Description of the paradise plum. Caloric content and useful properties, therapeutic effect. Contraindications to use. How ikako is eaten, what dishes can be prepared. The opportunity to taste the tropical fruit while living in a temperate climate. Anthocyanins, which are responsible for the color of fruits, are known to have a positive effect on the human body. Pink varieties with a purple tint or dark blue, almost black, have a pronounced antioxidant effect, reflect the aggression of excess ultraviolet radiation, reduce intraocular pressure, and strengthen the eye blood vessels. Pink pigment prevents the formation of tumors, lengthens the life cycle of hepatocytes - liver cells. Yellow natural dyes have a calming effect. When choosing a variety of paradise plums, you need to take into account health problems.
Ikako contains more keratin and fiber than ordinary plums, pears and even apples. After heat treatment, the beneficial properties do not disappear.
Useful properties of the paradise plum
For medical purposes, traditional healers use the fruits of the plant and decoctions of leaves and bark.
The benefits of ikako for the body:
- It accelerates peristalsis, has a mild laxative and choleretic effect, helps to get rid of old toxins in the intestines and fecal stones.
- Cleans blood vessels from cholesterol deposits. Isolates free radicals running in the intestine, has an antitumor effect, prevents the formation of neoplasms in the rectum.
- Normalizes heart rate, stabilizes blood flow rate, removes "bad" cholesterol from the body.
- Prevents the development of anemia.
- Healers in Brazil recommend the introduction of ikako into the diet for diabetes mellitus in order to lower blood sugar levels.
- Dissolves stones, has a mild diuretic effect, prevents salts from accumulating in the kidneys.
- Reduces blood pressure levels.
- It speeds up metabolism, improves the production of synovial fluid, prevents arthrosis, and relieves painful symptoms in arthritis and rheumatism.
- Strengthens the skeletal system, increases the regenerative properties of organic tissues.
In the treatment of constipation, fresh fruits of the paradise plum are used, and decoctions from the leaves and bark of the plant are used to stop diarrhea. For anorexia nervosa, insomnia and frequent anxiety, dried or dried berry pulp is used. If there is a pronounced heartbeat, panic weakness, it is advised to take a piece of dried fruit in your mouth and dissolve it like a lollipop.
Despite the fact that the common plum, grown in temperate climates, and Ikako belong to plants of different genera and families, they have a similar effect on the human body. Therefore, when moving from one climatic zone to another, you can safely introduce tropical fruits into the diet of pregnant and lactating women, and give them to young children. Of course, individual allergic reactions should be taken into account.
Contraindications and harm to ikako
If you are allergic to plums, tropical fruits should be tried with caution - the chemical composition is very similar. In this case, it is better to choose varieties with purple skin, they are sweeter.
Contraindications to the use of ikako are as follows:
- Individual intolerance;
- Diarrhea in acute form, including being a symptom of an intestinal infection;
- Increased acidity of gastric juice, so as not to provoke ulcerative and erosive damage to the mucous membrane.
Limit the number of fetuses with biliary dyskinesia and urolithiasis, so as not to provoke the movement of stones.
How to eat paradise plum
Locals prefer to pick plums from the tree and eat them immediately, without even washing them. When they bite off the sweet flesh, they are doused with juice, leaving yellow spots on the clothes. Rarely does anyone manage not to splash: the fruit is juicy, besides, the bone is tightly attached to the pulp and it is difficult to separate it.
And here is how ikako is eaten, so as not to get dirty - they use cutlery, special dessert forks. Hold the plum and carefully separate the pieces with a knife with a rounded end.
You can also use the fruit for cooking jam, jam, compotes, making liqueur or as a filling for pies.
Ikako recipes
If you plan to make something from paradise plum, it is advisable to purchase more sugar. Ikako's taste is tart and sour. When you eat fresh fruits, it is even pleasant, but traditionally it is customary to sweeten desserts.
Delicious ikako recipes:
- Sherbet … Large fig peaches and the same number of heavenly plums, 4 pieces each, are washed, dried with a damp cloth, pitted and poured into a blender bowl. Add 200 g of ice cream without filler or ice cream, beat well. Then 100 g of crushed shortbread cookies are poured there. The dessert is poured into bowls and put into the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes. Garnish with mint leaves when serving.
- Air pie … Separate the whites and yolks of 3 eggs, grind the yolks with a glass of sugar. Melt 300 g of butter at room temperature. Without heating, pour into the yolks, add 2/3 teaspoon of soda, slaked with vinegar, or 1 tablespoon of baking powder. Knead the dough, adding flour, until creamy. Preheat the oven to 180 ° C. The mold is greased with sunflower oil. Bones are taken out of the ikako, the pulp is cut into even pieces. You need so many plums to completely cover the top layer of the cake. The dough is poured into a mold and the future filling is laid out on top. Sprinkle with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon, put in the oven for 30 minutes. While the dough is baking, whisk the whites with 0.5-0.75 cups of sugar, then spread it on the cake, but do not smooth it out, but create low "peaks" on purpose. They are waiting for the meringue to brown. This usually takes 10 minutes.
- Jam … Ikako is cut into small pieces, covered with sugar in a 1: 1 ratio, left for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally to get juice. When there is enough of it, the container is put on fire and brought to a boil. Care must be taken not to burn. The jam should be boiled down by a quarter. At the very end of cooking, pour in cinnamon and pour in rum at the rate of 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and 30 ml of alcohol per 1 kg of berries.
- Ikako stew … You will need 600-700 g of pork, preferably with a thin layer of fat so that it is juicy and soft. Cut the meat into small pieces and fry in sunflower oil until golden brown. First cut the onions into rings, then cut in half and fry until golden brown. The chili pod is also finely chopped. Ikako, 6 pieces, are blanched, first dipped in boiling water to remove the skin. The fruits are cut into thin slices. Pour plums and peppers into a skillet with onions and fry together. Now everything is placed in a saucepan: overcooked meat, onions with peppers and plums. Pour in a little boiling water, add some salt to taste. Bring to readiness. You can add any seasonings. Ordinary plums are not suitable for this dish, they are "soft" in taste, and astringency is required for onion sauce.
- Lebanese pie … Start cooking with the filling. Pits are removed from 300-350 g of ikako and cut into small pieces. 250 g of flour is mixed with 200 g of sugar and butter, cut into small pieces. Then the butter needs to be rubbed with a sweet flour mixture with a rolling pin to get a crumb. Milk, a little less than a glass, is heated to room temperature, the dough is kneaded together with pieces of plums. If you need a little more flour, add it, since the sliced fruits can give off juice. Then everything should be done quickly so that the dough does not creep. The batch should be slightly thicker than homemade sour cream. If the mold is silicone, it is lubricated with sunflower oil. The metal is lined with oiled parchment. They are baked in the oven at a temperature of 180 ° C. A ruddy crust appears after about 40 minutes. Eat a Lebanese pie, preferably warm.
To make a dessert with ikako, you need to learn how to choose the right plums. The fruits should be firm, firm, with a smooth skin, without spots on the surface. A change in shades is permissible, but small dots or soft areas indicate the beginning of decay. Such fruits should not be purchased. In their raw form, they can provoke diarrhea, and during cooking it will not be possible to achieve the desired taste - in overripe fruits, the astringency is no longer felt.
Interesting facts about ikako
From the seeds of the paradise plum, oil is made, which has the same beneficial properties as the fruits, but has a more pronounced laxative and choleretic effect.
Also, black paint is prepared from the seeds. It is used to paint ritual patterns on the body and to dye natural fabrics made by the aborigines.
The dried seeds are chopped up and eaten like nuts. But you should not abuse it - they contain, albeit in small quantities, hydrocyanic acid. Most often, plums are grown for food with red, yellowish-pink, green-yellow and blue-yellow almost transparent berries. They are more juicy, with a characteristic astringency. But in the backyards of local residents, blue-black ikako are often found, sweeter, but smallish.
Trees with branches that spread almost horizontally along the ground are planted along the banks of ravines and on the seashore. This ikako species is tolerant to salt marshes, which helps stabilize the soil and prevent landslides.
Watch the video about ikako:
The paradise plum of the tropics is easy to grow in the conservatory. There are no special requirements for the soil, it is enough to create a stable tropical microclimate. The seed is planted in a peat pot and watered abundantly at first. When the sprout hatches, the amount of moisture is reduced. Pollination, like plums, with the help of the wind. But it is impossible to create a draft, so at home, the pollen will have to be transferred with a brush. Icakos grown in the winter garden are more tart, but they manage to get acquainted with a new taste without leaving their own home.
