A walnut is a tree that gives us beauty, abundance, health, wealth. This is high-calorie food, medicine, as well as furniture, building materials, paints, dyes, skin care products, and others. The benefits of walnut for the human body are undeniable. Ripe fruit is an excellent nutritious product containing up to 40-80% fat, 18-20% protein, carbohydrates, vitamins A, B1, AT2, AT6, C, E, P, PP, K, minerals (potassium, iron, iodine). Walnut green, milk ripeness has a rich set of amino acids, among them there are essential ones that are not synthesized in the body, but come only with food proteins.
Composition of ripe and dairy walnuts
The walnut kernel fat is represented by low molecular weight and high molecular weight acids. By their nutritional value, they surpass wheat bread by 3, potatoes by 7, cow's milk by 10, apples by 15 times. 100 g of walnut kernels contain 612-850 cal, which is equal to the calorie content of butter.
The nutritional value of fruits, their benefits are mainly determined by the stage of their maturity.
So, during the milky-wax stage, they are rich in ascorbic acid, alkaloids, iodine, amino acids, and mature ones are rich in fats.
It's no secret that the amount of ascorbic acid that contains the fruits of a walnut milk ripeness reaches 3000-5000 mg, which is 75-100 times more than lemons and oranges. Moreover, the amount of ascorbic acid depends on the growth zone. It is difficult not to evaluate such benefits for the human body.
What exactly is the benefit, what is rich in walnuts growing in the Kuban?
Scientists have studied the biochemical quality indicators of five varieties of green walnuts (stage milky-wax ripeness) and sixteen - mature.
In the milky-wax stage of maturity, the fruits contain total solids of about 10.6–13.4%, among them soluble are 6.5–7.0%. Most of the solids are sugar - 3.6%. Acids are represented by citric and malic, are at the level of 1.17-1.43%.
The content of pectin substances reaches 1.0-1.2%. The mineral composition is represented by salts (in mg%): calcium - 180-220, magnesium - 60-100, iron - 1.60-3.30, iodine -), 20 -), 25, phosphorus 15-20. Of particular interest is the assessment of the fruits of green nuts growing in the Kuban, according to the content of vitamins C and R.
According to some authors, walnut growing in the Kuban contains much less ascorbic acidthan the fruits of walnut trees growing north. So, the maximum amount of vitamin C in the Kuban nuts reaches 1496 mg% - in the variety Dessert, 1337 mg% - in the variety Graceful, which is much lower than that of walnuts of the same maturity, growing in Transcarpathia (3000-5000 mg%). So, if you buy a healthy treat in the market, ask where it comes from, from which region it was brought from. If you have a choice - choose Transcarpathian.
What are the benefits of spring green walnuts? The accumulation of vitamin C in the fruits, pericarp and leaves of walnuts is gradually increasing and reaches its maximum depending on weather conditions by the end of May, beginning of June. During this period, the leaves contain 400 mg%, ascorbic acid, unripe fruit - 1380 mg%, mature pericarp - 985 mg%.
The content of vitamin P varies from 181 mg% to 250 mg%, and the greatest accumulation is characteristic for the varieties Harvest, Dessert, and Grace. The smallest amount of P-active substances was observed in the varieties of nut Pancake week, Pyatiletka (181.0-185.0 mg%).
As it ripens, the content of vitamins C and P decreases. Ripe walnut fruits are distinguished by a minimum amount of vitamin C - 4.2-6.9 mg% of P-active substances - 32.7-60.8 mg%. However, in this stage of maturity, the fat content reaches 67.1-72.6%. The greatest accumulation of fat is observed in the varieties Selektsioner (72.6%), Krasnodar (71.4%), Pervomaisky (70.9%). Less fat contains varieties Baikonur, Harvest. Fats are unsaturated fatty acids - palmitic, stearic, oleic, linolenic, linoleic, which are important in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, atherosclerosis, diabetes, etc.
Given such a variety of chemical composition of walnut fruits, determined by the stage of maturity, it is difficult to even determine when they are richer in useful biologically active substances, have the greatest nutritional value, when its benefits are greatest.
Institute of Nutrition has established walnut consumption per person - 3.6 kg per year, that is, 1-2 pieces daily.
How to Determine the Walnut Maturity
Which walnut is ripe? How to determine its ripeness? Walnut maturity is not determined when buying it in a store or on the market. It is determined during the harvest.
Ripe walnuts do not tear from the tree, but wait for them to fall to the ground. The initial ripening period is determined by the state of the outer green shell. When the nut begins to ripen, the green shell bursts. For a while he still hangs on a tree. Then the shell darkens and, finally, the nut falls to the ground. It is already mature, completely or partially free from the outer shell. This happens depending on the variety, the place of growth of walnuts in late summer and early autumn.
In the Krasnodar Territory, the ripening period is usually September-October. If you see nuts in a dark brown shell when harvesting, do not even raise them. These are unripe nuts, empty or damaged by any pests.
It is very useful to eat walnuts of the milky-wax stage of maturity, but they are not eaten raw. But the benefits of jam from green nuts are enormous.
How to Cook Green Walnut Jam
Employees of the laboratory for storage and processing of fruits of the North Caucasian Zonal Research Institute of Horticulture and Viticulture (GNU SKZNIISiV) have developed jam cooking technology that allows them to preserve their nutritional and medicinal benefits as much as possible.
When can you pick green nuts? Their collection must be carried out during the greatest accumulation of vitamin C, then you will get more benefit from them. Defining this moment is not difficult. The kernel of the nut has not yet hardened, it is in a gelatinous state, and the shell has not yet formed. The shell is soft, juicy, easily pierced. Such fruits are a natural vitamin concentrate, therefore it is advisable to use them for processing during this period. In the Kuban it is approximately the end of May-beginning of June.
The green fruits of a walnut walnut milk stage of maturity are washed, sorted by quality, size, peeled, manually pricked, poured with hot sugar syrup, cooked in water or partially on apple juice. Stand for 2 hours, cook for 15-20 minutes with double cooling for 4-6 hours. After the third cycle is completed, citric acid and honey are added according to the recipe.
Green walnut jam has an attractive appearance - light brown in color, with well-preserved fruits, soaked in syrup with a pleasant sweet and sour taste, delicate aroma of honey. It is rich in biologically active substances.
According to physico-chemical parameters, jam has 70% solids, 0.5% acids, with moderate preservation of vitamin C (90-120 mg%) and vitamin P (20-30 mg%).