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Costa Rican Fruits

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Costa Rican Fruits Annona spp. I. Taxonomy Annonaceae - 80 genera, 850 species. Native to tropical America, being used by native Americans in pre-Columbian times. Several Annona important commercially or locally; referred to as "custard apples". • A. cherimola - Cherimoya (chirimoya, cherimolia, anona blanca). Highland species from the slopes of the Andes of Peru, Ecuador. The surface texture is patch-like, but smoother than most others. • A. squamosa - Sweetsop, sugar apple (anon, anona blanca). This is the most widely grown Annona. • A. cherimola × A. squamosa - Atemoya, (atemoya, chirimoriñon). This hybrid is more like the cherimoya in eating quality (very good), but has a more tropical adaptation. • A. muricata L. - soursop (guanabana). This is the largest fruited Annona, having fruits borne on main stems (cauliflorous) up to 10 or 15 lbs. II. Description • small to medium size trees, spreading habit and an unusual 2-ranked phyllotaxy • fairly large, green fruit with a custard or pudding-like texture when ripe; brown or black when ripe. • Fruit is an aggregation of berries (syncarp), 50 or more per fruit, fused at maturity. The surface of the fruits is distinctly lobed where each individual berry fits into the aggregate. • Many large, brown/black seeds, which are mildly poisonous. • Wait until the fruit is very soft and brown/black before eating; you should be able to spoon the flesh out easily. • Often made into drinks, ice cream, puddings. Fresh pulp is sweet, aromatic, with slightly astringent subflavor; often with grit cells. III. Food value, usage. • Water low for fresh fruit, 76%; Carbohydrates 18.2%; Fruits relatively high in Ca, P, and Fe. • Juice of crushed seeds causes temporary blindness; extracts are used as fish poisons and insecticides; seed resins of atemoya are used against lice in tropical America. • Tannins in bark and leaves of soursop may cause cancer. • Cancer therapy drugs - apomorphine alkaloids are being studied for this purpose from soncoya. • Snake-bite antidotes are made from root bark of A. nana (Angola). • Toothache relief - is provided by a mouthwash of bark decoction of A. senegalensis (wild custard apple of western Africa). • Infusions of bark, leaves, and roots are in “daily use” in folk medicines for alleviating fevers and intestinal disorders. • Superstitions - Cuba: Pond apple considered poisonous; actually just unpalatable. Ceylon: The custard apple is thought to cause leprosy. Central America: Soncoya blamed for causing chills and fevers. Costa Rican Fruits Avocado I. Taxonomy • Persea americana, Family - Lauraceae (aguacate, cura, cupandra, palta) • Native to tropical America, grown pantropically and into subtropical areas, California Florida. • 3 races: 1.West Indian (Florida): P. americana Mill. var. americana. Large, oval to round, green fruit, smooth skin. 2.Guatemalan: P. nubigena var. guatemalensis. Skin granular or pebbled, some purple in color. 3.Mexican: P. americana Mill. var. drymifolia. Usually thin, smooth skin, often purple or black in color; most cold tolerant, can grow at high elevation (5000 ft). Hybrids among races often the most commercially grown types III. Description: • Plant: Tall, evergreen tree (30m) of the rain or cloud forest. • Flowers: Small, pale-green or yellow borne in terminal panicles. • Pollination: Cross-pollination necessary for full production. • Fruit: Pear-shaped or rounded, 3-13 inches long, up to 6 inch diameter. Skin yellow-green to dark purple, smooth or pebbled. Flesh yellow- green in color, buttery/nut-like flavor; high in fat (5-20%). Large (.2 inch) single seed in center, ivory in color, surrounded by brown, papery seed coat. III. Food value, usage. • Water 65% (low for fresh fruit), High calories 245. Unusually high in fat (up to 20% - most fresh fruits have <1% fat). • Leaves, bark, fruit, and seeds poisonous to cattle, horses, rabbits, goats, fish. • Toothache relief - piece of seed or a decoction of put into bad teeth. Costa Rican Fruits Banana and Plantain I. Taxonomy • Bananas and plantains belong to the family Musaceae, genus Musa. • Bananas are derived from M. acuminata, plantains from M. balbisiana or hybrids between the 2 species. • Musa spp. originated in southeastern Asia, from India east and south to northern Australia. Bananas are now grown commercially in more countries than any other food crop (130). Costa Rica ranks 8th among banana producers in the world. II. Description: • Plant: Large, tree-like herbaceous monocots, reaching 15-25 ft. The "trunk" is a pseudostem, the clustered, cylindrical aggregation of leaf stalk bases. Leaves are among the largest of all plants, becoming up to 9 ft long and 2 ft wide; 5-15 leaves per plant. The perennial portion is the corm, giving rise to shoots and roots. Shoots are thinned to 2 per corm -a "parent" for fruiting and a "follower" to take the place of the parent after it fruits and dies back. A plant bears fruit 10-12 months after planting. • Flower: The inflorescence is a spike originating from the tip of the corm (rhizome). Initially, it appears above the last leaves in an upright position, and consists only of a large, purple, tapered bud. As this bud opens, the slim, white, tubular, toothed flowers are revealed, clustered in whorled double rows along the stalk, each cluster covered by a thick, waxy, purple hood-like bract. • Pollination: Not needed; fruit is set parthenocarpically. • Fruit: an epigynous berry; fruit are borne in "hands" of up to .20 fruit, with 5-13 hands per spike. III. Food value, usage: • Contrary to popular opinion, bananas provide only about 9% of the daily requirement of potassium; plantains about same. They supply about ½ the daily requirement of vitamin C. They contain 80-140 calories, with starchy plantains being the higher of the two. • Ash from burned leaves and stems is used as salt. • Livestock are often fed banana culls. • Fertilizers are made from dried, chopped banana stems and leaves. • There are dozens of construction and medicinal uses for banana leaves and other plant parts. • Some extracts of banana have shown hypoglycemic activity experimentally. The juice from the junction of a "branch" with the stem is used for toothache relief in Panama and South Africa. • The Musaceae is important not only for fruit production, but also for providing man with clothing, tools, and shelter prior to recorded history. Costa Rican Fruits Cashew I. Taxonomy - Family Anacardiaceae - Anacardium occidentale - Originated in northeastern Brazil and was spread by the Portuguese to East Africa, Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia. II. Description - Plant: Smallish, spreading, evergreen tree of up to 10m in height. - Leaves: Oval to spatulate leaves have entire margins and blunt tips. - Fruit: The small kidney-shaped nut is borne on a yellow to bright red swollen pseudofruit known as the cashew apple. Nuts are surrounded by a thin inner membrane, a layer of irritant oil, and a though, leathery outer shell. The most widely produced tree nut crop in the world. III. Food value, usage - The cashew apple and the roasted nuts can both be used for food. - The main food item is the nut, which must be roasted to get rid of the irritant oil. - Nuts contain high quality protein, oils, and starch. The fruits are used to make a variety of jams, jellies, juices, wines, and vinegars, including cajuado, a popular drink in Brazil. - Cashews contain calcium, phosphorous and iron; as well as vitamins A, C, D, K and E. - The apples are rich in vitamin A and contain as much as five times the vitamin C as citrus juice. Costa Rican Fruits Coconut I. Taxonomy • Cocos nucifera (Coco) The Arecaceae family contains over 2600 species. Coconut is the most economically valuable and widespread species. • Grown pantropically in tropical lowlands. Coconut production is largely centered in the eastern hemisphere tropics, although Brazil produces about 5% of the world’s crop. Coconut ranks in the top 5 of all fruit crops in the world in terms of tonnage produced. • Coconut palms are often the only tree species present on small, isolated, tropical islands. Fruits can float for years on ocean and still germinate when beached. II. Description • Single-trunked palm to 20 m. Propagated by seed, fruit production in 6-9 years. • Flowers of different sexes are borne in the same compound spadix inflorescence in leaf axils. Flowering is continuous. • Fruits are large, dry drupes in clusters of 10-20. The edible portion is endosperm, "milk" = liquid endosperm, “copra” = solid endosperm. Fruit ripen 16-18 months after pollination. The mesocarp is dry and fibrous, called “coir” and sold for industrial uses such as potting medium. Endosperm rich in oil and protein; oil extracted for cooking. World's largest seed - since most of fruit is just the seed. III. Food value, usage • Copra contains 39% oil, and 556 calories, on par with oil-rich nut crops. Other products include “coir”, the dry, fibrous mesocarp (potting media), coconut oil (cooking), coconut cake (left over from oil extraction; livestock), water coconuts - immature fruit used for drinking (the water inside is sterile). • The coconut palm is referred to as the "tree of life", "tree of heaven", or "tree of abundance", reflective of its essentiality to everyday life in the tropics. The following is a quote from W orld Bank Technical Paper 136. “The immature nut provides a pleasant beverage (coconut milk or liquid endosperm - also used in tissue culture), the raw kernel is an important article of food; pared, shredded and dried it provides the desiccated coconut of commerce. The oil is used for cooking, for illumination and lubrication, and in the manufacture of margarine, bakery fats, soaps, detergents and toiletries. Coconut cake, the residue after extracting the oil from copra, is valuable as cattle and poultry feed. Tapping the inflorescence produces sap which can be used to provide sugar, vinegar, sweet or fermented toddy (like beer or wine) and, when distilled, arrack (liquor).
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