The bayberry you eat may be a "meat dish"! Can you eat bayberries with worms?

Summer is the flavor of bayberry~

Bayberry is a fruit that many people like to eat. It not only tastes sweet and sour, but also does not need to be shelled and is very thirst-quenching.

my country is a major producer of bayberry. More than 98% of the world's bayberry is produced in my country, mainly in Zhejiang Province.

“The world looks to China for waxberries, and China looks to Zhejiang for waxberries”

#People who love eating bayberry but are afraid of bugs# There are too many people. I drool when I see the boxes of bayberry in front of the fruit store, but when I think there might be bugs in them, I really don’t dare to eat them.

In this article, we will briefly talk about eating bayberry, and finally talk about how to effectively remove the worms in bayberry.

1. Why is there a saying that “looking at the plum quenches thirst”?

Everyone is very familiar with the idiom "looking at the plum to quench thirst", which comes from "A New Account of Tales of the World·Falsehood and Cunning".

It tells the story of Cao Cao's army being thirsty because of the lack of water during their march. In order to encourage the morale and stabilize the army, Cao Cao lied and said: "There is a large plum forest ahead, with plums and plums, which are sweet and sour and can quench your thirst." When the soldiers heard the news, they immediately started to drool, became excited, and no longer felt thirsty.

In our daily life, we also feel that eating bayberry quenches our thirst. This is because 92% of bayberry is water, which is similar to the water content of watermelon.

So, since eating watermelon can quench your thirst, eating bayberry can also quench your thirst!

2. How nutritious is bayberry?

It is low in calories, only 30 kcal/100 g, which is 40% of lychee; it is low in sugar, with a carbohydrate content of only 6.7%, making it very suitable for those who want to lose weight.

The potassium content is acceptable, although not as high as bananas, but higher than the apples we often eat, about 1.8 times that of apples, which is very suitable for people who need to control blood pressure; the dietary fiber content is twice that of lychees.

In addition, bayberry is rich in anthocyanins and has a high content of anthocyanins. The more mature the bayberry, the higher the anthocyanin content.

▲Purple fruit is the most mature (from literature)

Anthocyanins have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, vision protection, cancer prevention and cardiovascular health protection effects.

It is precisely because bayberry contains a high level of anthocyanins that the boxes that hold bayberries are often dyed, your fingers will change color when you eat bayberries, and the water used to wash bayberries is often red.

3. What are the bugs in bayberry? Can we eat them?

The small white worms in bayberry are actually fruit fly larvae. They are edible, non-toxic and harmless, and can also supplement a little protein!

Originally, eating bayberry is to be a vegetarian

I didn’t expect to have a “meat and vegetable combination” **……**

Fruit fly larvae are very small. Females are generally about 2.5mm long, while males are smaller than females. The eggs are only about 0.5mm in size.

It's so small, it's really hard to find!

Many people are worried about whether eating this little bug will be harmful to health or whether it will parasitize in the body.

You can rest assured that fruit fly larvae are harmless to the body, do not contain pathogenic bacteria that are harmful to the human body, and will not parasitize in the human body.

1. The upper limit temperature for fruit flies to survive is 35~36℃. If the temperature is higher than 36℃ for a long time, they will die. The normal body temperature of the human body is higher than 36℃.

2. Fruit flies really can’t stand the gastric acid in their stomachs.

3. The minimum temperature for fruit flies to survive is 8-10℃. If the temperature is below 5℃, they will be in shock and will be frozen to death after 12-24 hours. You can refrigerate them for 24 hours before eating. (But they will die in the bayberry...)

If you really feel "disgusted" and don't want to eat the bugs, you can soak them in light salt water for 10 to 20 minutes, and the fruit fly larvae will come out by themselves.

▲Drosophila larvae soaked in salt water

Then rinse it a few more times and you can eat it with confidence.

4. How to remove pesticide residues?

The most prominent pesticide residue problems in commercially available bayberry are carbendazim and myclobutanil, both of which are fungicides used in bayberry cultivation.

But there is no need to worry too much, because rinsing with clean water for 1 minute or soaking in salt water for 20 minutes can reduce the residual amounts of carbendazim and myclobutanil, with removal rates of 70.8% and 23.9% respectively.

Therefore, it is recommended that you soak it in salt water for 20 minutes and then rinse it with clean water for 1 minute.

5. How much is appropriate to eat?

According to the recommendations in the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", the daily fruit intake should be controlled within 200-350 grams. The edible part of 6 slightly larger bayberries is about 100 grams. If you eat bayberries all day, a maximum of 20 bayberries will be enough.

▲Photo: 6 bayberries (about 100 grams of edible part)

Summary: "In May, the forest is full of bayberries, and at first I thought that each one was worth a thousand gold coins." Now it is June, so seize the opportunity to enjoy them!

Do you like eating bayberry? Are you afraid of the bugs in it? How do you deal with the bugs in bayberry? Do you have any better tricks?

References:

[1] Zhang Cong, Li Wen, Li Chengyue, Chen Lifang, Qiu Dongliang. Comparison of quality and anthocyanin components of bayberry fruits at different maturity[J]. Subtropical Agricultural Research, 2022, 18(01): 41-45. DOI: 10.13321/j.cnki.subtrop.agric.res.2022.01.007.

[2] Wang Huadi, Shen Ying, Wang Enguo, Huang Qianbin, Xu Zhihong. Dynamic monitoring and integrated control technology of bayberry fruit fly population[J]. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 2017, 7(06): 6-14.

[3] Ming Ke, Xie Baoyu, Wei Guodong. Research progress on biological characteristics and control of bayberry fruit fly[J]. Hebei Agricultural Sciences, 2008(04):45-47. DOI:10.16318/j.cnki.hbnykx.2008.04.040.

[4] Ming Ke, Xie Baoyu, Wei Guodong. Research progress on biological characteristics and control of bayberry fruit fly[J]. Hebei Agricultural Sciences, 2008(04):45-47. DOI:10.16318/j.cnki.hbnykx.2008.04.040.