Ingredient Showcase: Guava
It is a new week and we have yet another ingredient showcase! Today we’ll be stopping in Central and South America to take a look at the guava. This fruit has gained a lot of popularity over the past few years in the health and wellness industry, and for good reason; it’s both tasty and an excellent source of Vitamin C.
The guava tree was first cultivated in an area that extended from Mexico throughout the tropical regions in South America. Thanks to the Columbian Exchange, however, it has spread throughout the world, reaching as far east as Europe and Asia, and as far north as Florida and even Tennessee! Today, guava has made its way into the culinary traditions of too many countries to name.
The guava fruit comes from the guava tree, which can reach heights of 20 feet or more. The fruit sprouts from serrated, flat leaves and a single tree can produce as much as 70 lbs. of fruit per season. The variety of guava fruit is enormous. They have a wide range of size, shape and color, and come in both sweet and sour varieties.
Guava is famous for its use as an ingredient in agua frescas in Mexico, and the juice is used in number of traditional Mexican dishes. It can be enjoyed as a juice or eaten raw throughout the world. In East Asia, guava is usually paired with plum sauce, and because of its pectin content (a powder derived from many species of fruit) it can also be turned into candies, jellies and preserves. Some of the less sweet guava fruit are actually used as a substitute for tomatoes in certain sauces.
There is one main reason to get excited about using guava in your workout routine. For one, as earlier stated, it is an excellent source of Vitamin C, which is an essential nutrient for the rebuilding of tissue after weight training. The average guava fruit contains as much as four times the amount of Vitamin C of an orange! If you would like some further reading on why guava should be added to your diet, read the following article.