2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Physalis is a little known fruit in our country. But its taste and health benefits have long been known in America. It is also known as tomato in shell, Mexican tomato, Jewish strawberry, gooseberry, ground cherry.
Physalis is found mainly in America and less frequently in Asia and Europe. Characteristic of the fruits of cultivated species and varieties of physalis is that they are wrapped in a bubble-like formation called a cup or mechunka. Most often, when ripe, their color is pale yellow or green, but there are varieties with purple fruits.
Although to a very small extent, Mexican physalis is also known in Bulgaria. It is often referred to as "vegetable physalis" and even more often we actually grow it as an ornamental potted plant or yard plant.
There are many conditions with the use of physalis fruits, which is probably one of the reasons for their poor use in our country. In many varieties, once ripe, they acquire an unpleasant odor and taste, so they must be picked green.
Most often, this is the moment when they have grown so much that they have split the bladder. For optimal taste, they should not be picked too early or too late. There are basically four cultivated varieties of physalis:
Peruvian physalis (Physalis peruviana) - a powerful, well-leaved plant with small (6-12 g) fruit. They are very tasty and have a superb aroma. Used fresh, processed or dried.
Mexican physalis (Physalis aeguata) - has a powerful semi-erect stem with green to dark green leaves. The fruits are large and reach up to 80 g depending on the variety and growing conditions. This variety is cold-resistant - withstands up to - 2 degrees.
Strawberry physalis (Physalis pubescens) - a powerful and well-leaved plant. There are small (5-10 g), but quite tasty and strawberry-flavored fruits.
The fruits of Mexican physalis are used for - salads, pickles, soups, and in Mexico they are the main ingredient for "salsa verde" (green sauce). Depending on the variety, the taste of these small fruits is quite pleasant, slightly tart, refreshing, slightly sour to sweet.
Apart from excellent taste, physalis also boasts healing properties. The fruits are rich in valuable substances for the human body. This determines its widespread use around the world in fresh form as a dessert fruit, in fruit salads, cocktails or processed in sauces, in jams, compotes, liqueurs and various other beverages.
Both Peruvian and Mexican physalis are characterized by a favorable content for the human body of carbohydrates, proteins, organic acids (mainly citric), vitamins (mainly vitamin C, B complex and carotene), calcium, magnesium, in especially large amounts of phosphorus, and also other mineral salts.
There are many prophylactic and curative actions of physalis, which are used in medicine today. The antiseptic properties of the fruit are widely recognized and are often recommended for inflammation of the respiratory organs. Decoction of the fruit or tea from the leaves of physalis are very useful and are widely used in asthmatics.
It is believed that the fruits help cleanse the blood and excrete albumin from the kidneys. Frequent consumption protects the digestive system from the development of internal parasites, and the flavonoids contained in them have a calming effect.
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