Guanabana, Marvelous Tropical Fruit
Last year in January, I received an email about the benefits of Guanabana: a tropical fruit very efficient to improve health! I started giving this fruit to a vacationer renting at SunCampDR. This particular vacationer came to rest and enjoy the tropics and to do some humanitarian help in the village… knowing he was diagnosed to finish his life at the latest in March 2010. He was given the notice by the doctor in Canada.
Guanabana fruit or graviola in English is a proven nutritious tropical fruit. We have the living proof at SunCampDR with this guest who was diagnosed to have just a few months of life and this client here at SunCampDR started an intensive consumption of Guanabana fruit. Our renter is still alive one year later, and running many projects here in the Dominican Republic…
Our client at SunCampDR came down for coffee by the river every morning, and I insisted that he would drink a full glass of Guanabana before coffee. He was eating some of the raw fruit also in the day time (after pealing it) and many more juices. In the early evening, we prepared the tea, with leaves, seeds and peal of Guanabana… everything related to this miracle tree and fruit are good! The fruit is green with some needles outside and has white pulp inside with black small seeds. We can make delicious juices or add milk to eat. In the Puerto Plata city you can even get Guanabana ice cream or sweets.
The fruit can be consumed for prevention, for curing and also for many additional benefits like killing fungus, parasites, etc. The fruit grows only under the tropics in several countries. It is now very popular in the Dominican Republic and we find it at the open air market in Puerto Plata.
At SunCampDR, we have 4 Guanabana trees, they produce every 6 or 7 months. The fruits are different sizes but mainly the size of a fist or a little more. We have to wait until it gets soft and really ripe before consuming it in several ways. It is difficult to conserve the fruit as it gets bad really quickly. For this reason, we prepared lots of juices and froze them in smaller containers. My renter bought a little freezer and a good blender for the juice which he gave me, I guess for being grateful. In return, presenting this fruit was the best gift SunCampDR has given to this renter. We still wish to introduce this healthy fruit to all new renters coming to vacation in the Dominican Republic.
Yesterday, February 10th, I went to the market in Puerto Plata and my sister and I bought 18 Guanabanas. We made a special tasting gathering with the guests at SunCampDR, at 7pm by the river. We first introduce the fruit, show several fruits in the tree by the river (that are not ripe at this moment), we then prepared the juice in the blender with a little bit of brown sugar and finally we prepared and served the tea. One renter said she would be there but did not show up because she had a head ache, so I brought her a big cup and I am sure it can only help… A renter would have preferred no sugar in the tea. Next time, we will let everyone serve themselves with the delicious sugar made of sugar cane!
Without knowing the benefits of this fruit, my father had always eaten of the fruits growing here at SunCampDR… Now he is proud to say that it must be one of the reason why he is such in a good health and strong at the age of 78 ! For sure you can have a very healthy lifestyle under the tropics! The Dominican Republic offers so many natural and healthy fruits and vegetables. Many of them are unknown to most of our vacation renters. When we cook, many people like to discover these different products and like to see them before they are pealed and cooked. The best way to see them all is to come along when we prepare the famous sancocho. This is a stew made with 3 different meat and a great variety of local vegetables: ahuyama (pumpkin family but not sweet), ahuyama, yautia (white and yellow), yame and plantains. Other ones that we don’t put in the sancocho are tayota and batata (sweet potatoes). Local people have breakfast or dinner with those vegetables, they are the healthy countryside people who don’t have so much bread in their diet. This would be perfect for those who search for a gluten free diet! For luch, Dominicans have rice and bean, meat and a little salad.
You can also discover the wide variety of tropical fruits. We have here many trees. My favorite fruit growing at SunCampDR is Zapote…we also have tamarindo, huge mango trees, tangerine, orange, lemon, grapefruit, bananas, cherries, cajuil, coconuts, avocados… When our vacation renters arrive, we make them a tour of the grounds and point out all the different trees and you can eat of them if it is the season.
My wish is that more people know about the Guanabana tree and the fruit and also about the benefits of living under the tropics, without stress. Wishing you the best of heath physically, emotionally and spiritually! SunCampDR invites you to take good care of yourself…the answers are right here waiting for you! If you wish to get the intensive treatment with Guanabana, come along in our apartments in Puerto Plata! Just make sure we are on time for the Guanabana season! Enjoy a healthy vacation in the Caribbean!