Honey loquat

Categories: Bee products, Types of honey |



Loquat belongs to the genus Eriobotrya, there are about 20 species of these evergreen trees and shrubs common in Japan and China. Its botanical name – Eriobotrya japonica.  One of species – Mespilus germanica is a deciduous fruit tree. Tender, tasty and sweet (up to 13% sugar) fruit is similar to wild pear. One tree produces up to 150 kg of fruits. Honey loquat (3) People eat it fresh, produce jam, candy, candy toppings. Seeds are used in the production of liqueurs, cordials. Loquat is a subtropical evergreen thorny shrub or tree of the family Rosaceae. The bark of the trunk and branches have dark gray color. The leaves are large, lanceolate, entire, leathery, glossy, from the bottom are like felt. The flowers are white or pale-yellow, single, with a strong aroma. Loquat – a good honey plant, flowering in October- January. The fruit ripens in May and June. They are small, spherical, oval or pear-shaped, with a thin skin and a juicy sour-sweet pulp, grow by 8-12 pieces. Fruit is spherical, pear-shaped or elliptical, a diameter of 2 – 3 cm (1”), and cultural forms to 7 cm (3”).  Ripe fruit becomes brownish-red or yellowish with brown flesh. After frost they are edible, have a characteristic astringent taste. Weight of fruit is 10  g. Fruits ripen in October and November. People collect it after the frost or even in the spring. Place of origin – is China, from there to Japan, and then to Europe.  Legend of loquat  A young man lived in a village. He loved the rich but sickly girl. He could not woo her, as he had no sheep, no decent clothes, and he walked barefoot. Young mother could not look at his suffering. She decided to help him, went into the garden and wanted to cut down a loquat tree to sell its valuable timber. She touched the bark of a tree and heard a groan: “Do not kill me, I will be of use”. The woman did not cut down a tree. In spring she gathered unripe fruit and carried them to cobbler, so he could make the tanning for the leather, and then sewed the boots for her son. From ripe fruit she cooked a delicious candy. In their garden in the same year there were so many loquat that they were selling it in the market. And soon, the son was able to buy new clothes. Dressed up, he went to his girlfriend, but she was sick. The young man asked the servants to give to the girl juice and candy from the loquat. Girl tasted gifts, she liked the flavor, she asked to bring her more. The young man began to come every day to bring loquat to beloved one. Soon she felt better, she did not  want to lie down all day on the mat. She went out and met the boy. In his new clothes and high boots he was so handsome that she, too, fell in love. She told her parents that she agreed to marry the young man. And soon they were married.  In the wild loquat grows on the slopes of the mountains, it is hygrophilous. It grows on rocky, limestone, and podzolic soils. Honey loquat (1) Vitamins: The chemical composition of the fruit is similar to apples. It contains:  – 6.7% malic acid  – 10-19% sugar  – citric acid  – vitamin C  – vitamin B1 (0.02 mg/100 g), B2 (0.04 mg/100 g ), B5 (0.2 mg/100 g)  – beta-carotene (260-775 mg / kg)  – calcium (18-30 mg/100 g) – phosphorus (14-36 mg / 100 g)  – potassium (315-348 mg / 100 g)  – iron (0.2-0.8 mg/100 g) – sodium (4 mg/100 g) – tannin and aromatic substances  – pectin  – volatile and other Properties Leaves contain a lot of tannins. Organic acids have beneficial effects on the liver, blood vessels and nervous system. It affects the endocrine glands, especially good for the treatment of hypofunction. The fruits have antidiarrheal effect, enhancing the exchange of proteins.  Use in medicine  1. Fruits strengthen the intestines and improve digestion.  2. Decoctions of unripe fruits and seeds treat inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, urolithiasis. Since ancient times, medlar was used as a means of improving digestion and strengthening the intestines. Fruit, especially the unripe one, and the seeds are used as a decoction for the treatment of inflammatory intestinal diseases, bloody diarrhea.  Herbal broth: 1 tbsp. of loquat leaves per 250 ml of water are boiled for 10 minutes, kept for 1 hour, filtered. Take 1 tbsp. several times a day for the treatment of dysentery. Use to rinse for the treatment of strep throat.  3. From the leaves collected during flowering, people prepare a broth that has antidiarrheal and hemostatic effect: 1 tbsp. is mixed with 1 cup of water.  4. You can rinse the throat  for the treatment of a cold –  1 tbsp. with 1 cup of water.  5. Alcoholate treats patients with asthma or bronchitis.   Mix 5 mashed fruit, 2 tbsp. of honey and 100 g of sake (Japanese 28-degree rice vodka), keep a few days and filter. Take 100 g before meals three times a day. This tool cleans the lungs of phlegm and makes breathing easier. The same infusion, if slightly warmed and slowly drunk through a pipe, eliminates irritating cough. Recipes Honey loquat (2)

You can make juices, syrups, jams, compotes, jams, fillings for chocolates and cakes, jam, candy and different soft drinks. Sherbet – fresh medlar juice – 1/4 cup – sugar – 3-4 pieces – Pink Flask – 1/4 tsp. – water – 250 ml. Boil loquat syrup, cool to 35 C (95 F). Pour rose extract and juice in cooked syrup, cool. Jam  Put washed fruit in an enamel pot, add a little water and cook on low heat for 20-30 minutes. Then the fruit is cooled, rub through a sieve to separate the seeds.  Add sugar (0.5 kg to 1 kg of pulp) and cook until desired thickness. Juice with pulp Boil prepared fruits in an enamel saucepan with water (1 liter per 1 kg). After softening thoroughly rub through a sieve, bring to a boil, pour into jars or bottles and put in storage or immediate use. Juice without pulp  Cook like other juices, ie, extract the juice by steam or boiling water. Add sugar to taste.  Loquat with honey Fruits are cooked until tender, rubbed through a sieve. Flesh is boiled, cooled to 40-50°C (104-122 F0, you add honey, stir and serve with tea. Stuffed loquat for pies Boil in water and rub the pulp through a sieve, cook to the desired thickness, add sugar to taste and use for filling pies. Technique of collection and storage of loquat. Fruits are harvested in the end of October before the first autumn frost. In this state, they are well transported, can be stored in cold storage until spring. Cultivation The trees should be located in the sun on medium loamy soil with a deep layer of topsoil in a location, protected from cold winds. It does not like close groundwater. It likes feeding. You can feed it only with mineral fertilizers in the early growing season – nitrogen and phosphorus, in autumn – ash. Like most Rosaceae, seeds germinate in a year. The best sowing date – end of October – November, or in the spring, but after a lengthy ratification. In autumn it is better to reproduct by cuttings. The success of rooting depends on soil moisture. Cuttings root in two years and are transplanted after leaf. During this time, they formed a well-developed root system and several shoots. Hybrid are bred by vaccination and are budded on hawthorn and pear. In this case, you can grow a great bole form. In order for trees to grow up healthy and develop properly, there should be sun. For this you need to provide a forming of crown that there is almost no areas where less than 50% solar energy. The thickness of the canopy in one direction does not exceed 2 m (1′) and a height of crown and the free space between the rows is as 1:1. In other words, if the tree height is 2.5 m(1′), the free space between the plants should be 2.5 m (1′) Keep in mind that when you make cuttings, there is a removal of organic substance, do not wait for winter. Make it in the summer. Let the substances affect the growth of other, more relevant parts.

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