What is gourmet monstera, description, calorie content and useful properties. Harmful use and recipes. How can you eat a tropical berry. Interesting facts about the plant and the ability to grow in your apartment.
Useful properties of monstera gourmet
The properties of pinanana are used by traditional healers of Mexico and they treat many diseases with the help of the fruit. They are used to eliminate the symptoms of sciatica, arthritis, arthrosis and gout. The pulp of ripe fruits and infusion of leaves are used orally, and unripe berries are used externally.
Benefits of monstera:
- Increases immunity, helps prevent complications of viral and bacterial infections;
- Increases the tone of the body, replenishes energy reserves, improves mental and stimulates physical activity;
- Accelerates intestinal peristalsis, eliminates constipation;
- Prevents dehydration of the body;
- Eliminates muscle spasms, normalizes muscle fiber contraction.
Lotions from aerial roots eliminate the effects of snake bites.
Contraindications and harm to monstera
Vine fruits should be eaten with caution. If you taste the flesh of an immature monstera, you can get burns of the oral mucosa. It is unlikely that it will be possible to swallow even a piece, but if this is done, erosions of the esophagus will appear, and in the future - ulcerative lesions of the stomach and duodenum.
Very often you have to deal with an individual intolerance to monstera fruits. Eating is harmful to those who have an allergic reaction to tropical fruits - bananas, pineapples, jackfruits - due to the similarity of the chemical composition. You can not enter the fruits in the daily menu with increased sensitivity to oxalic acid, if there is a history of rheumatism.
The harm of monstera gourmet is expressed:
- With gastroenteritis, colitis and enterocolitis;
- With increased flatulence;
- With pathology of the urinary system, impaired excretory function, chronic pyelonephritis and cystitis;
- With a decrease in visual acuity: impaired sensitivity of the optic nerve, cataracts, the development of glaucoma;
- In case of metabolic disorders, gout, osteochondrosis and arthrosis;
- With arthritis and myalgia.
You can not feed this berry to young children under 5 years old, introduce it into the diet of pregnant and lactating women, elderly people.
The flesh of a mature monstera is sweet and juicy, but you should be very careful when “getting to know” it. After consuming a small piece, you need to wait 2-3 hours to make sure if an allergy has appeared: irritation and redness in the mouth, rashes on the mucous membrane of the lips and facial skin, epigastric pain, excessive intestinal gas. Allergic reactions were observed to appear within 3-4 hours.
In isolated cases, anaphylactic shock and Quincke's edema, severe allergies were noted.
When eating monstera gourmet, moderation must be observed. Recommendations should be adhered to both when introducing fresh berries into the diet, and desserts made from it.
Do monstera fruits eat gourmet
Before picking the berries, you need to make sure that they are fully ripe, since monstera fruits are edible only in this case. Ripening lasts 12-14 months from the beginning of flowering. If you eat an unripe fruit, you can get a serious burn of the mucous membrane.
If a gourmet monstera is grown for sale, then unripe berries are harvested. Then, after the purchase, they are wrapped in foil and laid out on the windowsill, under direct sunlight, so that they are fully ripe.
Ripening can be judged by the aroma: it becomes saturated, sweet - the tropics in the room. The dense pineapple-like scales change color from greenish to golden and flake off from the ends of the fruit. Black spots on the skin also indicate ripening of the pulp.
You cannot miss the moment of ripening. From the windowsill, the gourmet monster should be immediately removed to the refrigerator - you can not unfold it. Rotting of the tender pulp begins within 3-4 hours.
The mature monstera is eaten like a pineapple, removing the flaky scaly skin with a sharp knife. You can cut off individual pieces or use a spoon.
Aboriginal people prefer to "prolong" the pleasure. They feast on juicy pulp without picking the berries from the vines. To prevent numerous insects from sharing the meal, after eating, the remainder is wrapped in cotton cloth or covered with a plastic bag.
Monstera Fruit Recipes
Europeans are hesitant to try the pinanana pulp due to its structure. It is soft and slimy, more like jelly. Therefore, they prefer to consume berries after technological culinary processing.
Recipes with Gourmet Monster:
- Jelly … A ripe berry is peeled from its dense peel, removing it with a thin layer with a very sharp knife. Then cut into small pieces and cook for 12-15 minutes in a non-oxidizing dish. When the fruit is cooked, the liquid is decanted, gelatin and sugar are dissolved in it, and brought to a boil. Then pour half of the monstera slices with boiling syrup, interrupt in a blender until smooth, taste and, if necessary, add a little citric acid. Then the liquid is filtered through a sieve. The further process depends on your own idea of the final form of the product. You can pour the syrup into molds, or put the monstera pieces in them first and then pour the syrup. At room temperature, they wait until the jelly cools down, and only then put it in the refrigerator until it solidifies completely. Proportions of ingredients: 100 g of gourmet monstera, 2 tablespoons of sugar, better than brown, cane, 6 g of gelatin, a little less than a glass of water, a drop of citric acid, if necessary.
- Monstera gourmet cream … Cut two peeled berries into small slices and cover with half a glass of white sugar. When the juice appears, interrupt the fruit puree with a blender. Grind 3 egg yolks and half a glass of sugar in a water bath. Whisk 1, 5 cups of 33% cream separately. Mix the cream, monstera puree and yolks, beat well. Sprinkle the silicone mold with cinnamon, spread the fluffy creamy mass and leave it in the refrigerator to freeze for 3-4 hours. This cream sets off well the taste of soft coffee, lemon or orange ice cream.
- Tropical salad with gourmet monster … The taste goes well with mango, banana, kiwi. All fruits are cut into slices of the same size, seasoned with lemon juice, vanilla sugar and powdered sugar.
- Hearty salad "Exotic" … This dish combines the fruits of the tropics and the middle zone. Juice is squeezed out of 1/3 of the monstera, the rest of the pulp is cut into cubes. Combine with apricot slices (2 pieces), 1 mango, with 2 kiwi, half a glass of cherries, after removing the seeds and cutting the berries into 2 parts. Spread the fruit mixture around boiled light-salted rice, lined with a slide. Everyone is generously poured with a mixture of lemon and monstera juice. You can sprinkle with brown sugar.
When preparing dishes, you need to make sure that the gourmet monstera is ripe. If the berries are greenish, dinner may result in hospitalization.
Interesting Gourmet Monster Facts
Liana with delicate flowers and juicy fruit was named a monster from the word "monster". This name is associated with numerous legends about the plant. Allegedly, at night, with its huge leaves with monstera fingers, it strangles small animals and even small children if they fell asleep in the forest near a tree.
Under a tree with lianas, the corpses of animals and even people, entwined with aerial roots, were often found. Liana, expanding, embraces everything in its accessibility. The fact that the plant feeds on living organisms has not been proven.
Currently, liana is planted in the subtropics for food purposes. As a support for it, hedges or thermophilic trees with an unformed crown are chosen, and they are also rooted in the ground, using cuttings for seedlings.
Growing conditions: stable average annual temperature + 15-30 ° C and high humidity. The plant requires frequent watering during dry seasons. On the open ground, the gourmet monstera matures up to the island of Sicily, where it is called the "dragon's paw".
Harvesting begins when the fruit turns light green and the scales bulge out at the base. In appearance, the berries at this moment resemble cobs of corn. Cut the gourmet monstera, leaving 2.5-4 cm of the stem.
The rest of the plant is used only in Mexico and Panama. There, ropes, baskets, mats and room screens-partitions are woven from strong flexible air roots.
Monstera gourmet is very popular with flower growers. It can be a decoration for any apartment or winter garden. Growing a plant is easy. Cuttings are planted in a shallow (up to 30 cm) long container 40x100 cm, near the edge of the box. The first layer is expanded clay, which plays the role of drainage, on top of loose soil - a mixture of peat, humus, leafy earth and sand. Be sure to install a support. Water it abundantly, put the flowerpot on the west or east window. To prevent the plant from suffocating itself with its roots, they need to be pruned regularly. With proper care, 4-5 years after planting, you can enjoy the unfamiliar taste of the tropical fruit.
Watch the video about the gourmet monster:
If possible, you should definitely grow a tropical vine in your apartment. It humidifies the room and releases a large amount of oxygen. But these are not all useful properties - Monstera gourmet absorbs and recycles formaldehyde released by chipboard. Thanks to the tropical guest, you can create a healthy microclimate in your living space.
