The word fruit is not a botanical term. In people, it is usually understood as sweet edible fruits of trees and some shrubs.
What is a fruit?
Translated from Latin, fruit means the same as the fruit. And this category also includes berries, vegetables, nuts, and cereals. Recently, berries began to be considered an accessory of the fruit family, since both of them can be eaten raw, and vegetables often require heat treatment. There is another classification, which includes pumpkin, pineapple, ginger, etc. as fruits. These are fruits from which you can prepare sweet, long-stored preparations. This classification is common in European countries.
Is it possible to refer to fruits, for example, tomatoes, because very tasty jam is cooked from green tomatoes? In some cases, the fruits of plants are divided into sweet fruits and acidic or edible and inedible. Thus, the division into
vegetables, fruits and berries is very arbitrary. There are many other classifications adopted in various branches of science, industry, and for other needs. For example, according to the structure of the fruit, they are divided into stone fruits and pome seeds, and by origin, into wild and cultivated or breeding hybrids. Even there is such - red fruits and green. The fact is that an allergic reaction sometimes occurs to the red pigment. This applies to strawberries, oranges, etc., so they are not recommended to be eaten in large quantities by pregnant women and young children. Lack of potassium and carotene, these categories can make up, for example, due to apricots.
Apricot
Apricot and its wild-growing variety, spruce, grow in the south of Russia. Like many sweet fruits, apricots are suitable for jam, but because of the large amount of pectin they are quickly sugared, so they often go for marmalade, pastille, jam, juice. Dried fruits with seeds (apricots) and pitted (dried apricots) are steamed with boiling water and used as a filling for pies, and very dry are ground into flour and added to the dough. Apricot juice, due to its high content of calcium and iron, is included in the list of fruits that are indicated for pregnant women and for feeding babies. A large amount of phosphorus and magnesium makes it indispensable for the normal functioning of the brain. Potassium, contained in the pulp of apricots, acts perfectly on the cardiovascular system, strengthening the myocardium.
Banana
Fresh apricot is an infrequent guest in store shelves, but there is a good alternative to it - a banana, a fruit that is constantly on sale. By all characteristics, this is a real berry. In other cases, overseas bananas are more affordable for consumers than domestic ones.
An interesting feature of this plant contributes to its distribution in the carved places of the world. The fact is that bananas need to be collected before they are ripe, that is, green and solid. If you leave them on the plant, they will lose their beneficial properties and taste. Peeled fruits, on the contrary, after lying down, become sweeter and fuller in the composition of useful microelements, and fresh starch of unripe fruits is transformed into easily digestible fruit sugar. A large amount of potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium and phosphorus makes bananas indispensable for baby food. This fruit will help out if the child has an allergy to gluten contained in cereals. Ephedrine is present in the pulp of bananas, which slightly increases
blood pressure, therefore it is indicated for hypotensives.
The fruits of the Russian land
Russia is rich in plantations of wild fruit and berry plants. In the Far East, honeysuckle grows in this form, in the Kaliningrad region - sea buckthorn, raspberries, blackberries and rose hips, in Bashkiria and the Urals - apple trees, cherries, in Siberia - raspberries, currants, lingonberries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries. The list of fruits and berries is so large that it is not possible to list them all in one small article. Original Russian can be considered an apple tree, pear, cherry, countless types of berries.
In addition to those listed above, this is blackberry, blueberry, bony, prince, water crowberry, cloudberry, guelder-rose, mountain ash, hawthorn, ierga, elderberry, bird cherry, etc. And this is not a complete list of fruits and berries that are found in our country.
Goji berries or dereza?
Recently, the goji plant has been highly advertised as a slimming product. If you take the reference book-classifier, which describes fruits and berries, you can find that this wonderful plant is familiar to every Russian and is very widespread throughout Russia, and we call him derez. This berry was not very popular among our ancestors, since it did not differ in its original taste and noticeable aroma, such as raspberries, currants or strawberries. In addition, the appearance of an edible dereza can easily be confused with a poisonous wolf berry. For weight loss, our grandmothers often used gooseberries.
Gooseberry
“Northern grapes”, as with the light hand of Michurin they began to call gooseberries, growing in every front garden and just on the streets, is not original Russian. He was brought to us many centuries ago. In the chronicles of the times of Ivan III there is mention of this shrubbery. The flavoring properties of berries have long been appreciated and used in cooking for stewed fruit, jams, preserves, marmalade, sauces, juices, wine, liquors and vinegar. Gooseberries are very useful from a medical point of view. Berries and decoction of the leaves were drunk with tuberculosis, the antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties of the berries helped with skin inflammation.
With diarrhea and diarrhea, gooseberries are simply not replaceable. Its ability to build stools, improve overall metabolism, remove toxins and tone up is unique. It is difficult to find a more effective way to fight excess weight than gooseberries (in summer - berries, in winter - vinegar).
Berry and fruit drink to improve metabolism
From time immemorial, natural fruit vinegar with honey has been used to improve metabolism. For weight loss, two tablespoons of vinegar with the same amount of honey is diluted with a glass of warm water and drunk on an empty stomach. Good home vinegar is a storehouse of vitamins and minerals. Therefore, it is quite true that the fascination with this product has recently begun to gain momentum. Making vinegar is not at all difficult. He needs only tasty fruits or berries and a little sugar. Ripening time - 2 weeks in the light and 40 days in a dark place. Vinegar can also be aromatized with herbs and honey. 3% homemade vinegar is perfect not only as a vitamin and energy drink, but also for pickling meat and fish, for dressing salads, it is also used for cosmetic purposes. The set of vinegar fruit will be incomplete without mentioning apples.
The apples
Early and late, giants and small ranet - these fruits are loved by everyone and have virtually no contraindications. They are used in dietary and therapeutic nutrition, juice is squeezed out of them, stewed fruit is made, jam, jelly, sauces and vinegar are made. With anemia, glandular apples are eaten. Iron needles or nails are inserted into the pulp of the fruit, left for half a day, then metal objects are removed. Now you can eat an apple. Oxidized sticks are used repeatedly, since each time the chemical reaction between acid and metal occurs faster and more intensively.
Unlike many other fruits, apples are in great demand not only for excellent culinary and medicinal qualities, but also for cheapness and affordability. Apple in the vastness of Russia is always abundant. In other years, crops exceed the capacity of processors, and apples disappear, which is a pity. This gift of nature should be appreciated and used for health.
Fruit plants - guests of Russian lands
Before the 1917 revolution, orange and lemon trees bore fruit in the winter gardens of the Grand Dukes, pineapples and palm trees grew. Growing tropical fruits in a greenhouse is not so difficult if you provide them with sufficient illumination, humidity and air temperature. However, usually berries and fruits from greenhouses do not have the same properties as their counterparts grown in natural conditions. Agronomists have learned to regionalize plant varieties that have not taken root in our conditions.
Breeders create new cultures, and they gradually become part of the Russian flora. Gardeners and gardeners have long and successfully grown strawberries, physalis, henomeles, mahonia, actinidia, lemongrass and other plants on their plots that are not quite traditional for our soils and climate. The process is going in the opposite direction - in Europe, the Far Eastern honeysuckle is slowly but surely getting settled.
Honeysuckle
Honeysuckle, or Far Eastern cherry, is one of those fruits that cannot be harvested industrially, which is a pity, because this berry has a delicate taste and delicate aroma reminiscent of blueberries. Amazing jam, juice and wine are obtained from honeysuckle. The berries are dried, and in the winter they are brewed and drunk as a diuretic, anti-inflammatory and multivitamin. Fresh crushed berries are applied to ulcers with eczema and other skin lesions. An unpretentious shrub blooms the first of the fruit crops of Russian latitudes. Fruits appear in May - June, 1-2 weeks earlier than strawberries.
Traditional fruits for the New Year holiday.
The smells of tangerines, chocolate and pine needles are the usual aromas of the New Year. Back in Soviet times, tangerines and chocolates were included in the children's New Year's gift set. There were practically no fruits on sale in winter, and the smell of mandarin, mixed with frosty air, acquired a special, forever remembered shade of the holiday. But dwarf trees with bright fruits and glossy wax leaves adorn our window sills all year round. Among them are lemons, oranges, tangerines and other citrus fruits.
The list would not be complete without the tiny kumquats and green limes. Due to the large amount of vitamin C, it is recommended to eat them during the rehabilitation period after illness and to increase immunity. If you eat citrus fruits regularly, it will significantly reduce blood cholesterol and cleanse your lymph. In cooking, citrus fruits are used for jams, preserves, marmalades, as well as in sauces for seafood, fish and meat dishes. If you are allergic to red fruits, then choose yellow-green grapefruits or pomelo.
Folk methods of harvesting and processing fruits
Even today, when there are almost no undeveloped lands in Europe, cities are actively growing and industrial enterprises are being built, in Russia more than 20% of the territories are free and represent thickets of wild plants. Until now, people go to the forest for healthy fruits. From time immemorial, in the summer and autumn, our ancestors were engaged in the collection and harvesting of gifts of nature, such as berries, herbs, mushrooms, nuts, root crops and fruits. Russian people met winter and long posts (Christmas and Great) full of bins. They knew how to preserve berries and fruits in a variety of ways. In summer, apples, pears and other large and sweet fruits were harvested. Fresh fruits were cut into thin plates, laid out on trays and covered with a thin cloth to protect them from insects and dust. This was done on dry and hot days.
So others procured
berries and fruits, for example, apricots, grapes, bird cherry, cherries, plums, rose hips, etc. In the novels of Russian writers tinctures and liqueurs from cranberries, cherries, currants, and mountain ash are often mentioned. Women cooked jam, jelly, marmalade, and not always on sugar, but often on honey, which was always plenty. Amazing delicacy was made from green gooseberries stuffed with walnuts. Gooseberries were soaked in vodka, kept overnight in a glacier and cooked with cherry leaves. Citrus fruits, rare for that time, were put in some sweet preparations for a greater aroma. The list of old recipes for Russian dishes would be incomplete without national seasonings for fish, meat and cereals. Ancestors were great masters in the field of inventing various boils, that is, sauces. For them, in the fall, certain types of fruit were soaked and fermented.
Soaked fruits
Urination, or, as it is also called, souring, is one of the most common methods of harvesting fruits in the old days. This was the case with lingonberries, cloudberries, cranberries, apples, pears, plums and watermelons. Pure, flawless fruits were laid in oak barrels, interspersed with straw, poured with boiled water with salt and a little sugar, malt or rye flour and kept for a week in a warm room for fermentation. After this period, the barrels were transferred to a cold cellar. Further fermentation lasted about a month. After that, the product was ready for use. Soaked apples are well preserved until the summer. They are unusually tasty, however, only later, hard varieties such as Antonovka, anise, saffron pepin and some others are suitable for such processing. Oak barrels and straw remarkably enrich the aroma of urination. But if they are not available, then you can use enameled, glass or ceramic dishes. Delicious sauces for fatty meat dishes, duck and game are made from soaked lingonberries. The berries are mixed with a small amount of rye flour (for density), boiled with boiling water, salt and sugar are added to taste. Such blasts have always been an indispensable component of Russian cuisine.
Watermelon
Can a watermelon be considered a fruit? There is no consensus on this matter, but no matter what category it belongs to - everyone likes fruits, vegetables or berries, watermelons. Both adults and children are looking forward to the watermelon season. The African fruit long ago perfectly took root not only in the south, but also in the central zone of Russia, since it needs a dry and hot climate to fully ripen. In the watermelon season, people suffering from kidney stones have a great opportunity to get rid of this problem. Watermelon juice contains substances that promote the dissolution of stones, and its diuretic properties accelerate the excretion of salt. Folic acid is indispensable in protein synthesis and promotes blood renewal. It is present in many vegetables, but it is always destroyed during heat treatment, therefore, in the watermelon season, do not miss the opportunity to improve your body.
The harsh nature of Russia every year gives us rich gifts. Many types of fruits and berries are well studied and are actively used for food and medicinal purposes, but there are those that we forgot, preferring synthetic vitamins and export exotic. It cannot last forever. It is possible that someday we will return to tea from currants, raspberries and blackberries, drinks from viburnum and mountain ash, and we will eat a fat duck with cranberry boil or soaked watermelons.