Our grandmothers and mothers were onto something when they kept telling us to eat our fruits. Research through the years has proven that fruits are an important source of essential vitamins and minerals.
Dietician Namrata Mirchandani says that the thing to remember with fruits is their colour. Each colour is rich in a particular mineral or vitamin. Red fruits like apples, cherries and pomegranates are full of nutrients such as lycopene, vitamins A and C and folate. Orange and yellow fruits such as papayas, oranges and mangoes contain beta-carotene, flavonoids, lycopene, potassium, and vitamin C. Green fruits like green apples, grapes, avocados have an abundance of chlorophyll, fibre, calcium, folate, vitamin C and beta-carotene.
“For those who do not particularly enjoy biting into a fruit, you can have fruit juices, fruit smoothies or an extra helping of brightly-coloured vegetables. In the latter case you must be sure of eating enough vegetables to make up for the fruits. Also good are dried fruits such as raisins, dried apricots and berries,” she says.
Apple Ginger Preserve
This is not only a
delicious preserve, but full of the goodness of apples as well as the antioxidant
properties of ginger. This is also ideal for those who do not want to eat raw fruits.
Ingredients
300 gm ginger roots, washed and peeled
1 kg red apples, peeled
½ litre water
1 kg sugar
1 tsp ginger powder
Method
Roughly chop the ginger
roots and apples and blitz them in a food processor till smooth.
In a big saucepan, add the ginger and apple and the water. Bring the mixture to a boil and then cook on low heat for about an hour. Add the sugar and cook for 20 minutes more, stirring often.
Add the ginger powder, stir and remove. Set aside to cool. Pour the preserve in clean jam jars, tighten the lids and dip in boiling water for 10 minutes.
The preserve can be kept in the refrigerator for 6 weeks.
Desi Fruit Salad
We call this the desi fruit salad because all the fruits mentioned below are readily available in India. Best of all, since a variety of fruits are used, the salad is an ideal source of most of the vitamins you will need.
Ingredients
1 cup pineapple, diced
1 cup water melon balls or cubed
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup white grapes
1 pear, peeled and sliced
2 bananas, peeled and sliced
2 oranges, peeled and sliced
Lemon juice
Aamchoor powder
For the fruit dressing
½ cup orange juice
3 tbsp salad oil
2 tsp sugar
Pinch of salt ½ sp. salt
Method
Add all ingredients for the dressing in an air-tight container and shake vigorously till blended. Chill it.
In a large non-metallic bowl, add all the fruit pieces and sprinkle liberally with lemon juice. Cover with cling film and chill. Before serving, pour the fruit dressing, sprinkle a bit of aamchoor powder, toss gently and serve.