obesity. Feijoa contains a lot of fiber, which allows you to establish digestive and metabolic processes.
• With endocrine disorders, due to the high content of iodine.
• With atherosclerosis and diseases of the cardiovascular system - the fruit helps to significantly reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood, and also helps to normalize blood pressure in hypertension, improves blood condition, thanks to the antioxidants contained in the fruit.
• In the treatment of pyelonephritis, treatment of gastritis, pancreas, liver - is part of therapeutic diets.

Not only the fruits are endowed with useful properties, but also the bark, leaves and peel of the plant.

Antibacterial properties allow feijoa to act as a powerful antiseptic and disinfectant. Decoctions containing leaves, bark and fruits of the plant are used for processing deep cuts, abrasions, ulcers. They can rinse your mouth with diseases of the oral cavity, as well as relieve toothache.

For women

Antioxidants contained in feijoa can slow down the aging process and cell destruction. Therefore, a woman who regularly consumes given fruit will look younger and more attractive.

The fruits are used for painful periods, because the property of the fruit to accelerate metabolic processes contribute to the rapid opening of the cervix.

For men

Feijoa is recommended for men as a prevention of urological diseases. Several fruits consumed per day can prevent and prevent inflammation of the prostate and the resulting impotence.

For children

The fruit helps with food poisoning and some indigestion, which often occurs in children. Feijoa, of course, will not completely eliminate food poisoning, but it will help soothe the intestinal and stomach mucosa, which will lead to the normalization of the condition as a whole.

For pregnant

A frequent problem of pregnant women are metabolic disorders and constipation. A couple of fruits a day will help to avoid problems with the gastrointestinal tract and restore its work.

In cosmetology

A large number of antioxidants contained in feijoa allow the fruit to be widely used in cosmetology.

Masks made on the basis of a plant have a beneficial effect on the skin - they give elasticity and softness, relieve inflammation, improve overall appearance, rejuvenate the skin and remove age wrinkles.

Fruit-based masks and decoctions from the leaves and peel of the plant are used to treat age spots, acne, and rosacea. The pulp of the fetus is advised to regularly wipe the face of adolescents with problem skin.

For weight loss

Feijoa is dietary products, so I often advise him to include in your diet those who want to lose weight. The fruits of the berry help to speed up the metabolism, which allows you to get rid of some extra pounds.

Fruit can be substituted for any sweet dessert or include them as an independent meal.

How to use feijoa

High palatability only ripe feijoa fruits possess. It is not always possible to find ripened fruits on sale, because. they are harvested unripe and perishable.

It is better to let hard feijoa lie down for several days until ripening - ripe fruit has a watery pulp and thin skin.

Usually only the pulp is used, cutting off the dense skin. But the skin contains a mass useful substances, so it is better not to throw it away, but to add it to various infusions or teas.

For medicinal purposes

For prevention and treatment various diseases It is enough to eat 1-2 fruits a day.

From the leaves, peel and dried flowers of the plant, infusions and decoctions are prepared, which are drunk during the day instead of tea.

Children can prepare feijoa puree - for this, mix a few fruits with a small amount sugar and grind in a blender. There is as a preventive measure before each meal, 1 tbsp. spoon. In the same way, you can eat mashed potatoes for weight loss.

In cooking

Feijoa is usually added to salads, appetizers or main courses, various desserts and sweet sauces are made from them.

The fruit harmonizes perfectly with citrus fruits, with fresh and boiled vegetables. From it you can cook useful and delicious jam, which allows you to save all healing properties feijoa:

• To make jam, you need to take 1-2 kg ripe fruits feijoa.
• Rinse the fruits thoroughly and remove the remnants of the flowers.
• The peel can be peeled (then the jam is softer and more tender), but it is better to leave it - the jam will be more healthy and nutritious.
• Cut the fruits into several pieces and grind them in a blender.
• Add sugar to the resulting mixture at the rate of 1:1. If you add more sugar, the jam will be too sweet.
• Received raw jam leave for a while until the sugar is completely dissolved.
• After the jam should be distributed in sterile jars and put in the refrigerator.
• Cooking feijoa jam is not worth it, so that it does not lose all its beneficial properties.
• Over time, the jam will acquire a jelly-like consistency, and in this form it can already be consumed.

Jam can be drunk with tea, added to pancakes or various desserts.

Feijoa harm

Ripe fruit will not do any harm to the body if it is used correctly and contraindications are avoided:

• You can not eat unripe berries, because. they can cause indigestion.
• Fruit should not be consumed diabetes and obesity due to high sugar content.
• The fruit is contraindicated in hyperthyroidism due to its high iodine content.
• You can not mix the fetus with dairy products and milk due to the incompatibility of these products.
• Fruit should be eaten with caution if iodine-containing drugs are taken at the same time.

Before eating the fruit for the first time, you should check the body for allergic reactions - you should eat a couple of pieces of the fruit to start.

Fruits eaten in unlimited quantities can cause an overdose - great content iodine, vitamins and sugars can adversely affect the body. It is better for a child under one year to completely abandon the use of feijoa, older children are recommended no more than 1 fruit per day.

The daily dose of consumption is calculated taking into account the lack of iodine in the body. If the iodine content is normal, 2-3 fruits per day are enough. More than 4-5 fruits per day can cause hypervitaminosis and intestinal upset.

Feijoa will bring many benefits to the body if regularly included in the diet and consumed in moderation.

Click point number 5 - how to choose a ripe fruit, quickly peel and cook deliciously.

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A bit of botany and geography

The word itself is of Portuguese origin. This vernacular name flowering shrub acca sellowiana from the myrtle family. It grows up to 7 meters in height, and its homeland is South America. Neither the Indians nor the conquerors had a high opinion of the plant, so some samples came to Europe only to XIX century. Mostly people were attracted by lush flowers with a large number of stamens.

The flowers of the plant can be eaten. They taste like cotton candy with a fruity aroma.

The shrub combines capriciousness and endurance. Shade, drought, salt in the soil, frost, strong wind, lack of insect pollinators. The plant can survive all these troubles, but refuses to bear fruit. Entire bush gardens can be found in its native soils of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, as well as in California and New Zealand.

In Russia, bizarre flora grows in the Crimea and the North Caucasus. But most of all sales come from fruits from the South Caucasus - Abkhazia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The harvest season is short: usually it is autumn and the very beginning of winter.

Photo of feijoa on a tree Photo of feijoa flowers

As with watermelon, banana and kiwi, from a botanical point of view, it is more correct to call feijoa a berry. But tradition is tradition: everything that larger than a gooseberry, popularly considered a fruit - we will adhere to it.

Ripe fruits are close to the size of a large chicken egg. The diameter of handsome men is 5-6 cm, the average weight is 50 grams. They do not need to be plucked - they fall from the bush themselves. Alas, the exotic does not last very long. marketable condition. Ripe fruits do not tolerate shaking, quickly overripe and begin to rot.

You rarely see our heroes in supermarkets. The product has taken root more in bazaars and markets.

Chemical composition and calorie content

For 100 grams of feijoa:

• Calories - 49 - 2%
• Proteins - 1.2 g
• Fats - 0.8 g
• Carbohydrates - 10.6 g
• Dietary fiber - no

Vitamins:

• C - 20.3 mg - 34%
• B9 - 38 mg - 10%

Minerals:

• Iodine - from 70 mcg - from 45%
• Potassium - 155 mg - 4%
• Manganese - 0.1 mg - 4%

USDA data. Percentage value - share of daily allowance(DN) of an adult with a balanced diet of 2000 kcal. Only significant nutrients are indicated: from 4% DV.

Health Benefits

It may seem that a considerable price is based on special benefit for the body. In fact, the main reasons for the high cost of green babies in our latitudes are the perishable nature and the difficulty in achieving yields. The usefulness of the heroes, of course, is, but it is very limited.

Judge for yourself what vitamins are in feijoa by looking at chemical composition higher.

With the exception of vitamins C and B9, 100 grams of our heroes do not contain a large concentration of nutrients. The product does not shine with calories, proteins, fats, carbohydrates and does not contain dietary fiber. Minerals are present in small amounts.

The only trump card of curiosity - high content iodine:

• from 70 to 250 micrograms per 100 grams, and daily requirement a person in iodine is only 150-300 mcg.

But the lack of iodine will help to saturate and ordinary iodized salt. , and full review on iodine for human health.

And even more profitable to include in the diet sea ​​kale(kelp) - a champion in iodine content. Or drink seaweed in an additive if you don’t like the taste or are afraid of Chinese fakes.

Not in exotic and a large number. Those that are available are concentrated in the skin, not in the pulp.

place in healthy eating

We can use the product in the short ripening season with mediocre health effects. Desirable enhance the benefits of a competent combination with other gifts of nature.

1. To support immunity, it is better to accompany the heroes of the review with products with vitamins A, E, zinc and selenium. Salads with chicken, fish, ham, eggs, nuts, and greens are a smart choice for a complete array of antioxidants.
2. Can pregnant women eat feijoa as a source folic acid for the full development of the nervous system of the child.
3. For a change when losing weight, you can include a curiosity in salads and drinks on proper nutrition or in extended stages of protein diets. It has no special “fat-burning” properties, just as there is no abundance of fiber necessary for high-quality cleansing.
4. It is permissible to try in a modern low-carbohydrate diet for diabetes mellitus - at the stage of remission under glucose control 1.5 hours after eating.

Myths and contraindications

So far, no significant cases of intolerance have been identified. Whether this is due to their hypoallergenic nature, or simply due to the banal lack of data for statistics, we will leave it to you to judge.

For ourselves, we are wary of any new products, especially in the nutrition of children. The unshakable rule daily allergy test. We eat small piece and watch for early signs of an allergic reaction, and general well-being within 24 hours. Early signs include a sore throat, burning in the mouth, difficulty breathing, swelling of the face and larynx, urticaria on the skin. To remote - gastric and intestinal dyspepsia (heartburn, nausea, flatulence, stool disorder).

"Miracle! Green babies enhance male potency!

This is the most common myth from experienced bazaar traders. Advertising mantra like to replicate and on the Internet. However, we did not find scientific confirmation of this property. Manganese can serve as a distant basis for such a statement, but it contains no more than 4% of DN per 100 grams (2 pieces of medium size).

• If you seriously care about the reproductive health of your men, and help them stay slim and physically active.

How to choose and store

We note right away that sellers in the markets often offer these fruits, even when they are completely unsuitable for food. This is due to the perishable nature of the product and the desire to at least return the money invested in the product.

Just a month from falling off the bush - optimal time the suitability of the curiosity. Often this period of time is not enough to collect a delicacy, prepare it for shipment, bring it to Moscow or St. Petersburg, and at the same time maintain its original maturity.

How to choose a ripe feijoa?

1. Press on it with your thumb. The ripened fruit gives in to pressure a little, but does not seem soft. Avoid fruits with dents. They will start to rot very soon (or are already rotting). A bad sign is also scuffs and roughness.
2. The pulp looks translucent. Dense White color on the cut - a sign of immaturity.
3. Pay attention to the skin. It has a bright light green color. Let's say a whitish coating that is easy to wipe off with a finger.

What is the taste of ripe pulp?

It looks like jelly and resembles strawberries and kiwis at the same time. Connoisseurs say: barely noticeable notes of pineapple are a special charm of curiosity.

What distinguishes an overripe fruit? Prominent softness. Do not buy such fruits. They are unpleasant in taste.

What distinguishes the immature? Excessive hardness. It is this product that is often present on the market. In an effort to maximize the period when fruits are suitable for sale, suppliers pluck them from the bushes while still green.

How to speed up ripening at home?

Leave fruits in the kitchen in one paper bag with bananas. However, connoisseurs believe that immature beauties are never destined to be compared in taste with the initially ripe counterparts.

Three storage rules

1. Be sure to store in the refrigerator.
2. Try to eat within 2-3 days of purchase.
3. You can also freeze in the freezer. The blank will be edible for up to 8 months.

How to eat

Feijoa can be eaten in different ways - with and without peel. Contrary to popular misconception, the outer skin is quite edible. But it has a specific taste, so it has not won many fans.

We offer you a choice of two ways to get to the juicy pulp.

1. Cut in half and scrape out the flesh with a sharp teaspoon. This is how the gift of nature is eaten in Latin America.
2. Arm yourself with a knife or peeler and carefully remove the green skin. Important point: if you are not going to eat the peeled fruit immediately, put it in a bowl of water and lemon juice. Otherwise, the flesh will quickly turn brown under the influence of atmospheric oxygen.

Our Favorite Recipes

For our taste, this exotic is not suitable for baking. But our heroes can easily make friends with ice cream, fruit salad and smoothies. Fruits are rich in pectins - natural jelly-forming agents - and are useful for jelly. When mixed with 1.5-2 liters of any liquid from 1 kilogram of fruit pulp, up to 3 kilograms of jelly-like mass is obtained.

On a note!

The heroes of the review go well with citrus, kiwi and sweet soft pear.

Try it out simple salad, where there is a lot of fiber and useful nutrients. One large boiled beet, 4-5 fruits, a generous harvest of nuts. Cutting and dressing - to taste. We like it with sour cream and honey mustard sauce, and even homemade yogurt on moderately fat milk fits perfectly into the dish. A good addition would be peeled tangerine or orange slices.

One of the best smoothies of the end of autumn also easy to prepare. Half, 2 ripe kiwis, 3 feijoas, a quarter of a sweet apple and a glass fermented milk drink. fresh kefir with "live bacteria" is the best choice.

Will please taste buds And beautiful vitamin puree, where a lot of dietary fiber and nutrients for immunity. Along with kiwi sweet pear and with sour cream we puree the curiosity in a blender.

You can water the resulting mass of cottage cheese, pieces of chicken, other fruits and vegetables, thicken with psyllium, and eat as raw jam, and also use for making jelly on agar-agar or gelatin.

A curious sauce will turn out when combined with onions. Decorate them with cape and fish meals. 3 fruits, medium head onion, 1 tablespoon of sugar or honey (without a slide), salt, black pepper, a little mustard to taste.

Jams and preserves are also made from the fruits. Although with such desserts it is worth remembering potential harm for good health. Both vitamins are destroyed when heated, and sugar weighs down the menu with “empty calories”.

The lesser of the evils is a simple grinding with granulated sugar without heating, adding lemon and orange.

Not everyone knows that fruits can be used to make tinctures and alcoholic cocktails. WITH crushed ice and tequila in a blender makes a rare texture drink.

Due to the sufficient sugar content, the fruits are also suitable for home brewing. Such spirits are popular among South American Indians, but the rarity of raw materials makes them expensive for Russia.

Share in the comments what ideas our review has debunked, and what knowledge about feijoa has confirmed. Useful properties and contraindications, recipes, how to choose, clean and cook - we have described the main thing about an exotic fruit. It is worth trying the product in the desire to diversify the menu, but without deceptive hopes for super-health effects.

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Feijoa is the closest relative of common myrtle. This evergreen tree comes from South America. True, today feijoa is grown in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, the Crimea and the Caucasus. Feijoa fruits appear in shops and markets in late autumn, however, in its homeland, the plant can produce several harvests per season. These Exotic fruits very useful, and are used not only as delicious product nutrition, but also as a cosmetic raw material. And feijoa peel is sometimes brewed like tea.

First of all, this fruit is useful for everyone in whose diet there is an iodine deficiency. Feijoa contains easily digestible water-soluble iodine, and in a biologically available form. In addition to iodine, the fruits are rich in vitamin C, which makes them a real find for the autumn-winter period. Regular use feijoa can strengthen the immune system and help the body resist colds.

Fruits have a beneficial effect on digestion. A large amount of pectin helps them to be a good natural laxative and a breeding ground for the intestinal flora. But the peel of the fruit is rich in tannins. Usually it is not eaten, but dried and brewed as tea. This drink can eliminate the symptoms food poisoning, and serves as a mild fixing agent. Sometimes it is given to children with digestive disorders. You need to brew 1 tablespoon of peel per 200 ml of boiling water, drink half a glass half an hour before meals.

Eating feijoa accelerates a slow metabolism, especially if it is caused by an underactive thyroid gland. This fruit is considered good helper low calorie diet. On the day of losing weight, you can consume up to 400 g of feijoa to get a shock dose of iodine and antioxidants. There is also a radical feijoa diet - replacing dinner with a portion of 300 g of fruit. However, even if you are not ready for extreme sports, it is quite possible to replace the usual portion of sweets with these delicious strawberry-like fruits.

The fruits are only useful if they are ripe. After buying hard green fruits, they are left at room temperature ripen for 2-3 days. Eat only when they become soft. In cooking, the fruit is used as a component of salads. In particular, it is added instead of apples to all salads with beets, sometimes sauce is made from feijoa puree for chicken, turkey or duck.

Feijoa harm

Like many other exotic fruits, feijoa can cause allergic reactions. Allergy usually manifests itself in the form skin rashes, itching, sometimes - in the form of a tumor of the mucous membranes.

You can not combine feijoa with fresh milk. From dairy products, cottage cheese and yogurt are more suitable for it, but fresh milk in combination with pectin-rich fruit, it can cause indigestion.

Feijoa should not be consumed if the thyroid gland is overactive If the thyroid gland produces too many hormones, eating foods rich in iodine is not the best solution. So you can only aggravate the course of the disease.

Sometimes they write that feijoa should not be used in diabetes. Indeed, the fruit contains sucrose, but it also contains pectin. Therefore, you can afford small portions on the day you don't eat other sources simple sugars. In addition, the combination of feijoa with protein foods will help.

Related video (how to choose the right feijoa):

Especially for – fitness trainer Elena Selivanova

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Feijoa is an evergreen large shrub of the family Myrtle, another name sounds like pineapple guava. The fruits are named after the Portuguese Silva Feijo (Feijo), who is credited with discovering the plant in Brazil in the second half of the 19th century.

Feijoa grows everywhere in the subtropical climate, perfectly adapted to the Transcaucasus, Krasnodar Territory and Central Asia.

Feijoa fruits are mistakenly classified as fruits; in fact, they are a large juicy berry with a dense skin of dark green or yellowish color. The skin surface is smooth and bumpy. Inside ripe fruit feijoa is transparent, light beige in color, with several seeds, forming a flower pattern on a cross section. The taste of feijoa is similar to, and, with the same bright aroma.

Feijoa calories

Feijoa has 49 calories per 100 grams of product.

Feijoa contains alimentary fiber, which have a beneficial effect on intestinal motility and are the prevention of constipation. chief useful component feijoa is, the amount of which in fruits can even be compared with - recognized leaders in iodine content (calorizator). Two feijoa fruits eaten during the day cover daily allowance an element necessary for the maintenance of thyroid function.

Feijoa harm

In rare cases, individual intolerance to the product has been noted, and feijoa should also be used with caution in large quantities those who have hyperacidity stomach.

It is most useful to use feijoa in its raw form, but the fruits are very tender and darken quickly when cut. Feijoa is used in salads, as an additive to cottage cheese, yogurt, cereals, stuffing for shortbread pies. Jam, compotes are cooked from fruits, feijoa is added to meat dishes for spice.

Selection and storage of feijoa

When buying feijoa fruits, you should make sure that each berry is intact, that there are no dark spots and damage. Dense feijoas are not quite ripe, but they may well ripen at room temperature. Ripe feijoa fruit is soft, but not liquid, the skin should be whole.