3. Pineapple can be consumed
fresh, canned or juiced and can
be used in a variety of ways. It is
popularly used in desserts, salads
(usually tropical fruit salads, but
it can vary), jams, yogurts, ice
creams, various candies, as a
complement to meat dishes and
in fruit cocktail. The popularity
of the pineapple is due to its
sweet-sour taste.
4. • Mainly from its stem, pineapple contains a proteolytic
enzyme, bromelain, which breaks down protein.
• If having sufficient bromelain content, pineapple juice
can thus be used as a marinade and tenderizer for
meat.
• Pineapple enzymes can interfere with the preparation
of some foods, such as jelly or other gelatin-based
desserts, but would be destroyed during cooking and
the canning process.
• The quantity of bromelain in the fruit is probably not
significant, being mostly in the inedible stalk.
Bromelain is unlikely to survive intact the proteolytic
processes of digestion.
5. MEDICINAL VALUE
• Both the root and fruit may be eaten or
applied topically as an anti-inflammatory
or as a proteolytic agent. In some
practices, it may be used as an
antihelminthic agent.
• Bromelain purified from pineapple stem or
fresh juice, then provided in the diet over
6 months, decreased the severity of colonic
inflammation in mice with experimental
colitis.
6. PEPPERMINT (MENTHA X.
PEPERTIA)
• Peppermint (Mentha × peperita, also
known as M. balsamea Willd.) is a
hybrid mint, a cross between the
watermint (Mentha aquatica) and
spearmint (Mentha spicata). It is found
wild occasionally with its parent
species.
7. • Peppermint has a long tradition of
medicinal use, with archaeological
evidence placing its use at least as far
back as ten thousand years ago.
• Peppermint has a high menthol
content, and is often used as tea and
for flavoring ice cream,
confectionery, chewing gum, and
toothpaste. The oil also contains
menthone and menthyl esters,
particularly menthyl acetate.
8.
9. • Peppermint flowers are large
nectar producers and honey
bees as well as other nectar
harvesting organisms forage
them heavily. A mild,
pleasant varietal honey can
be produced if there is a
sufficient area of plants.
• Peppermint oil has a high
concentration of natural
pesticides, mainly
menthone.
