2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Ambarella (Latin Spondias dulcis) - a fruiting plant from the Sumach family, which is often called the yellow or Polynesian plum, as well as the Cytera apple or sweet mombin.
Description
Ambarella is a tree, the height of which can reach eighteen meters. In addition, it boasts very large leaves - their length ranges from twenty to sixty centimeters. And this plant blooms with creamy or white panicles reaching a length of thirty centimeters.
Ambarella grows in clusters, and its oval fruits boast a pleasant golden color. Outside, they are framed by a rather hard peel (either smooth or slightly warty) with a thickness of about 2.5 mm, and inside each fruit there is a thorny and very hard bone containing several flat seeds densely covered with thin curved thorns. Juicy and sweet ambarella pulp has pleasant pineapple and mango notes. It is fibrous, crunchy and has a pleasant yellow color. It is noteworthy that the closer the pulp is to the peel, the more sour it is.
Where grows
The main areas of growth of ambarella are now Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia and India. And in the wild, it can be found in Melanesia and Polynesia - it was from there that it subsequently came to other states: approximately at the end of the eighteenth century it was brought to Jamaica (to be more precise, this event dates back to 1782), and from there it began to penetrate and the rest of the Caribbean islands, as well as Suriname, Brazil, Central America and Venezuela. Ambarella is also actively cultivated in Gabon, Zanzibar, Australia, Malaysia and Indochina. Moreover, its excellent decorative characteristics prompted some gardeners in the south of Russia to grow ambarella.
Application
The pulp of ambarella is very often consumed fresh, but it has proven itself quite well in cooking: it is used to obtain juices, as well as to make jelly, confiture and marmalade. It is quite permissible to use unripe fruits: they are pickled, added to various soups, stewed for a side dish (in this case, they become an excellent alternative to vegetables), or excellent sauces are prepared on their basis. So, in order to prepare a sauce for meat, it is enough just to season the pulp, rubbed through a sieve, with a small amount of sugar. And Indonesians use the sour and crunchy flesh of green fruits to prepare a dish called rujak. Such an interesting name hides a traditional salad prepared on the basis of raw vegetables and seasoned with a special seasoning with a salty-sweet aftertaste. Young leaves are no less actively used - they are often served with rice and salted fish.
In addition, ambarella leaves (and fruits too) are excellent livestock feed and, together with the bark, are used to treat burns, inflammations and wounds.
Ambarella is incredibly rich in vitamin C (a person's daily need for this vitamin is easily covered by only 150 g of the pulp of this fruit) and iron. The high content of vitamin C helps to maintain immunity at the proper level, accelerates the healing process of wounds, and also helps to reduce the risk of developing all kinds of cardiovascular ailments and oncology. Ambarella is also high in fiber, which can help lower bad cholesterol.
Contraindications
To date, no serious contraindications to the use of ambarella have been identified. However, this does not completely exclude the possibility of allergic reactions.
