Java apples / Rose apples and their nutritional benefits –

With the onset of summers, more and more summer fruits have started coming in the market may it be the watermelons, wild berries, ice apples/ tadgolas or the beautiful love apples. Even though some of these fruits have been around for a long there are still people who are not aware of these delicious fruits. So here I am sharing with you one such summer fruit-java apple.

Scientific Name:

Syzygium samarangense

Other names:

Wax apple, Water Apple, Rose apple, Jamb (Marathi), Amrool & Safed Jamun (Hindi), Paninir Champa (Malayalam) etc.

Appearance:

These fruits are bell-shaped. Usually, the size of a lemon but you do get varieties that are bigger in size. They are white, white-pink, bright green or red-maroonish in color, and waxy, glossy, and firm in appearance.

Taste and texture:

They have a distinct fruity aroma and are somewhat bland to taste but some can be sour too. They are watery on the outside and are more fibrous around the core or seed.

Availability:

These are summer fruits. Easily available from late March to early June.

About purchasing and storing Love Apples:

Choose the ones which have no patches, cracks, or dents.

Java apples cannot last long. They are best eaten fresh and chilled. Even in the fridge, they can max to the max last for a week.

Make sure you wash and store them. Since the hole present at the bottom is a place for worm or worm eggs to reside there.

Nutrition facts:

Java apples / Rose apples are low in calories, and high in water content. It has a good amount of fiber, Vit. C.

Culinary uses:

• They are eaten as fruit.
• Used to make sauces, juices, pickles, and stews.