Fruit Recipes - The Importance of Fruit

by: gwydion

When we think commonly of fruit we tend to think of sweet fruit, the kind of thing you might eat as a snack or use to make desserts: plums, apples, bananas, strawberries, grapes and the like. But, in terms of biology a fruit is defined as: the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds. The presence of seeds indicates that that particular part of a plant is a fruit..

Thus, many products that are typically called a 'vegetable' in culinary terms are actually fruit. Good examples being pumpkins and squashes, cucumbers, sweet bell peppers, tomatoes, beans and peas, sweetcorn, plantains and aubergines (eggplants). Many spices are also fruit or fruit parts: chillies, allspice berries, nutmeg and mace.

This is why fruit of all types (whether classed as a vegetable or not) can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes. A good example being pumpkins which is used in making savoury main dishes as well as in baking and the production of sweet desserts. And classical fruit can also be used as flavourings for stews or as sauces to accompany meat or fish.

Fruit have been a part of the human diet since the beginning of humanity and there is strong evidence that our ancestors were primarily frugivorous (fruit-eaters). Even now we need certain vitamins, found primarily in fruit, in our diets. Vitamin C is critical in combating scurvy and is very essential in vegetarian diets as it allows the body to assimilate iron from non-meat sources (this can be difficult and leads to anaemia otherwise).

The anti-oxidants, such as flavinoids, found in red and red-skinned fruit are critical in removing free radicals from the body and reducing the risks of cancer. Other fruit contain carotenoids (vitamin A and its relatives) an some contain essential fatty acids such as omega-3. This is why some fruit are called 'superfoods' in that they have a combination of vitamin C and anti-oxidants that are higher that other foods (some may also have other vitamins such as vitamin A and essential fatty acids). These can be found in common, farmed, fruit such as pomegranates and blackberries as well as wild foods such as rose hips and elderberries. Other newer superfoods such as sea-buckthorn berries are being brought into cultivation and will soon be available commercially.

All of which confirms that wild foragers were on the right track all along and that fruit remain a critical and very important part of the human diet even today.