Fragrant abiu is a fruit with delicate, aromatic, jelly-like flesh. Born in the upper Amazon, it is now cultivated not only in Brazil, Colombia and Peru, but also in other countries with suitable climates. This “vanilla pudding” in a bright rind has hit the taste of many fruit lovers and is rapidly transforming from a rare, exotic novelty into a regular on fruit counters. True, not everyone still knows how to choose, clean and eat abiu, but this is easy to fix.
Abiu is a "Native American". For millennia, Indians have feasted on its sweet, jelly-like flesh. But the haughty conquistadors, storming the New World, were carried away by tobacco, pepper and tomatoes, but Abiu did not make it to the "golden list". The settlers also did not pay attention to the sun fruit. For many centuries Abiu became a fruit "for its own" and only at the end of the XX century the fashion for exotic fruits allowed it to take its rightful place among its kind. Abiu began to be grown in Hawaii, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. The Chinese liked it so much that they gave it a middle name - "Wong Kum Guo", the golden fruit of the emperor.
Inexperienced eaters may confuse abiu with yellow mango - they have a similar smooth, waxy skin and oblong shape. By weight, the average abiu reaches 200-300 grams, large fruits - 600, the record weight of abiu - 1,500 grams. Unripe fruits are green, inedible, and stinging in the mouth. Ripe abiu is bright yellow. The green fruit can be left at room temperature and it will ripen. After that, it should be put into the refrigerator, in the fruit compartment, where the temperature is set to about 8-10 ° C. They can lie there for up to a week.
It is advisable to pack each fruit separately, because they are very tender. If individual brown spots appear on the surface of the abiu, it is still usable, but it is still better to choose fruits with an even yellow skin, without specks or dents. Fruits, the stalks of which still have a light green color, are not ripe.
Abiu is a great fruit dessert. The fruit is slightly cooled and then cut in half lengthwise. Under the smooth yellow skin lurks a translucent, white or, if the fruit is almost overripe, soft beige flesh, in which one to four large dark brown seeds sit. To prevent the abiu pulp from darkening, it is sprinkled with lemon or lime juice. The acidity of the fruit is low and it will not harm it in the least. The taste of Abiu is compared to a delicate, caramel-creamy dessert with pleasant vanilla notes.
The pulp is eaten with a spoon, trying to avoid the area adjacent to the peel. There may be a milky latex juice that has an unpleasant, sticky, astringent taste. You can also remove the seeds and cut the abiu into pieces and place them in a fruit salad or homemade ice cream mass. Jelly, jams and chutneys are not made from abiu, but juice is extracted.
Dessert abiu pulp is rich in vitamins and minerals. It contains significant doses of B vitamins, vitamins A and C, calcium and iron. Brazilian medicine men believe that abiu can help cope with respiratory diseases. It is believed to soothe coughs and treat bronchitis. Abiu is useful for:
- the immune system;
- digestion;
- eye and skin health;
- the nervous system.
