SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT RAMBUTAN-min

SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT RAMBUTAN

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If you’re familiar with longan and lychee fruit, rambutan won’t be so new to you. They all belong to the soapberry fruit family. Rambutan originates from tropical areas in Asia, especially Indonesia and Malaysia. It’s a weird-looking fruit yet sweet and healthy.

Red outer skin with spiky green hair, what kind of fruit has this look!You may think rambutan comes from another planet, but the truth is, it exists in this world. It’s time to stop all sorts of ideas about this fruit. It’s not as bad as it looks may make you think. Here is what will surprise you about rambutan.

Features of rambutan

When you have a quick glance at it, you’ll think it’s a skinless grape. It has a hairy exterior that covers a smooth and white fruit within.Its taste is somewhat sour but with sweetness in it. You’ll also notice a tropical floral flavor. When it comes to texture, it feels like a cherry fruit. Its softness will make you enjoy holding it as you eat its juiciness. You can effortlessly peel it open by using your nails to split its skin. The process is similar to when you’re peeling an orange.Sometimes you’ll observe a woody taste from it. Don’t think you’re eating the wrong fruit when you taste a wood-like flavor.

Is rambutan nutritious?

You’ll be surprised this small, strange-looking fruit will do your body some health favors. It’s worth eating it, after all. Rambutan is a great source of folate, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, VitaminB, choline, potassium, and calcium. These nutrients will benefit you in so many ways. You need to look for them.

Nutrients from Rambutan

A 100 gram of rambutansoffer the following nutritional value;

  • Total calories-68kcal
  • Manganese 10% RDA
  • Vitamin C-66% RDA
  • Magnesium-4%RDA
  • Copper-9%RDA
  • Potassium-5%RDA
  • Carbohydrates-16g
  • Protein-0.9g
  • Fiber-2.8g
  • Fat-0.3
  • Sugar-13.2g

How do you obtain these nutrients?

The only way of obtaining nutrients from food or fruit is through eating them. If you thinkeating rambutan is difficult due to its strange structure, you’re wrong. You can take it as a snack or make delicious cocktails with different fruits to reduce the hint of sourness. If you want something interesting, use it as a fruit topping on your dessert, yogurt, or icecream. Another creative idea is to add to your salad to form a tropical taste. It’s in the soapberry family of fruits. So you can use rambutan to replace lychee or any other member of this group when preparing a recipe that calls for them.

Does rambutan get spoilt easily?

Like most fruits, rambutan too is delicate. It cannot survive a room temperature for longer than two days.

What are the health benefits of rambutan?

Improves skin health

If you want to have clear skin that everyone will admire, introduce rambutan to your diet and ditch the chemical skin products that have never done nothing else but disappoint you. It has Vitamin C, which is a key nutrient for healthy skin. It minimizes the bad impacts of oxidative stress and skin damages. It’ll delay wrinkles and other skins effects that accompany old age.

Provides anti-diabetic effects

Blood sugar spike is unhealthy for individuals with diabetes. With rambutan, you’ll control your blood sugar levels.

Improves reproduction health

Vitamin C supports healthy sperm production. Rambutan is a source of this nutrient, and so it’ll help men with infertility issues. Don’t expect it to cure youfrom reproduction issues completely, but you can be sure it’ll help you improve your fertility abilities.

Promotes healthy bones

With the great combination of manganese, magnesium, calcium, and potassium, rambutan will strengthen your bone density and prevent osteoporosis problems.

Promotes digestion

Even though it’s low in fiber, it still can improve your digestive system like other fruits. The content of fiber present in rambutan stimulates peristaltic movements and protects you from constipation, eliminates extra cholesterol, and improves the absorption of nutrients consumed in the body.

Promotes healthy heart

As long as your heart is healthy,your general health will be in its optimum functioning state. Rambutan strengthens and repairs damaged blood vessels. Poorly functioning blood vessels increasecardiovascular disease risks, making rambutan the perfect choice to ensure your heart is safe.

May help relieve fever

In the absence of advanced treatment and medicine, natural plants were used. They assisted in dealing with conditions like cold, flu, and fever. Have no doubts that rambutan is a great remedy too for diseases that affect the immune system. Fever, which is usually caused by foreign pathogens, can be eliminated by rambutan’s antimicrobial properties.

Increases energy

Vitamin B is beneficial in boosting metabolic functions in the body and maximizing energy metabolism. It achieves this by supporting the breakdown of carbohydrates into energy.

Supports healthy hair

Rambutan is gaining more popularity in the beauty field. Manufacturers are adding it to their hair care products, and so far, good results have been achieved. It’s great for a good scalp and reduces dandruff. Amino acids present in rambutan also helps to strengthen hair fibers, and its copper content prevents premature aging, which often leads to bad hair. You may give yourself a hair treat by squeezing the fruit on your scalp and leaving it for about 15 minutes before removing it with shampoo.

Any side effects of consuming rambutan?

While the inner part is safe to eat, some experts claim the exterior part and its seed contain some toxicity hence can cause side effects to some individuals. To avoid effects like sleepiness, coma, and other unpleasant effects, cook your fruit to neutralize the toxic contents.

Conclusion

Have you ever eaten rambutan? If not, you still have the opportunity to have a taste of it and confirm all these facts we’ve mentioned in this article. It’s better to eat when it’s fresh because its fragility makes it easy tolose freshness. You can take it as a snack or add it to your recipes. You don’t have to go to Southeast Asia to get yourself rambutans. You can buy from any food store, directly from farmers, or order online.

Elena Ognivtseva
Latest posts by Elena Ognivtseva (see all)

Nutritionist, Cornell University, MS

I believe that nutrition science is a wonderful helper both for the preventive improvement of health and adjunctive therapy in treatment. My goal is to help people improve their health and well-being without torturing themselves with unnecessary dietary restrictions. I am a supporter of a healthy lifestyle – I play sports, cycle, and swim in the lake all year round. With my work, I have been featured in Vice, Country Living, Harrods magazine, Daily Telegraph, Grazia, Women's Health, and other media outlets.

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