Over the past few years, we’ve been encouraging readers to make a concerted effort to add goji berries, acai berries, cherimoya and other little-known health-boosting fruits to their diets. Now we’d like to introduce you to three more “super fruits” you probably haven’t yet heard of.
Collectively, they’re called prairie fruits because they grow wild on the Great Plains of North America. Unfortunately, Americans hardly use them. A recent study in Canadian Journal of Plant Science reported that these fruits—which grow on the Canadian prairie, too—are chock-full of antioxidants, vitamins and other important nutrients, according to the lead author of the study, Rick Green, PhD, vice president of technology at POS Bio-Sciences, a food ingredient and dietary supplement research firm in Saskatoon, Canada.
Historically, these three prairie fruits have been used by indigenous peoples due to their medicinal properties, Dr. Green told us. Buffaloberries and chokecherries are native to North America…the species of sea buckthorn used in his research study originated in Mongolia but now thrives on the plains. Here’s how each one offers an abundance of nutrients that can help support a long, healthy life…
Try them: Buffaloberries can be eaten out of hand…dried…used in jellies, jams and sauces…or turned into wine. Don’t go way overboard, though, because (as with certain other fruits) you may develop diarrhea.
Try them: You can eat chokecherries out of hand (but be careful not to crush or swallow the pits, which are toxic)…or try chokecherry juice, jelly, flavored vinegar and wine.
Try them: Various sea buckthorn products are available online and in some health-food stores. They can be eaten as dried berries, which have a citrusy, somewhat tropical taste…jelly…oil…teas…or juice (if it tastes too tart, try blending with other juices).
WHERE TO BUY PRAIRIE FRUITS
For now, you may have to hunt a bit to find these prairie fruits or foods made from them—natural-food stores and online vendors are usually the best bet—but that should change in the next few years. “Cranberries and blueberries also started out growing in the wild, but once people realized what excellent nutritional sources they were, they became much more readily available commercially,” Dr. Green pointed out. “I expect that prairie fruits have great potential to do the same.”
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