An overview of the southern fruit - peach (peach tree): what it looks like and where it grows, what nutritional properties it has and who it can harm. How the fruits are chosen and some interesting facts. The content of the article:
- Chemical composition and calorie content
- Beneficial features
- Contraindications
- How peaches are chosen
- Interesting Facts
Peach is a fruit of a fruit tree from the Rosaceae family, a relative of the almond tree. The botanical name of the plant is Prunus persica, which literally means "Persian plum", class dicotyledonous, inside the juicy sweet pulp is a hard large bone.
These fruits have a hybrid - unpeeled or bare-fruited peach, it is also called nectarine.
It is impossible to say for certain, but presumably the birthplace of the peach tree was China (northern), from there the fruit plant got to India, Persia and Europe. It is cultivated in warm regions of temperate Eurasia: Central Asia, Russia, southeastern Ukraine, the Caucasus) and America.
The tree blooms with small pink and red flowers (see photo above), which appear once a year before the appearance of green lanceolate leaves. Ripe fruits are flat or elongated-rounded with a shallow groove on one half, outside the fruits have a velvety skin, inside - dense juicy pulp of pinkish, white or yellowish color, in the pulp there is an endocarp (stone) with many grooves and dimples. Fresh fruits ripened or preserved in syrup are used for food, almond oil and liqueur are prepared from peach pits.
Chemical composition and calorie content of fresh peach
The fruits of the peach plant are reasonably considered dietary. The calorie content of fresh peach fruits is 39 kcal per 100 g, of which:
- Fat - 0.3 g
- Carbohydrates - 9, 5-10 g
- Protein - up to 1 g
- Water - up to 89 g
There are no starch and lactose, but there is sugar in the amount of 8, 5 g and dietary fiber up to 1, 5 g.
And also vitamins:
- Beta Carotene - 162 mcg
- Riboflavin B2 and Thiamin B1 - 0.025 mg each
- Niacin B3 - up to 0.85 mg
- Pantothenic acid B5 - 0.14 mg
- Pyridoxine B6 - 0.029mg
- C or ascorbic acid - up to 6, 56 mg
- K - 2, 59 mcg
- E - 0.7 mg
Micro and macro elements:
- Phosphorus - up to 20 mg
- Potassium - 189 mg
- Zinc - 0.2 mg
- Magnesium - 9 mg
- Calcium - 6 mg
- Iron - 0.3 mg
- Selenium - 0.1 mcg
- Manganese - 9 mg
- Fluoride - 4 mcg
In order for all this wealth to benefit your body, you need to learn how to choose the ripe fruits correctly. But it should be borne in mind that this product deteriorates very quickly and is almost not stored.
Useful properties of peaches
Ripe fruits are very pleasant, sweetish and juicy. The pulp is as tasty as it is useful, it contains the necessary for the body:
- organic acids: tartaric, malic, citric, cinchona;
- pectins, essential oils;
- vitamins: carotene, PP, groups B, E, K and C;
- mineral salts: phosphorus, potassium, manganese, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, selenium.
The bone inside the pulp is also useful, it contains almond oil, amygdalin.
Peaches are dietary fruits, if you include them in your daily diet, you can free your body from extra pounds, and at the same time maintain health, improve the condition of your skin and hair. Fruits are rich in fiber, which cleanses the stomach and intestines, reduces hunger, improves digestion and, as a result, the absorption of nutrients.
Ripe peaches contain potassium useful for the heart muscle. Therefore, the use of these fruits is recommended by therapists to patients with arrhythmia. Potassium and vitamin C are also beneficial for the immune system, so the Persian plum helps the body resist disease-causing microbes. Magnesium salts and other trace elements are involved in the functions of the nervous system. With frequent consumption of peaches during stress or increased nervous stress, you can quickly restore the nervous system and weaken the negative impact on it, or simply improve your mood.
The fruits of the peach tree contain iron, therefore, in case of anemia, it is imperative to eat peaches or juice from them.
Peaches are most commonly eaten as fresh ripe fruit in their natural form. Compotes and juices are brewed from it, preserved in sweet syrup, and excellent wines are made.
The benefits of fruits in cosmetology
Not only is the use of peaches internally beneficial, there are several recipes for making masks for the face and hair. For example, it is enough to simply wipe the skin of the face and neck with fresh pulp or peach nectar to improve its color, refresh and make it velvety.
For oily skin and hair, a popular recipe from oatmeal, starch, and peach pulp is popular. By the way, there is a separate recipe for hair: peach puree is diluted with milk, a few drops of oregano oil are added. Keep on hair for half an hour and wash off with regular shampoo.
We can say about peach oil that it is used in many medicines (including for the eyes, and in oncology), in cosmetics (creams, perfumes, decorative cosmetics).
Contraindications for peaches
If we talk about the fruits of the peach tree, then in ripe and canned in sweet syrup, they are not suitable for people with diabetes, obesity (and there is no benefit from such fruits). But the flowers of this plant can harm allergy sufferers, because their pollen causes a strong allergic reaction. Such a beautiful and useful plant near the house is not suitable for everyone.
Be careful when eating large quantities of peaches, as they have a laxative effect.
How peaches are chosen
It is very important to choose fresh fruits, as they quickly deteriorate and hardly store. Fresh fruits of the peach tree include firm but soft-pressed fruits. They are moderately hard to the touch (the harder, the sour the taste). If you chose a peach that is too hard, then keep it at room temperature - it will soften. The skin should not be wrinkled and darkened on its surface.
Interesting Facts
In the photo there is a fig peach
- In the homeland of the peach tree - in China - only imperial persons could eat its fruits for their own pleasure. The fruit was considered the food of the gods.
- Peach retains properties useful for our body in any form: in fresh, canned, in juice, with any type of processing, vitamins and trace elements are preserved, but not in the same proportions. During heat treatment (jam, jam, cooking) - there are no nutrients left at all! Conclusion - it is better to eat them fresh.
- After a feast the next day, sometimes you feel overwhelmed and sick, this is easy to fix: just eat a couple of fruits!
- Russian poets sang the tenderness of girls, comparing it to a peach, the British compare this fruit with a tender and vulnerable girl, Renaissance artists considered a peach an elixir of love, the Illuminati did not make a peach a romantic fruit, but associated it with truth, with truth.
