Caloric content and chemical composition of cucumber fruit. Useful properties, harm and contraindications for use. How to eat bilimbi. Culinary recipes with exotic berries.
Contraindications and harm of bilimbi
In addition to its many traditional health benefits, cucumber fruit can be harmful to your body if consumed too much.
Using a lot of juice can lead to kidney problems. Freshly prepared and concentrated bilimbi extract has a very high concentration of oxalic acid. This increases the risk of developing acute renal failure due to the deposition of calcium oxalate crystals in the renal tubules.
Allergies will become a ban on eating berries. If you suffer from an individual intolerance to any fruits and berries, always be wary of tasting new ones. The harm of bilimbi for allergy sufferers can manifest itself in redness of the skin, itching, irregular heart rhythms and more serious problems requiring hospitalization.
Due to the high content of oxalic acid, the fruits of the cucumber tree should be carefully considered for people with ailments of the gastrointestinal tract. Even gastritis is a contraindication.
How is the fruit of the cucumber tree eaten?
Because of their too sour taste, berries are usually not eaten fresh. The fruits of the cucumber tree are eaten pickled, raw, sprinkled with sugar, salt, spices. Like vegetables, they are added to stews and sauces, drinks and refreshing desserts. Ripe fruits are added to curries along with mangoes or used with tamarind to make chutney. Jam and jam are made from them, pre-soaking the berries in cold salted water to remove the acid.
In Costa Rica, they are used as a side dish by adding rice and beans to meat and fish dishes. In Southeast Asia, seasonings are made from bilimbi, added to some dishes as an alternative to tamarind and tomatoes.
The local population rarely asks the question of how to eat bilimbi, boldly adding it to any dishes that they consider necessary to serve. Therefore, when traveling to the Philippines, it is worth getting ready for the most unusual flavor combinations that can easily become your favorites.
For eating, ripe berries are most often taken. High-quality fruits should be yellow or green, without damage and soft spots on the skin, with juicy pulp and bright taste. Fresh bilimbi berries lose their presentation in 3-5 days and become unusable for food.
For long-term storage, they are dried in the sun (as, in particular, they do in some cities in Indonesia). The dried bilimbi are called asam sunti and are used as a condiment.
The inflorescences of the cucumber tree, like fruit, are pickled or candied to keep them in reserve.
Recipes for dishes and drinks with bilimbi
Since the fruit of the cucumber is an exotic specimen, most dishes with it can taste unusual. However, if you manage to visit one of the warm countries where similar berries are found in abundance, do not miss the opportunity to expand your culinary range.
Delicious Cucumber Recipes:
- Beef ribs with bilimbi … Prepare 1.5 kg ribs, cut into portions, 8-10 sweet potato tubers (peeled and chopped), 200 g edible abelmos, 250 g bilimbi, 2 red peppers, 1 large onion, a little spinach to taste. Place the beef ribs in a large saucepan and add enough water to cover them completely. Salt and bring to a boil over high heat. We remove the foam, if it has formed, reduce the heating to medium. Add sweet potatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Then we put the abelmos and process it for another 5-6 minutes. Place the bilimbi in water for 7-8 minutes, while kneading the cooked vegetables with the back of a spoon. Season with pepper, onion, stir and let cook for another 5 minutes. Add chopped spinach and remove from heat.
- Traditional Indian dish "Irumban Puli Achar" … A spicy and spicy vegetable dish with bilimbi can be served with cottage cheese and rice. It goes well with fish curry, adding a fresh accent with sourness. Take 500 g bilimbi, salt to taste, 1/4 cup of garlic oil, 1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds, 1/4 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds, 1/4 teaspoon of asafoetida, the same amount of chili powder, and a teaspoon of turmeric. Wash and dry the bilimbi well, cut it into small pieces. Put in a container, add salt, mix well. Cover and let stand for 1 day. After heating the oil in a saucepan, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida, chili and turmeric. Mix well. Combine cucumber berries with spices, place in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.
- Spicy oatmeal muffins … For this recipe with bilimbi, take a teaspoon of black cumin seeds, the same amount of coriander, a glass of soft oatmeal, 2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour, 3 tablespoons of grape seed oil, 2 tablespoons of water, half a teaspoon of salt, the same amount of fragrant black pepper, 3-4 teaspoons of extra hot sauce, 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 egg, a third of a cup of grated Gouda cheese, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 small red onion, 3 chopped bilimbi berries. Preheat oven to 180 ° C. Fry the cumin and coriander in a pan for 1-2 minutes, remove from heat, grind in a mortar. Place the ground spices in a bowl, add the oatmeal, flour, grape seed oil, salt and pepper, stir until the oil is evenly absorbed by the ingredients. Add water and stir the contents until the mixture starts to stick to your fingers. Oil the baking dish, put about 2 tablespoons of the mixture in each, that is, do not fill them to the end. Bake for 10 minutes, in the meantime, we will make the topping. Combine cheese, sauce, spices, and finely chopped bilimbi berries and process them in a blender to a paste. Decorate ready-made muffins with the mixture and serve.
- Stewed prawns with bilimbi … Take 350 grams of large shrimp, a handful of chopped bilimbi, 3 green chilies, a pinch of turmeric powder, a tablespoon of coconut oil, some fresh curry leaves, and salt to taste. For curry, you need a quarter cup of chopped coconut, 1 shallots, 4 cloves of garlic, a small piece of ginger (grated), and chili to taste. We clean the shrimps and place them in a deep frying pan, add chopped bilimbi, turmeric and salt there. We put all the ingredients for the pasta in a food processor and process until they are pasty. Pour the mixture into the pan, add a full glass of water and mix thoroughly. Add the sliced chili and curry leaves. We cover the dish with a lid, put on a small fire and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Serve with rice, you can season the garnish with a spoonful of coconut oil on top.
Bilimbi drink recipes:
- Cucumber wine … Cut half a kilogram of bilimbi into pieces, fill with five cups of water and add a kilo of sugar. When the mixture boils, remove the heat and let the drink cool. At about 30 degrees, add a quarter tablespoon of yeast. We pour into bottles and close them with corks, stopping the ingress of air. After 22 days, we strain the wine and bottle it again, closing it with corks. After the expiration date, the composition is ready for use.
- Thai bilimbi juice … Prepare 500 g of bilimbi berries, one and a half kilograms of sugar, 2 glasses of water, 1 orange, a slice of ginger, half a lemon. Wash well and clean the ingredients, finely chop or grind with a blender. If you want a clearer juice, drain the liquid at this stage. Combine water and sugar in a separate saucepan, heat the contents until completely dissolved. Without waiting to boil, remove the syrup from the stove. Add the pulp and stir well. After the contents have cooled, add lemon or lime juice. Transfer to a suitable storage container and place in the refrigerator.
Interesting facts about the bilimbi cucumber tree
Trees can grow very quickly, especially in tropical rainforests. Thanks to this, wood is used for the manufacture of furniture and construction. The purple flowers and bright green berries hanging from each branch make bilimbi an attractive element of the garden.
In India, as in Florida, the tree starts flowering in early February. The plant is quite fertile, one specimen is capable of producing several hundred berries.
Interestingly, due to the high content of oxalic acid, the fruits can remove rust and bleach clothes. Previously, the peoples of Indonesia and Malaysians used fresh berries puree to polish the surface of weapons and armor to a shine.
The local population most often uses bilimbi in pickled or fried form, with rice and beans. Sometimes the fruit is cooked with fish and meat.
To reduce the sour taste of bilimbi, the berries are kept in water, pre-pierced. The resulting juice is used by the Malaysians as eye drops and is considered a magical remedy.
Trees grow best in rich and well-drained soil and limestone, but they cannot tolerate salt. Growing in a pot and cutting to the desired size, you can make an unusual bonsai from bilimbi. Young seedlings are sensitive to temperature changes, they need protection from wind and cold.
Watch a video about bilimbi:
The fruit of the bilimbi cucumber tree is a valuable exotic product known for its unusual taste and rich chemical composition. Due to its high content of vitamin C, A, iron and calcium, it has a long history of use in both culinary dishes and traditional medicine in Indonesia. Bilimbi is distinguished by a sour taste, so the first acquaintance with it may seem unusual. However, having tasted this amazing berry, tourists usually order another portion.
