IMMUNITY is the buzzword these days; and my dearies, winter season is the best time to build immunity. Lots of tasty, seasonal fruits like guava, oranges apples, sweet lime, keno, pomegranate, pears, grapes and many more, loaded with vitamin C, antioxidants and good fiber content, so essential for good health, flood the markets; banana and papaya are of course round the year fruits.
Why use Chemicals for ripening???
Friends, in today’s world everything revolves around money, the health of people, long-term harmful effects, or simply ethics…. WHO CARES!
So, to get a better price, to hasten the ripening process, and to increase the shelf life, traders use a dangerous cancer-causing chemical called Calcium carbide (masala), quite liberally.
Apple, banana, papaya, pears, guava, mangoes and many other fruits are treated with this masala.
Can I make out if the fruit is artificially ripened?
Bananas with brown spots and black stalk are naturally ripened, the ones with green stalk and yellow peel are artificially ripened.
Problem is that it’s very difficult to differentiate between the naturally ripened and masala ripened fruits. Rather, masala ripened ones look beautiful, are evenly colored, have a uniform shape and size and we fools pay a higher price for the appearance; even when the naturally ripened ones are tastier, healthier, and cheaper too.
The out of season fruits are most probably treated with the harmful chemical, again we are the suckers who buy these costly, chemical laden fruits.
Wax and Dyes are applied to the apples and pears, it certainly makes them look attractive, but imagine the amount of paraffin and colors that go into our body along with these shiny fruits!
Health hazards of Chemical treated fruits:
They cause an upset stomach, may lead to ulcers in the intestines, damage the digestive system, and the kidneys, even affect the heart and in the long run, might even cause cancer.
How to remove these harmful chemicals?
Friends, don’t despair, there are ways to get rid of these residual chemicals:
*75-80% chemicals are removed with just a thorough cold-water wash.
*Add one teaspoon baking soda or salt in two cups of water, soak grapes, strawberries, cherries, and other cluster fruits for 10 minutes to get rid of the masala and pesticides.
*A 10% mixture of white vinegar also works well.
Peeling the skin is a good idea, especially in these Covid times, it’s a great practice. Let’s forget the theory, for the time being, that peels are very nutritious!
Nutritionist’s Advice?
My friends, I am sharing the advice given by the Foods and Nutrition department of The Lady Irwin College: –
Don’t go for looks only.
Consume fruits that are in season, since the crop is in abundance at that time, so, chances of the produce being chemical-ridden are quite less.
However, if you want to pay Rs. 600/ per kg for apples in summers and Rs. 800/ per kg for out of season mangoes, who can stop you but remember, you are only paying for cold storage and chemicals.
Friends, it’s important to learn to differentiate between chemically ripened and naturally ripened fruits.
Clean them well before consuming.
So, enough gyan for the day,
Hope we are wiser now,
Renuka.