Annona

A great way to improve your diet and health Many species of the family Annonaceae (custard-apple family), for example the soursop, cherimoya and sugar apple seeds, constitute significant sources of lipids, proteins and carbohydrates and can therefore be used in food and feed, and offer relevant antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds. The oil in the seeds are a good source […]

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Guatemalan Bananas

by Kevin García There are many varieties of bananas in Guatemala. Bananas are very tasty, complete fruits; they are easy to digest and have many nutrients, such as vitamins A, B, C, E, calcium, magnesium, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, iron and sodium. They are particularly rich in vitamin B6, folic acid and potassium. The bananas most commonly found in Guatemala are Cavendish […]

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Red Dragons in the Market

Pitaya season is here They are sweet, spiny and flaming red, rushing into your local markets by the dozens. Red dragons—in fruit form—are in season. Pitaya (dragon fruit) is common throughout Mexico and Central and South America, but is more popular in consumption in Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and China). The fruit looks like a prehistoric orb, a painted artichoke, […]

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Mangostino, Anyone?

Strange and Delicious Fruits of June Regardless of location, farmers’ markets throughout Guatemala provide a grand opportunity to experience new flavors, textures and colors in fruits foreign to the extranjero tongue. If you’re worried about consuming raw fruits here in Guatemala, remember that a couple minutes soaked in low strength bleach water will kill anything looming on the skin of […]

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Another Fabulous Fruit: Carambola

For two decades the exotic carambola only appeared in the U.S. as a component of holiday fruit baskets. These days you’ll find them in all the better Stateside grocery stores. Also known as star fruit because of its shape when sliced crosswise, this oddity once grew only in Sri Lanka and the Moluccas. Perhaps a millennium ago it was transplanted […]

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Another Fabulous Fruit: Anona

Known variously as the sugar apple, soursop and cherimoya, this fruit grows in so many regions and varieties that information on it is contradictory. Most sources say there about 2,000 species, all high in carbohydrates, potassium, phosphorous and calcium. The local variety contains a white, custard-like pulp and clusters of dark seeds. The flavor is difficult to describe, but people […]

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Another Fabulous Fruit: Green Mango

Scholars believe Buddhist monks took mangoes on voyages from Asia to Persia in the Fourth and Fifth centuries B.C., and that the Persians subsequently took them to Africa in the 10th century. From there the Portuguese introduced them to Brazil during its 16th century colonization of the New World. And from Brazil the mango spread to Central America. Although there […]

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Another Fabulous Fruit: Nispero

Known in other countries by the names sapodilla and naseberry, these little orange fruits come from a tree that is a distant member of the rosebush family. In China, Japan and India, níspero trees were used ornamentally as well as for the fruit. For millennia only Asia knew of the níspero, but in the 1800s the tree was introduced to […]

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