Pineapple, Ananas comosus, belongs to the Bromeliaceae
family, from which one of its most important health-promoting compounds,
the enzyme bromelain, was named. The Spanish name for pineapple, pina, and the root of its English name, reflects the fruit's visual similarity to the pinecone.
Pineapples are actually not just one fruit but a composite of
many flowers whose individual fruitlets fuse together around a central
core. Each fruitlet can be identified by an "eye," the rough spiny
marking on the pineapple's surface. Read More..
Papayas are fruits that remind us of the tropics, the regions of the
world in which they are grown. Once considered an exotic fruit, papayas'
rise in popularity has made them much more available.
Papayas are
spherical or pear-shaped fruits that can be as long
as 20 inches. The ones commonly found in the market usually average
about 7 inches and weigh about one pound. Their flesh is a rich orange
color with either yellow or pink hues. Papaya has a wonderfully soft,
butter-like consistency and a
deliciously sweet, musky taste. Inside the inner cavity of the fruit are
black, round seeds encased in a gelatinous-like substance. Read More..
The English word "mango" (plural "mangoes" or "mangos") originated from the Malayalam word māṅṅa via Portuguese (also manga)
during spice trade with Kerala in 1498. The word's first recorded
attestation in a European language was a text by Ludovico di Varthema in
Italian in 1510, as manga;
the first recorded occurrences in languages such as French and
postclassical Latin appear to be translations from this Italian text.
The origin of the "-o" ending in English is unclear. Mango is also mentioned by Hendrik van Rheede, the Dutch commander of Malabar (Northern Kerala) in his book Hortus Malabaricus, a compendium of the plants of economic and medical value in the Malabar, published in 1678. Read More..
Bananas are elliptically shaped fruits "prepackaged" by Nature,
featuring a firm, creamy flesh gift-wrapped inside a thick inedible
peel. The banana plant grows 10 to 26 feet in height and belongs to the
family Musaceae. Banana fruits grow in clusters of 50 to 150, with
individual fruits grouped in bunches, known as "hands," of 10 to 25
bananas.
Bananas abound in hundreds of edible varieties that fall under two distinct species: the sweet banana (Musa sapienta, Musa nana) and the plantain banana (Musa paradisiacal). Sweet bananas vary in size and color.
Read More..
The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), also known as jack tree, jakfruit, or sometimes simply jack or jak) is a species of tree in the Artocarpus genus of the mulberry family (Moraceae).
It is native to parts of South and Southeast Asia, and is believed to
have originated in the southwestern rain forests of India, in
present-day Kerala, in Tamil Nadu (in Panruti), coastal Karnataka and
Maharashtra. The jackfruit tree is well suited to tropical lowlands, and its fruit is the largest tree-borne fruit, reaching as much as 80 pounds (36 kg) in weight, 36 inches (90 cm) in length, and 20 inches (50 cm) in diameter.
The jackfruit
tree is a widely cultivated and popular food item in tropical regions of
Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand,
Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Read More..
There are several varieties of king coconuts of which two types are
commonly found in Sri Lanka. These are 'Red dwarf' i, a smaller variety containing about 40 nuts in
a bunch. The sweet and refreshing water of the king coconut is a hot
favorite among residents and tourists alike.The water of the young coconut is probably the most nutritious and
wholesome drink that nature has provided for people living in tropical
countries such as Sri Lanka. Compared with varieties of aerated water
that are usually artificially colored and flavored, the natural king
coconut drink refreshes and purifies the body. Read More..
Coconut is one of the major plantation
crops in Sri Lanka which accounts for approximately 12% of all
agricultural produce in Sri Lanka. Total land area under cultivation is
395,000 hectares and about 2,500 million nuts are produced per year.
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae (palm family). It is the only accepted species in the genusCocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which, botanically, is a drupe, not a nut. The spelling cocoanut is an archaic form of the word. Read More..
Known as the Spice Island, Sri Lanka was historically attractive to the Western nations for its spice riches. Sri
Lanka is famous for a range of sought-after spices including cinnamon, pepper, cloves, cardamoms, nutmeg, mace and vanilla. These grow in abundance all over the island in fertile and diverse soil types and varying temperature conditions.
56% of Sri Lankan agricultural exports consist of spices, allied products
and essential oils. These varieties of condiments are used to season,
flavour and aromatise various forms of cuisines across the world. Read More..
Cashew nuts are actually seeds that adhere to the bottom of the cashew apple, the fruit of the cashew tree, which is native to the
coastal areas of northeastern Brazil. The
seed we know as the kidney-shaped cashew "nut" is delicate in flavor and
firm, but slightly spongy, in texture. You have probably noticed that cashews in the shell are not
available in stores. This is because these nuts are always sold
pre-shelled since the interior of their shells contains a caustic resin,
known as cashew balm, which must be carefully removed before they are
fit for consumption. This caustic resin is actually used in industry to
make varnishes and insecticides. Cashews, known scientifically as "Anacardium occidentale" , belong to the same family as the mango and pistachio nut. Read More..
