Description of Jamaican cherries, calorie content and chemical composition. Benefits and harms when consumed for the body. How capulin is eaten, what dishes can be prepared from it. Interesting facts about berries. Capulin has a high content of ascorbic acid, but that is why you should limit the use of the product.
Vitamin C has a dual effect on the body:
| Flaw | Excess |
| Decreases immunity | Hypervitaminosis |
| The quality of the skin is deteriorating | Allergy appears |
| Metabolic processes in the intestine are disrupted | Heartburn occurs |
The fruit tastes so good that it is difficult to stop when eating. But you need to remember that overeating can be harmful.
Useful properties of Jamaican cherries
Despite the fact that official medicine does not use the healing properties of the plant, the healing effect was appreciated by folk healers.
The benefits of capulin:
- It stabilizes the immune system, facilitates the course of diseases during the epidemic season, prevents the development of complications, and has an anti-inflammatory effect.
- The syrup has a mucolytic and expectorant effect.
- Eliminates vascular spasms, relieves headache attacks, relieves migraine.
- It has a mild diuretic and choleretic effect, helps to remove salts, preventing the formation of calculi.
- Normalizes metabolic processes in the body and improves the functioning of the cardiovascular system, tones and strengthens the walls of blood vessels.
- Stimulates the secretion of digestive enzymes.
- Strengthens the skeletal system and joints, since it contains a lot of calcium. The property is preserved only in fresh fruits; after heat treatment, calcium ceases to be absorbed.
- Fruit drink has a calming and sedative effect, relieves intestinal colic. Leaf tea has the same effect.
- A decoction of the leaves is used in the treatment of dysentery and relieves intestinal colic. Berries do not have a pronounced therapeutic effect, but they fix it.
When making medicines from the bark and leaves of a plant, the dosage should be observed. The composition contains a high amount of alkaloids, and when combined with boiling water, cyanide is released.
Contraindications and harm of capulin
The berries are very tasty, but when consumed, individual intolerance may develop. Contraindication for use - increased acidity of gastric juice, possibly the development of erosive gastritis or peptic ulcer disease.
Thermally processed berries do not increase acidity, but if you overeat regularly, then calcium forms insoluble compounds that accumulate in the kidneys, forming sand. In the future, the likelihood of developing urolithiasis increases.
Harm from capulin can be introduced into the diet of pregnant women, nursing women and children under 5 years of age. Despite the similarity to cherries, these are still tropical berries. In red fruits, allergenicity is increased.
Do not chew raw seeds or canned berries with them. The toxin amygdalin contained in them is synthesized in the body into hydrocyanic acid. Eating one or two bones is not scary, but a handful can already be poisoned.
How Jamaican cherries are eaten
Locals prefer to eat raw berries. But when they start to deteriorate, homemade alcoholic beverages are made from them. You can also cook jam, jelly, make marmalade and marshmallow. The leaves are brewed like tea, and the seeds are dried, the kernels are fried, and then added to salads.
And here is how capulin is eaten if it is purchased frozen. Sauces are made from it, added to stews, caramelized.
Dishes with Ecuadorian cherries are very tasty, but they do not bring benefits to the body - all useful substances disintegrate during heat treatment.
Capulin recipes
When choosing berries, you should pay attention to the appearance. Only fruits with a dense skin without damage are suitable for food. If juice begins to stand out, then rotting will quickly begin. Whole berries cannot be stored longer than 5-7 days, even on a refrigerator shelf.
Delicious Jamaican Cherry Recipes:
- Cake … Gelatin, 6 tablespoons, is diluted with cold water and set aside for 30 minutes to infuse. Warm up gradually, but make sure that the liquid does not boil. A cling film is placed in a round enamel or ceramic form, 200 g of capulin are laid out, and on top is a layer of crushed biscuit cakes. Leveling. Spread the berries again and level again. And add another layer. Beat the cream: 800 g of sour cream, 6 tablespoons of powdered sugar are placed in the mixer bowl, and then a solution of gelatin at room temperature is poured in a thin stream. Beat for 4-7 minutes. Cover the cake with a whipped mass on top and smear around the edges, put it in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours. When the cream hardens, you can try.
- Milk dessert … A seed is removed from the berries - no need to be afraid to damage the shape of the fruit, they are still poured into a blender. Pour the capulin with milk, so that it covers the surface, interrupt everything, add vanilla and cinnamon. Dessert is served chilled in a bowl. You can sprinkle each portion with grated chocolate and add a mint leaf.
- Caramelized Capulin … The berries are washed, allow excess liquid to drain, throwing in a colander. The bones are carefully removed, trying to maintain their shape. Sugar is melted in a frying pan by adding a small amount of water - the less, the better. Capulin is dipped in syrup, boiled for 5 minutes. Spread out on a culinary board, preferably a wooden one. Allow to dry. If the starting material is frozen capulin, you do not need to completely defrost it.
- Capulin sweets … We need to prepare the molds. 30-40 berries are caramelized, but instead of water, "Amaretto" is added to the sugar. Milk chocolate, 0.75 bars, is melted in a water bath. Prepared molds are smeared with chocolate mass using a silicone brush (if there is not enough chocolate, add more). While the chocolate molds freeze, melt another half of the chocolate bar, mix with 40 g of butter, pour 60 ml of Amaretto, add 2 tablespoons of crushed almond flakes and chopped almonds. Almond cream is distributed in forms, 1-2 caramelized berries are put into each, again covered with cream and chocolate is applied to the cream layer. You can use white or black for a change. Put the sweets in the refrigerator. When the dessert hardens, you can take it out. It is not recommended to coat the molds with dark chocolate. To get sweets in the future, the chocolate must be tempered. This is a very time consuming process.
- Capulin meat … Pork, 0.5 kg, cut into portions. Finely chop 2-3 onions, carrots, 1 piece, fry in a deep roasting pan in sunflower oil. Pork is fried separately for 15 minutes, and then combined with vegetables. From frozen capulin, 500 g, take out the bones, squeeze out the juice. A tablespoon of tomato paste is added to the brazier, Provencal herbs are added to taste, fresh dill. Bring the pork to readiness, 10 minutes before turning off, pour in the capulin juice. The frypot is turned off, the dish is allowed to “rest” for 15-20 minutes under the lid. Garnish - rice. Each serving is garnished with capulin before serving.
Capulin drinks:
- Tincture … Can be made with fresh or frozen capulin. The bones must be removed. The berries are poured into glass jars, covered with sugar. The proportions are 1: 3. You need to calculate so that there is room for juice. Leave for 3-4 hours. Cognac, vodka or moonshine is poured into cans, covered with lids, mixed well and placed in a dark place. The temperature in the room where the tincture is prepared should not be higher than 25 ° C. The jars are shaken 2-3 times daily. After 2 weeks, the berries are strained and squeezed. To make the drink transparent, the liquid is filtered by pouring through gauze folded in several layers, between which there is a layer of cotton wool. It is impossible to obtain a transparent drink in one filtration; you have to repeat the procedure 3-4 times. Then the drink is bottled and put away in a dark place. You can try it in 1-2 days.
- Capulin pouring … The seeds are removed, the berries are mixed with granulated sugar - 1: 1. The mixture is poured into a jar, the neck is tied with gauze folded in 3 layers. Leave to infuse in daylight for 2-4 days. As soon as the liquid begins to ferment, a water seal is placed. Close the jar with a plastic lid, insert a thin plastic tube into it, one end of which is placed in a jar of water. As soon as it begins to be sucked into the tube and bubbles appear in the container with it, we can conclude that the initial fermentation is over. The fermented drink is covered with a glove, 1 finger is punctured, and removed to a dark place. Wait until the liquid ferments. The finished drink is filtered, and the berry pulp is mixed with sugar, 300-400 g are added per 1 kg, the syrup is boiled until thickened. Pour it through a colander to separate the berries, combine with the liqueur and let it brew again. Once fermentation is over, it can be consumed.
Capulin comes to Europe only frozen. Fresh berries cannot stand long-term transportation.
Interesting facts about black cherry
There are several varieties of capulin that differ slightly from each other. Fausto is grown commercially. The berries can be up to 25 mm in diameter.
The "Ecuadorian" variety is considered the sweetest. Fruits are dark cherry, almost black, very sweet and large - up to 40 mm in section. Harriet has the most astringent taste with flattened purple-black berries. Huachi Grande has soft fruits with a delicate aroma; Werner has a firmer flesh. The consumer purchases with pleasure the sweet-tart Lomeli fruits, which can reach 30-35 mm in diameter.
Capulin began to be actively cultivated in the middle of the 20th century. The plant was brought to the Philippines, where the largest plantations are now. Growth is accelerated, the crop can be harvested in 2-3 years after planting the cuttings.
The plant is not capricious, does not require special growing conditions, tolerates a short-term temperature drop to + 5-7 ° C and prolonged droughts. However, varietal qualities deteriorate without a rootstock. Therefore, maturing trees are additionally grafted with their own variety. Cropping is required. Crown formation is necessary to increase yields and facilitate berry picking.
Watch the video about capulin:
Young branches of capulin are cut off for livestock feed, burlap and dense ropes are made from wood fibers. The wood is durable, with a beautiful texture and a reddish color. It can be used to make furniture. The seeds are 35-38% oil, which is used to make paints and soaps.
