Product of the month: the pomegranate

Product of the month: the pomegranate

The leathery skin opens up to reveal hundreds of shiny, jewel-like globes – as many as 600, in fact. The pomegranate is the embodiment of the fact that inner values can sometimes outshine the outer appearance. It is native to the region around India, Afghanistan and Iran where it has been revered for many centuries and is widely used as a symbol of youth, fertility and love. It also appears in Greek mythology: the god Hades carried off the beautiful Persephone and forced her to dwell with him in the underworld. Persephone’s mother, Demeter, the goddess of harvests and fertility, grieved for her daughter, and in her despair caused all green life on earth to shrivel up and die. The king of the gods, Zeus, commanded that Persephone be freed; Hades reluctantly agreed and gave her a pomegranate as a farewell gift. This was a trick, as anyone who consumes food or drink in the underworld must remain there for all times. Persephone ate some pomegranate seeds and was forced to return to the underworld for several months every year. During this time, Demeter grieves – and this is what causes winter on earth. Persephone’s return to the surface heralds spring and the return of fertility.

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Product of the month: the grapefruit

Product of the month: the grapefruit

The Grapefruit – a real fountain of youth This is one of the younger members of the citrus family: the grapefruit is a cross between a sweet orange and a pomelo, and it was first documented in the eighteenth century in the Caribbean. The grapefruit was known as the shaddock – after the seafarer who is said to have bred the first grapefruit – until the nineteenth century. It received its present name because it appeared to grow on the tree in clusters that vaguely resembled bunches of grapes. Its flavour, which hovers somewhere between bitter, tart and sweet, is only one of the grapefruit’s outstanding qualities. The fragrance is also unique. A US scientist investigated whether smell influences how old a person is perceived to be. During the experiment, the subjects wore perfumed masks and were shown photos of models and asked to guess their age. The scent of pink grapefruit emerged as a veritable fountain of youth: under the influence of its scent, men believed that the women they were shown were six years younger than their actual age. Women, on the other hand, proved more resistant to the effect of smell, and didn’t let any scent dupe them into misjudging a person’s age.

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Product of the month: the peach

Product of the month: the peach

The peach is so much more than merely a fruit – particularly in its native China. Here, the peach has been revered and prized for thousands of years as the symbol of life, renewal and longevity. This deep symbolism starts with the peach blossom, which has a special significance as they appear before the trees have leaves. Peach wood was used to drive out evil spirits, and for a long time, it was customary in China to place peach twigs outside front doors at the New Year precisely for this purpose. The greatest fortune came to those lucky enough to eat one of the legendary peaches of immortality. These mythical fruit ripen only every 9000 years. When the time had come, the Queen Mother of the West, the divine owner of the garden where these mystic fruit grew, would invite all immortals to her orchard in the Kunlun Mountains to celebrate a grand banquet at which the peaches of immortality would be eaten. While the peaches we are familiar with here may not make you immortal, their flavour continues to bewitch us as it has always done – as do the spectacular peach blossom in China, the world’s biggest producer of this divine fruit.

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Product of the month: the orange

Product of the month: the orange

It’s not just a colour: the orange What is now a fairly common-or-garden fruit was once an exotic treat and the stuff of legend. When it first arrived in Europe from China in the 15th century, the strange fruit was greeted with interest by natural scientists and botanists. Then the aristocracy, always on the lookout for something out-of-the-ordinary and fresh sources of inspiration, laid eyes on this exotic, golden orb. Happily in possession of both the means and the time to indulge in whims, orange trees soon became the ultimate status symbol. But exotic, sub-tropical trees in chilly European parks? The practicalities of maintaining these objects of desire were challenging. Unless one happened to live in sunny Spain or Italy, getting orange trees to flourish in inclement conditions required some planning. From the 17th century on, lavish glass buildings started popping up. Called orangeries, they were usually attached to palaces and castles, gracing manor parks and fashionable estates. They were heated in the winter, providing protection for the orange trees, which in the summer would stand outside in pots. The necessity of creating a suitable climate for the trees was transformed into a virtue. The most beautiful orangeries, like the one at Versailles, are still used to grow oranges today.

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Product of the month: the litchi

Product of the month: the litchi

Litchi – a symbol of love What does the name litchi sound like for you? Slightly sticky and unappetising? Admittedly, the fruit look less than tempting once they’ve been peeled and canned: no stone, a jelly-like consistency and tooth-jarringly sweet. If you want experience the true magic of the litchi you need to eat them fresh and in their original state. This handy little fruit is roughly the size of a walnut and has a wonderful pinkish-red rind with funny little bumps which is very easy to remove – it’s a bit like peeling a hardboiled egg. Underneath the skin you’ll find a translucent sphere that shimmers like a juicy jewel. This little blob of tastiness has an appealing rose scent and a wonderfully sweet, refreshing flavour. The almond-sized stone at the centre is inedible. In its native southern China, the litchi is revered as a symbol of love and joy. It was also considered so precious in ancient times that some rulers ordered their subjects to pay their taxes in litchis. Still feeling slightly ambivalent about the name? Then why not try pronouncing it the Chinese way: lee chee! There! That sounds more poetic and a lot more tempting, doesn’t it?

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Product of the month: the mango

Product of the month: the mango

Mango – the sweet heavyweight of the fruit world A single mango can weigh as much as two kilos, which is quite impressive for a fruit. However, mangos only grow this to this size in their native tropical and sub-tropical regions when left to ripen on the tree. The fruit that hits the shop shelves here is usually a lot lighter, weighing on average 500 grams. But whatever the weight, and whether they’re round or oval, all mangos come with an unrivalled payload of goodness. In South-East Asia, where the mango has been grown for centuries, the fruits are objects of veneration. There is, for example, a proverb that states: “There are only two seasons: monsoon and mango. Monsoon season replenishes India’s soil. Mango season replenishes India’s soul.” Every year, around harvesting time, few topics have the entire nation more in thrall than mangoes, with endless discussions about the different varieties, their sweetness, their flavour. People wax lyrical about mangos in a collective lovefest and gorge on these treats for the 100 or so days they are in season. There are over 1000 varieties of mangoes, all with different shapes, sizes and flavours; some are eaten as savoury dishes, some are used in sweet treats. The mango is the core ingredient for countless specialities. A mango is ripe and ready to eat if its yellow-green-red skin gives way when pressed gently. It’s almost as if this lush beauty is telling us: “Eat me – I’m perfect!” Mangoes also signal their ripeness with their irresistible and very tempting scent: once smelt, never forgotten!

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Product of the month: the lemon

Product of the month: the lemon

The lemon – everyone’s juicy darling The lemon, that perennially popular fruit, is a true star in the fruit universe. Few other fruit have been so ubiquitous throughout history and ripe in cultural significance as the lemon. For the German writer and poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe, for example, it was a symbol of a sensual, Mediterranean lifestyle: in 1786, in one of his most famous poems, he describes Italy as “the land where lemon blossoms grow”, conjuring up the fragrant warmth of the country he loved to escape to for months on end. And even now, there are few places where this yellow citrus fruit is worshiped as fervently as the Amalfi Coast in Sorrento. Along this idyllic coastline facing Capri, visitors find numerous shops selling a wide range of lemon-based products and lemons in all shapes and sizes. In the mid-eighteenth century, as well as being a poetic trope, the lemon also had a practical use, and came to be considered a heroic lifesaver. In an age when sailors feared scurvy more than pirates, a physician in the British Navy, James Lind, came up with the idea of giving sailors suffering from the dreaded disease a special diet. After a few weeks, he noticed that the sailors who were given vitamin C-rich citrus fruits had made a full recovery. From that point on, all ships carried crates of lemons on board, earning British mariners the nickname “Limeys”. Today, it is difficult to imagine a life without lemons. These versatile fruits enrich so many aspects of our everyday lives, ranging from food to household products, perfumery and skincare. Lemons are eternal favourites, and there are few other fruits that unite people like the lemon. Everyone likes them, everyone needs them. The lemon is truly everyone’s darling!      

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Product of the month: the passion fruit

Product of the month: the passion fruit

Passion fruit – an exotic delight with a heart of gold Passion fruit – you may think this fruit was named for the enthusiasm it engenders in its fans, but the name was actually inspired by religious rather than physical passion. When Christian missionaries first landed in South America they came across the vine and decided to call it the “flower of the five wounds”, because the five petals were seen as emblems of the passion and crucifixion of Christ. The original inhabitants of these tropical rainforests may well have begged to differ. Their name for the delicious dark purple berry was maracujá, which came from the language of the Tupí, and meant “the food in the bowl”. They revered the fruit which formed an essential part of their diet as it boosted their immunity to disease and had a host of health-giving properties. While the name may sound attractive, the fruit’s appearance is slightly less so: with its dark brown, wrinkled skin it huddles, overlooked, between its more attractive cousins on market stalls. Did it leave its looks far away in its South-American  home, where it grows as a lushly luminous berry on the Passiflora edulis vine? Is it perhaps a little like a swan: majestically elegant in the water, but comically ungainly on land? Once the passion fruit has been picked, it rapidly loses its looks, leaving behind an unpromising-looking wrinkled sphere. But beware of judging a book solely by its cover: the wrinkled skin of the passion fruit is not a blemish but a sure sign that it is ripe for eating, and is bursting with flavour. Once the skin is cut, it releases an incredibly aromatic and very tempting scent and reveals crisp little seeds surrounded by brilliant yellow pulp. This golden heart is a veritable vitamin bomb: rich in vitamins A, B and C, and packed with potassium, phosphorus, iron, calcium and magnesium, the passion fruit has a practically unrivalled combination of nutrients. Now is the time to admit that looks are not all that important: it’s the inner values that count!      

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Product of the month: the lime

Product of the month: the lime

Limes – zesty and as irresistible as rumba Some people think that limes are merely unripe lemons, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, limes are a different hybrid of the citrus family, and they also have a different flavour. Limes contain slightly less vitamin C than lemons and are a bit fussy when it comes to temperature, which is why they only grow in tropical and sub-tropical regions. But at heart the lime is the rebel of the citrus family. The bright green fruit doesn’t have the thick skin of a lemon, but its thin yet robust peel contains the lime’s raison d’être: its juice. It has twice the amount of juice than its bigger cousins, and that juice is truly a thing of zesty beauty: vibrant,  fresh, super-tasty – a musical cascade of flavours. The intense flavour and unrivalled tartness makes lime juice a perfect ingredient in exotic cocktails and juice blends, in Asian and Mexican food. In many Latin American countries, lime juice is a basic ingredient in the national cocktail, like the Pisco Sour in Peru, the Caipirinha in Brazil, the Cuban Mojito and Daiquiri, the Margarita in Mexico. With all these starring roles, it almost makes you feel sorry for lemons!

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Product of the month: the orange oil

Product of the month: the orange oil

Oranges are one of the popular fruits around the world. Their skins yield aromatic oils that are used in an astonishingly broad range of applications. The sweet orange started its triumphantly flavoursome conquest of the world more than 3000 years ago in China, gradually spreading to the Middle East and ultimately Europe. The name ‘orange’ is presumably derived from the Sanskrit word, ‘Nāraṅgaḥ’ which after trickling down through various different languages became ‘orange’ in English. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the American botanist Walter Tennyson Swingle stated that there were 12 different varieties of citrus fruit; Tyōzaburō Tanaka, a Japanese botanist and a contemporary of Swingle, begged to differ and put the number at 162. Orange skin only turns the familiar colour in sub-tropical climates; in tropical climates with a constantly high temperature it remains green. The skin is used to obtain an essential oil that is widely used in the food industry and is a popular ingredient in perfumery. The main components that give orange essential oil its typical fruity aroma are limonene, octyl and neryl acetate. Orange oil is also used in furniture polish and domestic cleaning products. In recent times it has even been cropping up in more unusual applications, for instance in the rubber blend used to make car tyres, where it helps to reduce the amount of mineral oil needed as well as decreasing rolling friction and wear.

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Fruit of the month: the pineapple

Fruit of the month: the pineapple

The pineapple is also known as the queen of fruit – and quite rightly so. Its exotic appearance, delectable scent and sweet flavour have captivated people for centuries – ever since the first pineapples came to Europe with Christopher Columbus at the end of the 15th century. There was only one problem: it was exceedingly difficult to actually obtain a pineapple: the fruits, which do not keep very long and do not continue to ripen after picking, proved almost impossible to ship. To be served a fresh pineapple was truly a once-in-a-lifetime sensation. In light of these difficulties, it is little surprise that in the 17th century, the European aristocracy set out to grow pineapples in their gardens and orangeries. Anyone who was someone would have a pineapple plant in their greenhouse, and – failing that – would decorate their houses and parks with pineapple-shaped details and embellishments. It took steamships to truly democratise pineapples, as transport times became dramatically shorter. The invention of canning also brought tinned pineapples to the tables of the masses. The latter is a key ingredient in the iconic “Toast Hawaii”, the name being a nod to the fact that pineapples were first canned on a major scale at the beginning of the 20th century in Hawaii.

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