FunkyFood Pictures of food & Food Phtography
TROPICAL FRUIT STOCK FOOD PHOTOS, STOCK FOOD PICTURES & FOOD PHOTO ART PRINTS
Stock photos & stock pictures gallery of tropical fruit food. Banana Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red. In popular culture and commerce, “banana” usually refers to soft, sweet “dessert” bananas. By contrast, Musa cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains. Many varieties of bananas are perennial. Refer to the Musa article for a list of the varieties of bananas and plantains. They are native to tropical Southeast Asia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics. They are grown in at least 107 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make fiber, banana wine and as ornamental plants. Bananas are naturally slightly radioactive, more so than most other fruits, because of their high potassium content, and the small amounts of the isotope potassium-40 found in naturally occurring potassium. Proponents of nuclear power sometimes refer to the banana equivalent dose of radiation to support their arguments. Banana shipments often set off the radiation monitors installed at US ports to detect illegal shipments of radiologic materials. Plantain Musa × paradisiaca, the plantain is a crop in the genus Musa and is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana (which is sometimes called the dessert banana). Refer to the Musa article for a list of plantains and bananas. Plantains tend to be firmer and lower in sugar content than dessert bananas. Bananas are most often eaten raw, while plantains tend to be cooked or otherwise processed, and are used either when green or unripe (and therefore starchy) or overripe (and therefore sweet). Plantains are a staple food in the tropical regions of the world, treated in much the same way as potatoes and with a similar neutral flavour and texture when the unripe fruit is cooked by steaming, boiling or frying. Pomegranate A pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall. The pomegranate is mostly native to the Iranian Plateau and the Himalayas in Northern India. It has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times, and today, is widely cultivated throughout Iran, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Egypt, China, Burma, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the drier parts of southeast Asia, the Mediterranean region of Southern Europe, and tropical Africa. Introduced into Latin America and California by Spanish settlers in 1769, pomegranate is now cultivated in parts of California and Arizona for juice production. In the Northern Hemisphere, the fruit is typically in season from September to February. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is in season from March to May. An ancient fruit, pomegranate is mentioned in Europe as early as the Iron-Age Greek Mythology in the Homeric hymns. Yet, it has still to reach mainstream prominence as a consumer fruit in commercial markets of North America and the Western Hemisphere. Coconut The coconut (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the family Arecaceae (palm family). The coconut palm is grown throughout the tropics for decoration, as well as for its many culinary and non-culinary uses; virtually every part of the coconut palm can be utilized by humans in some manner. The nut provides oil for cooking and making margarine. The white, fleshy part of the seed, the coconut meat, is edible and used fresh or dried in cooking. The fleshy part can be dessicated to produce coconut milk in making curry dish and other dishes using coconut milk. COCONUT WATER The cavity is filled with coconut water, which is sterile until opened. It mixes easily with blood, so for this reason it was used during World War II in emergency transfusions. It contains sugar, fiber, proteins, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, and provides an isotonic electrolyte balance, making it a nutritious food source. It is used as a refreshing drink throughout the humid tropics, and is used in isotonic sports drinks. It can also be used to make the gelatinous dessert nata de coco. Mature fruits have significantly less liquid than young immature coconuts, barring spoilage. COCONUT MILK Coconut milk is made by processing grated coconut with hot water or milk, which extracts the oil and aromatic compounds. It should not be confused with coconut water, and has a fat content around 17%. When refrigerated and left to set, coconut cream will rise to the top and separate from the milk. The milk is used to produce virgin coconut oil by controlled heating and removing the oil fraction. Virgin coconut oil is found superior to the oil extracted from copra for cosmetic purposes. Dragon Fruit – Pitaya A Pitaya or pitahaya is the fruit of several cactus species, most importantly of the genus Hylocereus (sweet pitayas). These fruit are commonly known as dragon fruit – cf. Chinese huǒ lóng guǒ 火龍果/火龙果 “fire dragon fruit” and lóng zhū guǒ “dragon pearl fruit”, or Vietnamese thanh long (green dragon). Other vernacular names are strawberry pear or nanettikafruit. To prepare a pitaya for consumption, the fruit is cut open to expose the flesh. The fruit’s texture is sometimes likened to that of the kiwifruit due to the presence of black, crunchy seeds. The flesh, which is eaten raw, is mildly sweet and low in calories. The seeds are eaten together with the flesh, have a nutty taste and are rich in lipids. Kiwifruit The kiwifruit, often shortened to kiwi in many parts of the world, is the edible berry of a cultivar group of the woody vine Actinidia deliciosa and hybrids between this and other species in the genus Actinidia. Also known as the Chinese gooseberry, the fruit was renamed for export marketing reasons in the 1950s; briefly to melonette, and then later by New Zealand exporters to kiwifruit. This name “kiwifruit” comes from the kiwi — a brown flightless bird and New Zealand’s national symbol, and also a colloquial name for the New Zealand people. Kiwifruit is a rich source of vitamin C, 1.5 times the DRI scale in the US. Its potassium content by weight is slightly less than that of a banana. It also contains vitamin E, and a small amount of vitamin A. The skin is a good source of flavonoid antioxidants. The kiwifruit seed oil contains on average 62% alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid. Pineapple Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit which are coalesced berries. Pineapples are the only bromeliad fruit in widespread cultivation. It can be grown as an ornamental, especially from the leafy tops. Some sources say that the plant will flower after about 24 months & produce a fruit during the following six months while others indicate a 20-month timetable. Pineapple is eaten fresh or canned or juiced. It is popularly used in desserts, salads, as a complement to meat dishes and in fruit cocktail. The popularity of the pineapple is due to its sweet-sour taste containing 15% sugar and malic and citric fruit acids. It is also high in vitamin B1, B2, B6 and C. Its protein-digesting enzyme bromelain seems to help digestion at the end of a high protein meal. Mango Mango (Hindi: आम, aām) is a fruit which is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous species of tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. While other Mangifera species (e.g. Horse Mango, M. foetida) are also grown on a more localized basis, Mangifera indica – the Common Mango or Indian Mango – is the only mango tree commonly cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions, and its fruit is distributed essentially world-wide. Mango is rich in a variety of phytochemicals[15] and nutrients. The fruit pulp is high in prebiotic dietary fiber, vitamin C, polyphenols and provitamin A carotenoids. Dates Phoenix dactylifera commonly known as the true date palm, is a palm in the genus Phoenix, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit. Due to its long history of cultivation for fruit, its exact native distribution is unknown, but probably originated somewhere in the desert oases of northern Africa, and also Western Asia. Dry or soft dates are eaten out-of-hand, or may be pitted and stuffed with fillings such as almonds, walnuts, candied orange and lemon peel, tahini, marzipan or cream cheese. Pitted dates are also referred to as stoned dates. Dates can also be chopped and used in a range of sweet and savory dishes, from tajines (tagines) in Morocco to puddings, ka’ak (types of Arab cookies) and other dessert items. Date nut bread, a type of cake, is very popular in the United States, especially around holidays. Dates are also processed into cubes, paste called “‘ajwa”, spread, date syrup or “honey” called “dibs” or “rub” in Libya, powder (date sugar), vinegar or alcohol. Recent innovations include chocolate-covered dates and products such as sparkling date juice, used in some Islamic countries as a non-alcoholic version of champagne, for special occasions and religious times such as Ramadan. Cape Gooseberry Physalis peruviana, known in English as golden berry (South Africa, U.K.), cape gooseberry, giant ground cherry, Peruvian groundcherry, Peruvian cherry (U.S.), poha (Hawaii), jam fruit (India), aguaymanto (Peru), uvilla (Ecuador), uchuva (Colombia) and physalis. It is indigenous to South America but was cultivated in South Africa in the region of the Cape of Good Hope during the 1800s, imparting the common name, cape gooseberry. The fruit is a small round berry about the size of a marble with numerous small yellow seeds. It is bright yellow and sweet when ripe, making it ideal for snacks, pies or jams. It is popular in fruit salads, sometimes combined with avocado. Scientific studies of the cape gooseberry show its constituents, possibly polyphenols and/or carotenoids, demonstrate anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. In folk medicine, Physalis peruviana has been used as a medicinal herb for cancer, malaria, asthma, hepatitis, dermatitis and rheumatism. None of these diseases, however, is confirmed in scientific studies as treatable by the cape gooseberry.
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