Properties of Grapefruit
Grapefruit is a juicy fruit and slightly bitter taste in addition to nourish our bodies helps prevent premature aging, cancer and diseases of the respiratory and circulatory systems. Learn all the benefits that can fit in the palm of your hand.
More and more people adopt the habit of starting the day with a glass of fruit juice, especially that which comes from citrus fruits like orange candy. It seems incredible, but also to moisturize and provide genuine feast for the palate, this habit continues a centuries-old tradition, according to scientific research, has always offered invaluable support to health.
The occurrence of citrus in the history dates back to at least 20 million years ago, and since that time its members have undergone many changes due to natural selection, hybrid (mixed) produced by human beings and even accidents. Example of this is the grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), which appeared during the seventeenth century, following a spontaneous mutation or genetic alteration.
This fact, more than lucky, has led to nutritional and culinary happy relationship ever stronger to realize the following.
Happy accident
There are many types of citrus distributed worldwide, but the most famous family belong to the Citrus (orange, lemon, mandarin), from large areas of tropical and subtropical Asia, particularly in eastern Arab region, the Philippines, South Himalayas, Indonesia, northeastern India, northern Burma (Indochina) and China’s Yunnan province.
Despite its popularity and that domestication began more than four thousand years, the spread of citrus from their places of origin was relatively late and was due to migration movements caused by the conquests of Alexander the Great (Emperor of Macedonia and Greece conquered territories in Asia, lived from 336 to 323 BC) or Genghis Khan (Mongolian leader between 1218 and 1225 extended his rule to China, India, Turkey, Russia and Eastern Europe) and the expansion of Islamic empire (which occurred during the seventh and eleventh centuries in order to obtain land more productive and reported their religion) and the Crusades (Fighting the eleventh to thirteenth centuries who sought to recover the holy city of Jerusalem, which fell under Arab rule on numerous occasions and which have helped create new trade routes).
It seems that the first of these fruits that are grown in Europe was the citron (Citrus medica) in 310 BC, followed decades later by the lime (Citrus aurantifolia), the origin of the lemon (Citrus limon) is uncertain , but is believed to be a hybrid of the two previous fruit that was developed by Asians and people of the “old continent”.
These vegetables, along with the pummelo or Shaddock (Citrus grandis), mandarin (Citrus reticulata) and sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) and sour (Citrus aurantium), were taken by Europeans to Africa and America, and began its cultivation in extensively. No wonder that even in the colonized lands try new combinations of citrus trees to create juicy fruits and plants better adapted to soil and climate of each region.
Within this historical dynamic Barbados Island in the Caribbean region, had the honor of being the cradle of a new and distinguished member of the family: the grapefruit. Some think that perhaps it was the work product of a farmer with great vision combined sweet orange pummelo, but it also could be a mutation (change) natural and spontaneous tree of this latter type. Anyway, talking about a delicious match with huge benefits for humanity and his health has gradually spread through trade in their seeds and breeding of the species.
credit to: María Elena Moura
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