Amazing Health Benefits of Jocote (Spanish Plum)

Jocote or Spanish Plum scientifically known as “Spondias Purpurea” is a species of flowering plant and belongs to the cashew family, this jocote health benefits is incredible. Jocote comes from tropical America and includes the West Indies. This tree, now has been naturalized in several countries such as Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, The Bahamas, Caribbean islands and Indonesia. In Brazil, this plant is cultivated so that when you go to a Brazilian’s house, you often find jocote or Spanish Plum trees there. Brazil is a country rich in fruit diversity, so it is only natural that this rare fruit is also found easily in Brazil. As its common name, jocote comes from the Nahuatl word xocotl, it tastes sour and when fully ripe it will taste perfectly sweet.

Apart from being familiar with Jocote, there are several other commonly known names such as Brazilian Plum, Ciruela, Chile Plum, Hog Plum, Jamaica Plum, Scarlet Plum, Ovo, Jocote, Purple Jobo, Purple Plum, Purple Mombin, Red Mombin, Wild Plum. and Spanish Plums.

Jocote fruit is usually sold along the streets, in traditional markets, then this plant was brought by travelers from Spain to the Philippines, and in this Asian country, the spanish plum plant has become a plant that has received attention, they have adopted it as a popular plant. beneficial. Jacote fruit is usually eaten raw like other fruits in general, eaten with the skin or without the skin. sometimes there are also those who eat it with lemon juice, vinegar, or by using salt. Spanish plums can be preserved naturally for future use. The way to preserve Spanish plums is to boil them and then dry them. This will last for several months, also used as an ingredient for making drinks or used as a salad at certain moments.

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Description of the Jocote plant

Let’s get to know this plant more clearly. Spanish plum or jocote is a medium plant that is easy to grow. It grows to about 7 meters and above or about 23 feet. Jocote thrives in bushes, open forests and others. It can adapt to various types of soil such as sandy soil, gravel, heavy wild loam, even on calcareous soil.

When large, the stems are usually about 30 to 80 cm in diameter. The skin is thick, cracked, smooth and gray in color. If the stem is injured, it will secrete an almost transparent sap. Usually the trunk grows tall, straight, while the branches usually grow horizontally and are all very fragile so this tree is a risk to climb.

The leaves of the jocote plant are compound and pinnate. When young it is red purple or like bronze. then the color changes to green and yellow before falling. On the petiole, there are leaf circles of about 5 to 12 pairs, the shape is elliptical-ovoid.

History of Jocote

Plants with the scientific name Spondias purpurea are plants that come from tropical America such as Mexico. This plant grows from northern Peru, Brazil to the Antilles. This plant is widely cultivated in Central America and it belongs to the ancient Mayan plants of the Yucatan. The jocote fruit is edible and is now naturalized in several countries such as Nigeria, the Philippines, and the Galapagos.

Also see: Amazing Health Benefits of Raw Jackfruit, Superfoods

Amazing Health Benefits of Jocote

Jacote or fruit with the name Spondias Purpurea is a fruit with a delicious taste, crunchy and rich in fiber and various other nutrients. Now the jacote plant has become one of the cultivated plants to harvest its fruit. The various nutritional content of jocote provides many health benefits. Below we look at some of the benefits of jocote fruit for health, as reported from reliable sources.

1. Strengthen the body’s immunity

Consuming jocote fruit has benefits such as increasing immunity or strengthening the body’s immunity. This spanish plum contains nutrients such as vitamins A, C and B, contains calcium, and is rich in phosphorus. Everything will work together as part of forming a better body immunity.

Jocote fruit is also good as a traditional food to cure diseases that cause fatigue including dengue fever.

2. Helps weight loss

Jocote fruit contains fiber which is very good, it is quite useful to encourage satiety, this will provide distance between meals or will reduce the portion of your daily meal. Besides being rich in fiber, jocote is also low in calories which is great for helping you lose weight. In 100 grams contains only 76 calories. In addition, Spondias Purpurea is a fruit that is rich in vitamins and other nutrients.

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3. Gives a lot of energy

Jocote fruit contains carbohydrates, iron, and others. This will provide energy for the body. So, this fruit is recommended for consumption by those who exercise or as athletes. This fruit will reduce fatigue, and many professional tennis players who consume jocote fruit to increase energy and maximize the competition.

4. Benefits of jocote for anemia

Anemia is a disease characterized by pallor or lack of blood. Jocote or spanish plum is a fruit with iron content which is useful in fighting anemia. It is good in oxidizing cells and strengthening the whole body cells.

Also see: Moong Dal: Health Benefits, Nutrition & Recipes

5. Helps body function

Spanish plums are rich in antioxidants so they are good at fighting free radicals. Free radicals are chemicals that damage cells and cause cancer. Including one of the health problems caused by free radicals is premature aging or aging of the body before it is time to age.

You may be in your 30s but physically you look like someone in your 50s. This is the effect of free radical juice, by consuming jocote fruit, it is hoped that body functions will run normally and can prevent premature aging.

6. Improve digestive function

This fruit is rich in fiber so it has many benefits for digestion. Well, when the intestines are in a healthy condition, they will avoid diarrhea, gas, dysentery and are good at absorbing nutrients.

In general it can be said, if our intestines are healthy then the whole body will also be healthy because the body can get good absorption of nutrients from various foods. On the other hand, if the intestine is not healthy then it cannot digest food properly and nutrients will not be absorbed optimally by the body.

7. Relieves spasms

Furthermore, the health benefits of jocote are relieving spasms. This fruit contains various minerals and vitamins, including the minerals in jocote are potassium, calcium, where the benefits are to relieve spasms, and relieve muscle contractions that occur due to the body’s lack of these minerals.

Traditional Uses and Benefits of Jocote (Spanish Plum)

In Mexico, this fruit is considered an antispasmodic and as a diuretic.
Boiled fruit is useful in treating wounds in the mouth such as canker sores, which is used is the boiled water of the fruit.
Jocote fruit can also be made syrup and syrup from fruit extraction is used to treat chronic diarrhea.
Cubans use jocote fruit as a vomiting medicine.
While Haitians use this fruit as a traditional remedy for angina
The Dominicans use jocote as a laxative.
A decoction of the bark or stems of Spanish plum is used as a remedy for ringworm, ulcers, dysentery and as a bloating remedy.
Boiled water from Spanish plums is used as a remedy for diarrhea, dysentery, gonorrhea. This is as practiced in the Philippines.
The sap from the bark is used as a medicine for stomatitis in infants. A decoction of the bark is also used as a decoction for dysentery in children.