Cherries, Berries and Plums

While writing my last post, I hadn't expected so many people to be interested in it. Felt good to be able to do something good for others. I've always professed good health amongst my people and thought I should share it with others too. So it feels great to have people try these healthy, real fruit goodness instead of processed drinks to beat the heat.

In this post, I bring more juices that I discovered recently, using more commonly available summer fruits- Red cherries, strawberries and plums.

Cherries:

Two main species of cherry fruit cultivated worldwide are wild or sweet cherry and sour or tart cherry. Both the species are low calorie, rich in pigment and anti-oxidants like meltonin, beta-carotene, flavonoid, contain high mineral and vitamin content.

Cherry juice helps relieve the pain and inflammation of arthritis, gout, back pain, muscle pain and sport-related injuries. The fruit contains anti-inflammatory anthocyanins that may provide protection from colon cancer, heart attack and stroke besides promoting good health and regulating blood pressure.

Tart cherry juice concentrate is available at health stores in form of capsules as well.

Strawberries:

Everybody knows strawberry is tasty but few realize that it is in fact, a nutritional powerhouse. It has been ranked 27th best amongst all US foods and the 4th best amongst all fruits, in terms of its antioxidant capacity. It is amongst the top 50 antioxidant sources.

The fruit is again low-calorie, very high Vitamin C content, rich in manganese, dietary fiber, omega 3 fatty acids and has zero cholesterol. Strawberry also has high content of phytonutrients like flavonols, anthocyanins, phenolic acid etc.

Strawberry juice is effective in treating liver disorders like hepatitis and cirrhosis (consumed on empty stomach), by renewing liver cells and tissues. It can also relieve skin diseases like acne and psoriasis and also detoxifies the body. In summers, it can prevent heat prostration by eliminating fatigue.

Plums:

Plums (Hindi name: Aalubukhara) belong to the family of cherries. There are thousands of species of plums available in all shapes, colours and sizes.

Plums are also low calorie and are very good source of vitamin C. They are also a good source of vitamin A, vitamin K, potassium, minerals like iron and potassium, dietary fiber and anti-oxidants like phenols.

Plums help regulate the functioning of the digestive system and thereby used in constipation conditions; develop resistance against infectious agents, counter inflammation, protect from lung and oral cavity cancers and help controlling heart rate and blood pressure.

Few years back, I had this amazingly delicious and addictive strawberry juice at a roadside stall in Thailand which I never found since. While discussing healthy juicing with my grandmother, when I mentioned this, she suggested a recipe that might have been used in preparing that strawberry juice. I went ahead and tried it on all three of the abovementioned fruits by adding little touches of my own. The outcome was Lip-smacking!

Recipe:

Put 5-6 plums in a pan and fill it with enough drinking water to cover the top of the fruits. Bring water to a boil, let it cool off then gently peel the skin off and mash the plums with a spoon or by hands. Sieve the liquid in another pan till all the juice has been extracted and heat it again by adding sugar, salt or black salt (to your taste) then put it in the freezer for cooling. That's it!

Optional: I also added 2-3  mint leaves (pudina) and few fennel seeds while heating. 

*I used the same recipe with cherries and strawberries too with few exceptions.

• You'd need to increase the count of these two fruits as they are smaller than plums.
• Before adding sugar, salt, lime juice or any such thing, do taste first to see how you like it.

Although you can use this recipe for making strawberry juice, another easier and quicker method is:

Slice strawberries and blend with cold water, sugar, lime juice, salt; strain and serve. :D


Enjoy the summers!