Orange Fruit and Its Origins

By Francis Murphy

Whether sweet or sour, oranges score a favorite with many. It belongs to the citrus family and is the major fruit, besides others such as tangerines, mandarins, clementines and satsumas. The fruit is soft and fleshy, with or without seeds. The fruit is also formed from a single ovary. Due to these reasons, they are considered berries. Orange fruits provide multiple health benefits. They are rich in vitamin C and functions to reduce the risk of heart disease. The history of orange fruit can be traced back to thousands of years ago, at a time when the functions and properties of orange were not widely known.

Orange cultivation began about 7000 years back and was believed to have originated from Southeast Asia, India and China. It was brought to Italy, Spain and Portugal in the fifteenth century. In Europe, the Romans were the first to taste this fruit. As a luxury purchase, oranges were popular among the nobility and military classes. Prior to that, bitter oranges were cultivated for medicinal purposes. Oranges were also used in dishes back then. The introduction of sweet oranges in Europe has since encouraged worldwide commercial production and this was a turning point in the history of orange fruit. Orange was also introduced to America by Spanish explorers. The arrival of Spanish explorers in South America in the 15th century probably initiated orange cultivation in Brazil. Today, Brazil is the leading producer of oranges and accounts for almost half of the world's total production of oranges.

The most commonly and widely cultivated variations are the navel oranges, Valencia oranges and blood oranges. It is believed that the word "orange" was derived from a Sanskrit word. Orange is the second most sought after fruit after apples. International trade of oranges is very common today, and orange is cultivated in countries with warm climate. The changes in the history of orange fruit can be attributed various factors, including the role of traders in bringing the fruit across continents and to different countries.

Oranges are now commonly enjoyed by many and used for other purposes besides general consumption. It can be made into juice or incorporated into food products. It is a fruit with significant history, and oranges will remain a popular choice among consumers as a source of vitamin and to aid in well being maintenance.

At the end, I'd like to share cool website with more information on topics like History of Orange Fruit and History of Apple Fruit. Visit for more details.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Francis_Murphy

Read more ...

How Many Calories Are in Grapes?

By Amy Sue Miller

Grapes are a flavorful, healthy snack. You can have one cup (160 grams) and consume only 110 calories in grapes. This fruit offers various nutritional factors. They grow in clusters of 15 to 300 in various colors of yellow, green, orange, pink, dark blue, black and crimson. Grapes can be eaten fresh or frozen, made into juice or wine, processed into jams or dried to form raisins. The two main types of grapes are seeded or seedless. Grapes are classified into table or wine grapes. Some of the more popular brands are Thompsons, Perlettes, Red Flames, Monnukas, Concord and Ruby.

Health Benefits and Nutritional Facts

The biggest health benefit that grapes can offer is from the natural antioxidants, polyphenols, responsible for preventing harmful cholesterol build-up. This harmful build-up could cause atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke and high cholesterol levels. Ellagic acid, a flavonoid that has been found to help fight cancer, is also found in grapes. The most popular benefit of this fruit is the effectiveness of easing constipation. Grapes are a natural laxative food. Another important factor for the digestive system the grapes can battle is indigestion. They help relieve indigestion and sooth irritation in the stomach. For those with kidney disorders, this super fruit also reduces uric acid in urine, therefore keeping your kidneys from having to work so hard.

Grapes made into juice also hold ample health benefits. Studies show that drinking grape juice regularly helps with brain health and delays neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. Data also supports that grape juice also protects healthy breast cells, reduces mammary tumor size and number of tumors found. As a home remedy, people have been known to use grape juice to cure migraine headaches. (Tip: For a migraine, ripe grape juice should be drunk in the morning, without diluting with water.) Light/white grape juice helps put iron content back into the body, ultimately preventing fatigue, boosting your energy. In 8 fl. Oz. (240 grams), there are 170 calories in purple grape juice and 140 calories in white grape juice.

How to Store

Before storing fresh grapes, remove any spoiled or bruised fruit. Do not wash grapes prior to storing. Place the grapes in a plastic bag in the crisper of the refrigerator. Fresh grapes will be good for approximately one week. Wash grapes prior to serving.

To freeze grapes, rinse them thoroughly, then lay out to dry completely (should only take a few minutes). Spread them out on a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet and place them in the freezer. Check the grapes every half hour until they are frozen, then place in a zip-lock bag. Keep the grapes in the freezer until ready to serve. They will hold their flavor for approximately a week.

Healthy Recipe

Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 pound seedless green grapes
• 1 pound seedless red grapes
• 8 oz. package of (lowfat) cream cheese, whipped
• 6 oz. fat free frozen whipped cream

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix together the whipped cream and cream cheese. Stir in grapes. Chill for 30 minutes, and then serve.

I am a professional nutritional coach, that enjoys writing about important tips and subjects related to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Sue_Miller

Read more ...

Tomato Growing Tips on Crop Rotation and Pest Control

By Kaye Dennan

Crop rotation is what most gardeners think of when talking about improving the nutritional value of their soil through growing different crops each year. But crop rotation is also beneficial in breaking the cycle of pests and diseases. Many tomato gardeners are not aware of the benefits of this technique and it is a tomato growing tip that they should consider for better end results.

The old saying "the quality of the soil affects the quality of the plants growing above it" is so true.

Pest And Disease Control.

One downside of getting the right results of crop rotation is if the neighboring plots are not doing the same thing. It means that the diseases and pests will quite probably be prevalent in them and not help the situation at all.

Tomatoes are part of the nightshade family and for crop rotation to work properly plants of the same family should be avoided in the rotation as they will take the same nutrients from the soil and will attract the same pests. This means that plants like peppers, potatoes, tobacco and morning glory should be avoided. These members of the same family also deplete the soil of the same nutrients.

Similar Nutrients.

As mentioned earlier, when crop rotation is done correctly the soil is being replenished with nutrients from crops that are not using the same nutrients as the previous crop. Crop rotation may mean that a crop is planted that is purely and simply grown as fertilizer or mulch. Hairy vetch is such a crop that may be planted in the off year and is an excellent mulch crop for tomatoes, plus it adds nutrients to the soil.

Crop Rotation Cycle.

A home tomato gardener who is using organic compost in his soil on a regular basis could quite possibly find that he can get away with a two year rotation cycle, whereas a grower who is seeking high volume return crops would most likely need to have a three year rotation cycle. It is possible that they might get away with it the first time with a two year toation but after that the soil will deteriorate and it will be difficult to bring it back to quality soil again.

Even during the period of resting the soil it is best to feed it with organic matter. The more the soil is fed the better the harvest will be from it. It is better to be planting in a soil that has had plenty of organic matter worked through it over a longer period than have a whole heap of organic matter added just prior to planting.

One tomato growing tips is that to rotate crops it can mean that other vegetables are grown in the tomato plot such as carrots, lettuces, peas or vegetables of personal choice. It does need to be kept in mind though that for each new crop the soil nutrients will need to be adjusted to suit the crop being planted.

So what is organic matter? It is "plant and animal material in the process of decomposing." Sounds lovely doesn't it? Not! But it does do wonders for the soil and that is what we are about when planting tomato plants with the goal in mind of producing a good crop of fresh succulent tomatoes.

For novice gardeners this information on crop rotation will be invaluable because it is quite likely they have not thought about this in terms of how to produce better crops.

Copyright (c) 2010 Kaye Dennan

Growing tomatoes can be challenging but when you have read how to plant them and how to maintain them you can reap luscious tomatoes for months. Read how to Grow Tomatoes Successfully by signing up to our FREE 10 part mini-course 'Luscious Tomatoes'.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kaye_Dennan

Read more ...

How to Choose Good Quality Wheat

By S Bansal

Wheat is mainly utilized for consumption. Wheat is transformed into flour so that human can consume it through various methods. Wheat is mainly utilized for making bread and also other bakery items. Owing to its high rates, the utilization of wheat is limited for animal feed and industrial purposes. Today wheat is grown throughout the world. It is adaptable to diverse elevation, climates and soils. But when it comes to select good quality wheat then it should be selected on the basis of quality aspects mentioned below.

Wheat quality mainly has two aspects. The foremost is the physical quality, which refers to freedom from foreign matter, soundness of wheat and cleanliness. The second is the processing quality, which means suitability for diverse uses. These aspects should be considered while selecting good quality wheat. However, wheat is categorized according to the protein content and the texture of the endosperm. The way the grain breaks down while milling depends on the texture of the endosperm. The property of the flour and its suitability for diverse uses depends on the protein content.

The endosperm texture may be vitreous or mealy. The mealy or vitreous character is hereditary, but is not affected by the environment. Therefore, einkorn wheat, emmer wheat and macaroni wheat are some wheat with vitreous kernels, whereas club wheat and bread wheat are mealy. Vitreous kernels are translucent and look bright under strong light while mealy kernels are opaque and look dark under similar situations.

Wheat types are mainly categorized as soft or hard and as weak or strong. Vitreous wheat is strong and hard in nature while the mealy wheat is weak and soft however the association is not invariable. Hardness is related to the degree of adhesion between protein and starch. Softness and hardness refer to the way in which the endosperm breaks down while milling. World wheat's are arranged to their degree of hardness as extra hard, hard, medium and soft.

The strength of wheat relates to its baking quality. Strong wheat can be used to create good crumb structure, big loaf volume and high-quality keeping qualities. This type of wheat is rich in protein. Hard wheat is used to produce flour that we use in our day to day life and to produce bread. The weak wheat possess low protein contain and this kind of wheat can only produce small loaf that too with coarse crumb structure. This kind of wheat is perfect for manufacturing cakes and biscuits but they are unsustainable for bread preparation.

Whole wheat is ground for individual use by the families. Whole wheat is mainly utilized for the production of unleavened bread across the globe. It is estimated that very less nutrient loss occurs in such type of production. Typically, every consumer prefers to purchase the variety that caters their requirements in regards to performance. You will not find loads of information about the performance of diverse varieties in indigenous wheat preparations. Consequently, selection is completely based on experience and personal knowledge of the consumer.

RB Group - wheat suppliers in India also offers warehousing services in Delhi, Kota and MP.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=S_Bansal

Read more ...

Sugar Cane - Worlds Biggest Source of Sugar

By Melissa Leong

Sugar cane is where the vast majority of the worlds source of sugar comes from. Sugar beets on the other hand, is also utilized in some regions for sugar extraction. The attractiveness of sugar beet as a cash crop has been on the rise even though the huge majority of farmers still choose sugar cane. It actually is a kind of grass that grows very high, up to 18 feet in height. Genetically modified versions have been the key type of crop utilized by plantations today. They are type of hybrid that has been engineered for sugar content in addition to disease resistance.

Found only in tropical regions of the world, countries in such climate zones are perfect regions to grow this plant on a huge scale. The two largest producers of sugar in the world are none other than India and Brazil. Brazil produces so much that 35% of our sugar comes from this country.

This crop also has a notable ability, it can regrow itself completely from the roots. This makes harvesting very easy as the entire stalk minus the roots are taken. This can be done many times before replanting is necessary. While it can differ from climate to climate, it takes on average around 12 months to mature. It can take as long as a a small number of months to harvest this plant in very large plantations. There are two steps when it comes to sugar cane processing. Raw sugar is the result of the primary stage. The second stage produces what we know as refined sugar.

Sugar cane use has other advantages besides being a great source of sugar itself. Its juice has been known to contain anti-cancer properties as it is alkaline in nature. Prostate cancer as well as breast cancer are two regions where studies have shown it to be effective. While the sugar from this

plant is seen as being all overly sweet for several people, it has less sugar than one would find in common soft drinks such as Coke or Pepsi. The waste collected during processing can be utilized to generate electricity

.

Also, sugar cane is a large supply of bio-fuels The automotive industry uses ethanol harvested from two main crops, sugar cane as well as corn. It must be noted that sugar cane ethanol yields more energy per unit that corn ethanol does.

Melissa Leong has a website dedicated to the topic of sugar. Pay a visit for further information on subjects that deal with Sugar Cane as well as Sugar.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Melissa_Leong

Read more ...