Having been brought up in Jamaica on a farm in White Hall, St. Thomas and also spending holidays in the parish of St. Elizabeth both properties had an abundance of fruit trees. I have decided to devote this entire article to my love of fruits which is still the case.
Below I will list some if not all the fruits which formed part of my early upbringing and which I truly love to this day. Of course, my number 1 all-time favourite fruit is mango but they have to be from the island of Jamaica as other varieties just don’t taste as good and that remains my opinion. I can’t wait for the mango season to start in April with late May to early June being when the supplies to England start arriving. I look forward to getting them air freighted live and direct from Jamaica to Birmingham Wholesale market especially Julie mangoes which I love the best.
Listed here are some of the fruits that I used to eat in abundance whilst growing up there. They are grapefruit, custard apple, barge, orange, jimbeline, hog plum, June plum, ugly fruit (cross between an orange and a grapefruit), ortanique (cross between a mandarin and a sweet orange) locust, naseberry, soursop, sweetsop, sugar cane, guinep, jackfruit, star apple, papaya, tamarind, ripe banana, pear (sweet) not to be confused with avocado, pineapple, stinking toe and Otaheite apple. Oh, how I would be so happy if Jamaican farmers exported custard apples to England as I have not had any in years even on visits to the island and I absolutely love them.
At the moment I am able to purchase Jamaican sweetsops in Birmingham for the family which are expensive but I really love them as they are truly scrumptious. Guavas are also in season and readily available and I can’t wait to start getting a fair share of water melons which means proper ones and not varieties which lack that luscious taste. I don’t think the water melons come from sunny Jamaica but ‘lawks dem nice’ and are available from about May until August.
Biologically the following are all fruits too, ackee, avocado, breadfruit, coconut, cucumber and tomatoes even though it is only in recent times that I have acquired the taste for avocado as never used to like it. The glorious sunshine, rain and fertile soil give the fruits from Jamaica the edge in my opinion as I have been to several of the other Caribbean islands and personally speaking there is no comparison. I am certain to have missed out some of these lovely tasting fruits but readers can if they so wish add them in comments on the website or beg to differ with my bold statement.
In England one gets apricots, peaches, nectarines, dates, figs, pomegranates, kiwi fruits, varieties of apples, black, red and green grapes, plums, cranberries, cherries, gooseberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries some of which are imported. I would highly recommend blueberries which are available in supermarkets all-year round as it a super fruit eaten on its own, in cereal or with plain low-fat yoghurt.
Some might wonder with my type 2 diabetes controlled by diet and physical activity for the past nineteen years , why do I love and eat so much fruits as most contain fructose (natural sugar) which can still lead to weight gain and increase one’s blood sugar/glucose levels. The simple answer to that is in order to avoid piling on the pounds one must keep burning up the calories by doing physical activity and more movement instead of leading a couch potato/sedentary lifestyle. That is exactly what I do and my GP has given me permission to eat as many as six mangoes at a time!!!
Evidence shows there are significant health benefits to getting at least 5 portions of a variety of fruits and vegetables, every day. Some experts are now saying seven is the magic number when it comes to health and life expectancy with the saying ‘Forget 5 and make it 7 a day’. It sounds a tall order but if we include at least one and preferably two servings of fruit or veg at every meal or snack one will get there. That’s seven portions of fruit and veg in total, not five portions of each. They are a good source of vitamins and minerals including folate, vitamin C and potassium. They are also an excellent source of dietary fibre which can help to maintain a healthy gut and prevent constipation and other digestion problems. A diet high in fibre can also reduce ones risk of bowel cancer, heart disease, strokes and other types of cancer.
One must also remember that most fruits contain water which contribute to the two litres that it is recommended we drink each day and therefore aids hydration.
So, my message to all the CaribDirect.com readers is to eat more fruits but make sure to keep active as well.
