The popular tropical fruit plant guava has many varietal variations, with fruits with different characteristics, including different tastes. Let's find out which guavas have the best taste and what they look like in comparison with the fruits we are familiar with.

Guava has a great variety of options for use in various dishes: from juices and all kinds of desserts, to sauces and meat dishes. This explains the seemingly trivial question - why tasteless varieties of fruit are grown? Often in the traditional cuisines of the peoples of the tropical countries, guava is used only after heat treatment, so its sharp taste, observed in its raw form, is transformed beyond recognition.

In addition, in some countries, such as Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, mature guavas are not sold. In fruit shops it is possible to purchase only solid, sour and tart green guavas, for which there is no tradition of raw consumption. The emergence of such a culture can be partly explained by the fact that, when ripe, the aromatic and sweet fruits become susceptible to raids by fruit-eating animals and insects, abundantly living in the tropics and forcing them to harvest in advance.

But even immature guavas are completely edible in their raw form and resemble green apples of hard varieties. They have a distinctive musky aroma, concentrated in the peel, contain a minimum of sugar and have a powdery texture of pulp. After heat treatment, such fruits soften and get rid of astringency.

Guava fruits, depending on the variety in ripe condition, can have flesh color from yellow-green to red, like watermelon and even purple. The closer the color of the ripe fruit to red, the sweeter and richer the taste. An ideal ripe red guava, similar in taste to a mixture of raspberries and papaya, has a juicy soft flesh, similar in texture to melon, but very hard seeds that have to be swallowed whole bring a negative contribution. It is worth noting that there are varieties of guava with fruits that do not have seeds, and are gaining more and more popularity.

Guava in a mature state and with excellent taste is not stored for a long time and is not an exported product in its unprocessed form, so it is almost impossible to find it on sale in cold regions. You can try the most delicious guava by visiting, for example, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Caribbean in the dry season. In the rainy season, guava trees bring the second crop of the year, in smaller volumes and significantly inferior in taste to the first fruiting.

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Exotic fruits sometimes have such a deceptive appearance that uninitiated "tasters" bitterly regret their decision to get acquainted with an unfamiliar fruit.

Disappointment in taste or smell happens more often than one would like. But this is not about the guava; fortunately, it has an exotic, but very pleasant taste and aroma. It is also good for health.

Trying such a rarity is definitely worth it, especially if you are in countries where the guava is cultivated, there it is as rich in composition and it costs a penny translated into our money. What can not be said about the imported guava, which from time to time appears on the shelves of large supermarkets.

What is guava

The genus guava is the common name for a number of fruit plants that grow in the tropical forests of our planet.

Small, mainly up to 4 meters tall, myrtle family trees are found in the Philippines, Patagonia, Brazil, both American continents, China and other countries with suitable climatic zones.

The fruits of different types of guava can vary greatly in color, shape, taste. Among this variety, however, there are clear favorites for balancing all the basic qualities: juicy, pleasant, fragrant, refreshing strawberry guava and guava guava. They are most often tried by tourists and exported.

Guava strawberry  - fruits the size of no more than a plum, the color can be either bright yellow with the same hue of flesh, or rich purple with red-white flesh.

Guava Guayaava  - fruits are larger, close in shape and size to a small apple or pear, but not so regular and smooth. The color of the peel and pulp varies from light cream to red.

Both those and other fruits contain a lot of small and extremely hard seeds, which should always be remembered so that after a treat with a guava, do not become a patient of a dentist.

The taste and aroma are incredibly fresh, alluring, with noticeable notes of citrus, strawberries, quince. At home, a lot of goodies are prepared from guava, while here they eat it mainly fresh, peeled and seeds, or used as raw material for juices, which is preferable.

Guava juice is excellent, very vitamin, nutritious and without risk of being injured by bones. Although they are also useful, they treat diarrhea: the bones have a good astringent effect.

Chemical composition

Guava is famous for its magnificent chemical composition, which mankind has been using for many centuries to improve the body and fight against numerous ailments.

Only 100 grams of this unique fruit contains a daily dose of ascorbic acid (there is more vitamin C in guava than in citrus fruits), 35% of the norm of vitamin E, all the vitamins B groups, vitamin A, K and others are also present.

The leader among trace elements is potassium and iron, they contain half the daily norm in 100 grams of fruit.   A very valuable product for those who suffer from anemia, has a weak heart and blood vessels. In addition, guava is rich in copper, sodium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, zinc and manganese.

As a food product, guava is attractive due to its high fiber content, low calorie content, excellent taste and balanced content of protein, carbohydrates and fat.

Guava - the good

In recent years, the popularity of guavas has grown significantly, nutritionists around the world are calling for replenishing the diet of pregnant women and especially young children with this exotic.

1. Fruit helps solve iron deficiency  in pregnant and lactating women, it is also used to normalize hemoglobin levels in people undergoing surgery.

2. Guava is an excellent dietary product that allows you to quickly get enough, but at the same time contains a minimum of calories and a lot of fiber, which helps cleanse the body of toxins and toxins.

3. Excellent antioxidant.

4. Champion in the content of vitamin C. Raises the mood, performance, strengthens the immune system.

5. Used to treat colds with complications of the respiratory system - bronchitis, tracheitis, pneumonia.

6. Bones heal from diarrhea, and the flesh from constipation.

7. Due to its high potassium content, it is useful for the prevention of heart and vascular diseases.

8. It has a rare quality - strengthens the lymphatic system.

9. Guava is used to treat those suffering from seizures and epilepsy.

10. Helps with menstrual irregularities in women.

11. With dizziness associated with overwork, apathy, nervous tension.

12.  Guava cleanses the liver and restores its function.

13. Guava peel has pronounced anti-inflammatory properties, antispasmodic, analgesic and antihistamines

14. It is a great addition to a healthy diet.

15. With regular use, normalizes the endocrine system.

16. Used for cosmetic purposes for anti-aging and nourishing masks.

Guava is one of the most environmentally friendly products, because the plant has a special mechanism for getting rid of diseases and insects - it does it on its own, so there is no need to treat it with various chemical insecticides and other poisons.

Guava: contraindications

Despite the exotic roots, guava has virtually no contraindications. Individual intolerance and a small likelihood of allergies are the most significant of them.

There is also evidence that the peel of some varieties of guava provokes an increase in glucose, which is worth paying attention to for diabetics.

For the rest, this is an amazingly tasty and healthy overseas novelty, which is worth a try at the first opportunity. But to do this is better in the country where it grows - both cheaper and more beneficial. Be healthy.

Guava  - a plant of the myrtle family. The birthplace of this fruit is America, or rather, its southern and central territories. Today, guavas are grown on an industrial scale in subtropical and tropical regions.

Guava looks like this: externally and in size, the fruit is very similar to a medium-sized apple (see photo). Guava has a thin aromatic skin of a yellow or green hue.  The smell of exotic fruit can be compared with a lemon. On average, the weight reaches from 90 to 130 g. Under the peel there is a soft, tasty pulp, which can be completely different colors, for example, yellow, pink, white or red. The pulp contains a large number of solid seeds of a round shape.

How to choose a ripe guava and how to eat it right?

How to choose a ripe guava? First of all, you should choose the fruit that is softer, because it is more delicious.

To determine if the ripe guava is ripe or not, gently squeeze the fruit with two fingers.  If dents appear when you click on the peel, it means the fruit is ripe.

What else should you look for when choosing a ripe guava? It is necessary to examine the appearance of the fruit. If there are any dents, black spots, cracks on the surface of the peel, this will indicate that the guava is spoiled or tasteless. You should also know that ripe fruit is painted in a saturated green color or yellow-green. If you notice a pinkish coating on the guava peel, it means the fruit has not yet ripened.

In addition, when choosing a good guava, you still need to smell the fruit. A ripe guava will have a rich, sweet aroma with a slight musky odor.

How to eat guava? This fruit can be eaten together with the peel, like a simple apple, but only very carefully, because the guava contains very hard bones. To begin with, you should thoroughly wash the fruit, and then pat it dry with a paper towel. After this, you need to cut the guava into several parts. Now cut fruit can be eaten. As already mentioned, it is allowed to eat not only the flesh of the guava, but also its skin. Special connoisseurs of this exotic fruit prefer to season slices of guava with soy sauce, granulated sugar or table vinegar.

How to store guava? If there are still pieces of guava, you can wrap them in foil and put them on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for about four days. Also, the fruit can be frozen. The shelf life of a frozen guava is about eight months.

Beneficial features

Guava has many useful properties. So, it is used as antimicrobial and astringent. Also the fruit has bactericidal and antispasmodic effect  on the body. The composition of the fruit includes a lot of fiber, which is necessary for the normal functioning of the digestive system and is the prevention of constipation. In addition, this substance has the ability to normalize blood cholesterol. There is ascorbic acid in the guava, which favorably affects the lymphatic system, and it also strengthens the body's tone and immunity.

The guava contains a large number of pectins, which have the ability to remove toxins and various decay products from the body, most importantly - the balance of beneficial microflora is not disturbed.

The beneficial properties of guava could not be unnoticed in cosmetology. If you make pulp from the fruits, then it can be used as a mask, which has both nourishing and moisturizing effects. Such a natural remedy will help smooth out small wrinkles. In addition, guava is used for the production of various cosmetics.

In the beauty industry, this exotic fruit is used to make various face and hair care masks. For example, guava paste is used to prevent the appearance of gray hair. To make it, you need to take a few leaves of this fruit and grind it to a pasty state. Such a tool must be constantly rubbed with massage movements into the scalp. Many cosmetologists have proven that this guava paste is an excellent natural hair product.

Guava oil has also found application in cosmetology.  This tool can be purchased at any store selling cosmetics. Guava oil is designed to combat acne, rashes, enlarged pores, helps relieve puffiness and tone the face.

But aloe vera oil with guava promotes sufficient hydration and tightening of the skin, getting rid of herpes, and the speedy healing of wounds and cuts. This cosmetic product is available in every cosmetics store.

At home, you can make a mask from the guava pulp, which helps to tighten and dry the pores, and also nourishes the skin with the necessary useful components. To prepare the mask, about a hundred grams of fruit pulp should be mashed to a mushy state and evenly applied to the face. After half an hour you need to wash with warm water.

Cooking use

In our country, guava is still an exotic fruit, but in its own territory, fruits are widely used in cooking for preparing a variety of dishes. The fruit is used not only for desserts, but also put in salads and snacks. Guava helps improve the taste of ice cream, jelly, mashed potatoes and many other dessert dishes. Jams, preserves, syrups, as well as many other preparations are prepared from the fruits. Juicy pulp is used to make various drinks, for example, juices, tonics and alcohol.

You can eat guavas with pits and peel.  If you don’t like the slightly bitter taste of the skin, you can remove it.

Guava Benefits and Treatment

The benefits of guava are due to its rich composition, which allows it to be used in traditional medicine recipes. Healers from different countries use fruits to treat diarrhea, asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and throat. In addition, guava is an excellent tool for combating epileptic seizures and convulsions.

In addition to fruits, the medicinal recipes of traditional medicine also use plant leaves. So, tea prepared on their basis will help improve the condition with dysentery, stomach upsets and dizziness. Another such drink will help normalize the menstrual cycle. If the guava leaves are chopped and used as lotions, then they can heal fresh and bruising wounds. To reduce toothache, leaflets can simply be chewed. You can also prepare a decoction from them, which will help in the treatment of cough, chronic diseases of the oral cavity. Treatment of skin diseases can also be carried out using a decoction of leaves.

Guava has been used in folk medicine as a therapeutic agent for controlling microbes in the oral cavity. You will need a dry collection of guava extract, which should be filled with half a glass of vodka. It takes a couple of days to insist. The finished tincture should be diluted with water in a five-fold ratio, and then rinse the mouth with it.

To cure asthma, you need to squeeze the juice from guava and lime. Then mix two juices in a glass, adding about twenty-one grams of natural honey. Take a fruit and honey drink throughout the day before or after a meal.

For severe sore throat and cough, it is necessary to pour a tablespoon of dry guava extract with four hundred milliliters of boiling water. This infusion is taken one hundred milliliters hot in the morning on an empty stomach.

To get rid of frequent dizziness and convulsions, it is recommended to eat two guavas daily.

Also suitable for weight loss guava. Since pectin is contained in the pulp of the fruit, after consuming the guava, the body is fully saturated and the feeling of hunger disappears. Therefore, many girls include this exotic fruit in a strict diet menu. Many nutritionists claim that if you eat guava instead of lunch, then the fruit is quite capable of saturating the body with all the necessary nutrients. You can also eat guava for breakfast by adding blackberries or cloudberries to the fruit. Such a breakfast will be useful not only for the figure, but also for the skin, as it helps to smooth wrinkles.

Consider the menu of one of the diets that includes this fruit:

• breakfast: porridge, whole grain roll and cocoa;
• lunch: guava;
• lunch: vegetable soup, fish, salad and compote (unsweetened);
• afternoon snack: guava;
• dinner: cottage cheese and dried fruit casserole, kefir.

Instead of cereal for breakfast, you can make smoothies. You will need to beat one hundred milliliters of nonfat yogurt in a blender, about two hundred milliliters of guava juice, about eighteen milliliters of lemon juice and a handful of strawberries. Or you can serve cottage cheese for breakfast by adding the flesh of guava and dried fruit.

Guava harm and contraindications

Guava can bring harm to people with individual intolerance to the product. In addition, it is worth consuming fruits in small quantities, as otherwise it can cause indigestion. Unripe fruits can harm people who are prone to the formation of kidney stones, and therefore they are contraindicated for them.

Growing and caring at home

Growing a guava at home is troublesome and painstaking, but if the plant is properly planted and looked after, it will soon bear fruit.

So how to grow a guava? It is best to use the seed method, as the fruit does not take root well by grafting. To grow guava from seeds at home, you should initially remove the seeds from the fruit, wrap them in a cloth and lower them in water for four hours. For planting, a not very large pot is suitable, in which you need to pour claydite gravel into the bottom (to maintain moisture), then a layer of manure, and then a mixture of soil, peat and sand. Plant seeds in the ground to a depth of 0.5 centimeters.

How does guava grow? The plant is very fond of sunlight and warmth, so the pot of seeds should be placed on the windowsill and try to ensure that the temperature in the room is at least twenty-three degrees. In the spring, when the weather is already warm, the plant can be moved to the balcony. On fairly hot days, the guava should be regularly watered so that the young shoots of the plant do not dry out. With the advent of winter, the guava pot should be moved again to a room where the temperature will be at least twenty-one degrees.

Also, in guava care, you need to transplant on time. When the plant reaches ten centimeters in height, it must be transplanted into another pot with a large volume. The next transplant is carried out when the plant reaches a height of seventy centimeters in height. Transplantation should be carried out from March to May, but you need to remember that at the time of flowering, guava planting in another pot is not recommended.

In addition to transplanting the plant, it is also necessary to remove the shoots and cut long branches.

With proper care of the plant, the guava will bear fruit in three years.

Related to the myrtle family. The name of this well-tolerated drought plant in translation from Thai means "foreigner". The guava fruit (photo you see below) has a pear-shaped or round shape. Its skin is thin, with a green, reddish or bright yellow color. The fruit of trees of cultivated varieties can have a mass of from seventy to one hundred and sixty grams.

Guava hails from Central and South America. It was first discovered by the Spanish discoverers in Colombia and Peru, and after that it was distributed practically throughout the entire zone of tropical and subtropical climate. At present, the guava, in addition to its homeland, can be found in Asia and Africa.

Guava is a fruit whose poems were written by the ancient Peruvian poets about the aroma and taste. Recipes that were discovered during excavations in the ancient cities of Central America and Mexico, indicate that this exotic fruit for us was widely used in cooking in the distant past. Guava is a fruit that was consumed in large quantities by the Aztecs and the ancient Incas.

In addition to a pleasant taste, it has many useful properties. Guava is a fruit whose red or pink pulp is capable of exerting antimicrobial and bactericidal, astringent and antispasmodic effects on the human body. It contains vitamin C. Moreover, by the amount of this component, guava is superior to citrus fruits. Juice obtained from an exotic fruit perfectly strengthens the immune system and serves as an excellent preventive measure to prevent colds.

Guava is a fruit whose allergic reaction, unlike oranges, is a rarity. That is why when drawing up the menu for the child, it is recommended to pay attention to this fruit. Doctors and nutritionists recommend consuming guava and expectant mothers. This one will perfectly restore strength, without any unwanted side effects. To make friends with this fetus is recommended for all women. in a vase can absorb unpleasant odors in the room and bring tropical aromas. A glass of juice squeezed from an exotic fruit, drunk in the morning, will help relieve the painful sensations that accompany women on critical days.

The guava contains a lot of fiber, fats, proteins, iron, calcium, phosphorus and B vitamins. Residents of Brazil use this fruit to eliminate diarrhea, and Panamanians use it to treat asthma, pneumonia, inflammatory processes in the throat and bronchitis. On the islands of the West Indies, guava is a popular remedy for seizures and epilepsy. Filipinos use it as a fruit that can strengthen the heart muscle, and the Israelis include this fruit in their diet as a healthy and very tasty treat.

How to eat a guava? You can eat fruit with seeds, if it is more convenient, then in a cut form. In the case when the fruits are ripe, you can eat them directly with the skin. It is a bit bitter, but very useful. It is recommended to use a thin peel of the fetus to stimulate the digestive function of the digestive tract, improve heart function and bring blood pressure to normal.

The use of guava for cooking is very diverse. It is limited only by the imagination of the cook. The fruit is used for baking and making juices, jellies, marmalade and milkshakes. Well, and, of course, ripe fruits, which are pleasant and useful for humans, are very popular.

Guava (guayava) - one of the most common fruit trees from the Myrtle family, is almost universally known under the general English name "Guava" and its variations in local languages. Moreover, in parallel there are many dialect names inherent in specific nationalities.

The guava tree is stunted and rarely grows more than 2.5 meters in height, with a highly branched crown, and a rather thick trunk in a mature state - up to 25 cm in diameter. The guava is easily recognized by its smooth, thin copper-colored bark, which peels off and exposes the green surface of the trunk. The evergreen opposite guava leaves, when rubbed, exude aroma, have a classic oval shape and a leathery surface. White flowers are formed in the axils of the leaves individually, or in several pieces, reach 2.5 cm in diameter and do not differ in pronounced smell.

When growing, guava fruits secrete a strong musky smell when ripened; in shape they can be round, ovoid or pear-shaped, depending on the variety, from 5 to 10 cm in length with protruding sepals on the end. Thin peels can be green or bright yellow, often with pink spots. Under the peel is a layer of 3 - 13 mm of edible granular juicy pulp of white, yellowish or red colors. The center of the guava fruit is a darker pulp filled with very hard seeds. There are varieties with soft seeds, and also without seeds at all, which are considered owners of high nutritional qualities.

In one guava fruit, up to 550 seeds can be found, which it is not possible to bite. The abundance of juicy pulp allows you to use guava with seeds without any problems. Once in the body of fruit-eating animals and leaving unchanged, the seeds of the plant are displaced over considerable distances, thereby spreading to new accessible areas.

Guava has a very ancient origin, and has been cultivated and distributed by humans and animals for so long that its original place of origin is not known exactly. Presumably this is an area located between southern Mexico and Central America. Guava grows in all the warm regions of tropical America, in the Bahamas and Bermuda. Guava appeared in India and Guam in the middle ages of the last millennium thanks to the activities of the early colonialists from Spain and Portugal.

Then the guava gradually spread throughout Southeast Asia and in African territories with a suitable climate, where it has been successfully growing and producing crops to this day. With the help of Egyptian travelers, guavas began to be grown in Palestine, Algeria, and on the Mediterranean coasts. Today, the plant can be found on all islands of the Pacific Ocean, where it is grown mainly as a fruit plant in private gardens.

Guava has the status of a large agricultural crop in India, and its commercial cultivation is also carried out in Colombia, Brazil and Mexico. Gardens can be found in Florida, where there is a steady market for products from this tropical fruit. In many parts of the world, wild guava trees grow and form dense vast thickets that fill the pastures, fields and roadsides. Such groves exist in Hawaii, Fiji, the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Malaysia and southern Florida, they are considered only as weeds that require destruction. Nevertheless, wild guavas make a significant contribution to the volume of fruit yields collected by the population of these territories, especially during periods of high demand.

Guava grows successfully in both humid and dry climates, which explains its widespread expansion. An adult tree can tolerate only mild frosts, often causing the death of young gardens. The plant prefers good drainage, however, wild guavas are found that feel great in areas with a high level of groundwater, where other fruit trees do not grow. Guava is also unpretentious in relation to the soil: it is arranged with heavy clay, sand, limestone and rocky areas.

Guava trees are drought tolerant, but in arid regions without additional irrigation there is a reduced yield. Plants survive to 30 - 40 years, but the number of fruits brought in decreases after 15 years of age. Therefore, in commercial cultivation, guava gardens undergo cardinal pruning, stimulating the rapid renewal of trees and increasing their fertility.

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