2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Vampi (Latin Clausena lancium) - an evergreen and relatively low tree culture from the Rutaceae family, which is a distant relative of Citrus.
Description
Vampi is an evergreen tree that grows up to six meters in height with incredibly flexible (almost like a willow) twigs. It boasts resistance to slight frost (up to minus two degrees), but if the thermometer falls below minus six degrees, the vampie will quickly die.
The extremely resinous spirally arranged leaves of this culture are distinguished by an elliptical shape and reach a length of ten to thirty centimeters.
Vampi fruits always grow in spectacular clusters and reach two and a half centimeters in diameter. Above, each fruit is covered with a yellowish-brownish thin shell, and the flesh inside the fruit, which is divided into five separate segments, is colored in yellowish-white tones. In almost every segment, you can find one bright green seed. In this case, the seeds often take up to fifty percent of the total volume of the vampi.
Currently, there are several varieties of this attractive crop, differing both in the taste of the fruit and in their shape. By the way, the taste of these fruits can be both sugary sweet and sour. Basically, the fruits of this amazing plant are distinguished by either sweet and sour or sweet taste with a slightly pungent aftertaste.
Vampi bears fruit only once a year. But, despite its relatively compact dimensions, each tree is capable of producing, under particularly favorable conditions, up to forty-five kilograms of fruit per season.
Where grows
Vampi is a fruit native to southern China and Indochina. It is also mainly cultivated there to this day. In addition, vampi plantations can be found in Malaysia, Indonesia or India, as well as on the luxurious Hawaiian Islands, picturesque Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Slightly less often, this culture can be seen in Australia and in a number of countries with subtropical and tropical climates.
As for the USA and Europe, no one paid attention to this unusual culture for a long time. Only after a detailed chemical analysis of the composition of its fruits did the vampi begin to penetrate into their territory.
Application
The main distinguishing feature of the wampi is the surprisingly low calorie content of its pulp - only 1 kcal per 100 g of fruit! So, using these fruits, you should not be afraid to get fat.
Vampi are eaten fresh and added to all kinds of dessert dishes and a wide variety of salads. These juicy fruits will be an excellent filling for pies, as well as an excellent base for making confitures, jellies or preserves. And the Chinese national cuisine is famous for its wonderful side dishes for meat cooked with the addition of vampi.
In a number of countries in Southeast Asia, juice is obtained from vampi, which is then combined with sugar and fermented, bottled and properly sealed - a few months later, you can enjoy the taste of the original low-alcohol and highly carbonated drink, somewhat similar to champagne.
In addition, vampi are rich in ascorbic acid and are renowned for their unique healing properties. Raw fruits are endowed with the ability to have a powerful anthelmintic effect and help not only in curing ailments of the gastrointestinal tract, but also in their prevention. And the Chinese and Vietnamese often use halves of the fruit dried in the sun for bronchitis (as an excellent expectorant and quickly soothing drug).
Vampi leaves are also famous for their healing properties - they are widely used to prevent the appearance of premature gray hair, as well as dandruff and even baldness: a decoction of the leaves is an excellent means for washing your hair!
Contraindications
As such, vampi has no contraindications, however, occasionally, when using these fruits, an allergy may appear.
