The composition of poncana, useful properties and harm. Contraindications to use. How large sweet citrus is eaten. Recipes for interesting dishes. Use in cosmetology and medicine. Poncan contains organic acids. There are 15 types of acids in the pulp. Most of them are lemon (49 mg per 100 g) and apple (2.3 mg). Other acids: malonic, lactic, adipic, citramaleic, chlorogenic, aconitic, benzoic, succinic, oxalic, tartaric, succinic and others. Their content in the poncan peel is 0.2%, and in the pulp it reaches 5%.
The peel of the fruit contains a rich complex of essential oils: limonene, camphene, terpene hydrocarbons, geraniol, linalool, nerol and others. These substances provide a spicy, characteristic citrus scent.
Useful properties of poncan
The use of citrus has a beneficial effect on the state of the body, increases the immune status.
Benefits of poncan:
- Accelerates peristalsis and improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, stimulates the removal of toxins;
- Reduces blood clotting, dissolves and removes harmful cholesterol, prevents the development of atherosclerosis;
- Accelerates recovery in the season of epidemics, stimulates the protective functions of the body;
- Normalizes the work of the optic nerve, helps the eyes recover after increased stress;
- Eliminates depression, increases the production of the hormone of joy - serotonin;
- Folic acid in the composition helps to bear the child, ensures the timely laying of the nervous system and the formation of internal organs;
- Prevents the development of toxicosis, eliminates its main symptom - nausea;
- Stops age-related changes, stimulates collagen production and prevents the appearance of gray hair;
- Peel infusions have a calming effect, improve the condition of blood vessels.
Local residents use ponkan to restore the body's water and electrolyte balance, replenishing the amount of fluid and the supply of nutrients. Tropical mandarin juice does not have a diuretic effect and does not wash out potassium and magnesium from the body, trace elements that normalize the work of the cardiovascular system. With the help of the fruit and its juice, you can maintain a constant level of blood pressure.
When feeling thirsty on a warm winter day in India or China, it is better to eat ponkan than to buy water in open containers. This will help prevent the development of intestinal infection - phytoncides in the composition have a pronounced antimicrobial effect. It is useful to use citrus juice on an empty stomach, it inhibits the vital activity of pathogenic microorganisms.
Harm and contraindications to the use of poncan
There are many contraindications to the use of poncan. This is explained by the large amount of organic acids in the composition that irritate the mucous membrane of the digestive tract, and the property to increase the production of histamine. Golden citrus, like all citrus fruits, is a pronounced allergen.
Mandarin Ponkan should not be consumed:
- With a peptic ulcer in the acute stage and with erosive damage to the mucous membrane of the digestive tract;
- With reflux esophagitis and frequent exacerbations of gastritis with high acidity;
- If heartburn occurs frequently;
- During intestinal infections and with intestinal disorders of a nervous nature at the stage of exacerbation;
- With chronic colitis and enterocolitis;
- With liver diseases - hepatitis of all types or liver failure;
- With acute nephritis;
- With cholecystitis and pancreatitis;
- With diabetes mellitus, since the glycemic index of poncana is very high - 52 units, in juice it is even higher.
For children and pregnant women, tangerine should be introduced into the diet with caution so as not to provoke the development of an allergic reaction.
How to eat and what to cook from ponkan
Poncans are larger than some oranges and taste just as sweet. Therefore, they can be confused. In stores in Russia and Ukraine, this variety is often sold as oranges. Fruits with elevation and bumpy, easily peeled skin are 80% suntara. However, this should not be embarrassing, the properties of citrus fruits are in many ways similar.
In order not to be disappointed, you need to be able to choose ponkan. Tangerines are brought from afar, and if they lay for a long time, when you take the fruit in your hand, the feeling is that there is emptiness in it. This means that the pulp is dry.
Sweet fruits with only bright orange flesh, almost red. The thin skin should come off easily. No stains or scratches on the skin! In a quality fruit, the skin is not damaged, and the smell comes from it such that the appetite immediately increases.
In most cases, poncan is consumed fresh, without even removing the seeds. They are small and there are not many of them. If you get the seeds from the tender pulp of citrus, you can be left without juice.
Fruit can be used to make juice, make jam, add slices to fruit salads and baked goods. The juice is added to sauces, candied fruits are prepared from the peel.
Poncan recipes:
- A fish … First, they do the side dish. Approximately 500 g of even potato tubers are peeled, cut into even stick slices, and fried in sunflower oil over high heat. Need to get homemade fries. Salt and pepper just before readiness. The fish, regardless of the variety, but preferably white, 400 g, is peeled, cut into portions, and laid out on a baking sheet. You can add a little salt. The oven is heated to 210 ° C. A baking sheet with fish is placed in the oven. It is considered ready if a ruddy crust appears on it. While the fish is baking, they make the sauce. 2 poncans are interrupted in a blender without skin. Cut fresh dill enough to make 2, 5 tablespoons. Heat 50 g of butter in a saucepan, spread the tangerine puree, boil for about half a minute, add dill, remove the saucepan from the heat. Place 2-3 leaves of lettuce on a plate, spread the fish on top and pour over the sauce. French fries are placed next to a hill so that the sauce does not get on it and the "sticks" do not soften. Decorate the dish with whole poncan wedges.
- Canned poncan … 1 kg of tangerines are peeled and divided into wedges. It turns out about 700 g of pulp. Pour about 400 ml of water into a saucepan, bring to a boil. Separately put to sterilize jars. It is better to prepare 0.5 liters of container. The lids are sterilized separately. Slices are carefully placed in each jar, a little star anise and a cinnamon stick are added. Squeeze the juice of one lemon into each of them. Pour the jars with boiling water, immediately close them with lids, let them cool so that you can take the container with your hands. Water is poured back into a saucepan, 300 g granulated sugar is added, and brought to a boil. Re-fill the jars and put them to sterilize in a pot of water for 10 minutes. After sterilization, they are rolled up with lids, turned over and wrapped in a blanket to cool slowly. You can store it at room temperature.
- Indian sweet pilaf … Approximately 2 cups of white long rice is washed, poured over with boiling water, 0.5 l, boiled for 20 minutes to swell the rice. 0, 5 kg turkey fillet cut into portions. Pickled pineapples and poncan, 1 glass each, are thrown into a colander to drain the syrup. You do not need to pour it out. The fillets are fried until golden brown in butter, generously sprinkled with curry. Rice is cooked, salted, seasoned with a mixture of allspice, seasoned to taste with a mixture of juices and half a glass of Madeira. Bring the rice to full readiness, covering it with a lid, in the last minutes put fruit on it and stew for another 5 minutes. When serving, the meat is spread on a pad of rice and garnished with fruit.
- Cranberry-tangerine sauce … The zest is removed from the lemon and the juice is squeezed out. You should make 1/3 cup. In a thick-walled saucepan, mix poncan juice, a tablespoon of zest, 300 g of cranberries, preferably fresh, but frozen, a teaspoon of grated ginger, 2/3 cup of sugar. The sauce is brought to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook until thickened. Pounded raisins are added to the finished sauce, everything is interrupted with a blender and cooled. Serve with ice cream or pancakes.
- Poncan salad … Kiwi, 4 pieces, peeled, cut into circles, trying to make them the same. Poncan is cut into slices and each is cut in half with a sharp knife. Mix one and a half tablespoons of honey and lemon juice, add cinnamon, season a salad of poncan and kiwi. Sprinkle on top with pine nuts and mint leaves.
- Foie gras with poncana confiture … The peel of the fruit is chopped into thin strips. Pour a tablespoon of lemon juice into a saucepan, juice from 2 poncans, add 500 ml of water. The puree remaining after squeezing out the juice is placed in a gauze bag, also dipped in a saucepan. Boil the liquid until it evaporates by half. Take out a bag of boiled puree from the pan, add 400 g of sugar, remove the foam from the surface, add the poncan peel, mix. The resulting jam should freeze. 250 g of goose liver is soaked in milk. Then it is mixed with 100 g of fresh porcini mushrooms, 400 ml of brandy is poured in, left for 3-4 hours so that everything is well marinated. The marinated liver is interrupted with a blender along with 250 g of pork meat, the marinade, black ground pepper and half a tablespoon of nutmeg are added and everything is mixed. You can bake cold cuts in a foil mold, in the oven, at a temperature of 180 ° C, but a truly tender foie gras can only be obtained in a water bath. After cooking, cool for 24 hours. Served with poncan jam.
- Fruit and vegetable smoothie … Cut a quarter of the pineapple pulp into small pieces, squeeze the juice from 2 large carrots. Juice is also squeezed out of 6 poncans. All ingredients are combined and brought in a blender until completely homogeneous. To remove excess sweetness, add lemon or lime juice, focusing on your taste. The finished smoothie is cooled, before serving, you can pour a little cinnamon on top.
Interesting facts about ponkan
Some scholars insist that the "golden apples of the Hesperides" are ponkan. However, oranges and traditional apples are fighting for the title of fruits of longevity.
If mandarins appeared in Europe only in the 18th century, in Russia they began to be widely used only in the 19th century, and ponkan began to be imported even later, in the 21st century.
Suntara is grown for export, this variety is preferred by customers. Since the fruiting period is the winter months (December, January and early February), the variety reaches the consumer's table during the period of basic maturity. The advantage over other varieties is a thin, easily peeling skin.
A direct indication for the use of a sweet citrus variety is diabetes mellitus. Surprisingly, with the help of poncan, or rather its rind, you can prepare a drink that lowers sugar levels. Peel off 2 large fresh fruits together with white fibers and boil for 10 minutes in 1 liter of boiling water. Drink during the day.
If you boil dried peel instead of fresh peel, the broth will help you recover from colds. It dilutes phlegm and stimulates expectoration.
External use of the juice prevents the development of wrinkles and eliminates increased pigmentation.
Watch the video about ponkan:
However, you can find ponkan only in the capital's supermarkets. This orange, the sweetest citrus is not cheap enough to be imported to the periphery. So, only residents of the capital have a chance to meet a guest from the tropics.
