Evropi-Sofia Dalampira notes in a recent article published by the National Herald that, scientifically speaking, super food is a marketing term boosting the fame of some food higher in nutrition and beneficial for health and well-being than others. In the last decades, there is a great discussion about what is and what is not a superfood. The line between them is biased but the term superfood works very good in consumption industry and consumer research. This means that it is a non-medical term popularized in the media based on the nutrients.
The author notes that every food high in nutrients can be a superfood if the marketing industry work with it. Many small shrubs and trees in Greek forests are actually providing many fruit superfoods from ancient times. Many of them are unknow and undiscovered by the “heavy industry” of intensive agriculture since now. But a growing interest of healthy living, is creating a raising demand of new plants and hence new innovative products. One of these recently discovered from industry trees is Cornus mas: a well-known small tree as cornelian cherry or cherry dogwood.
This plant is well-known from Homer times as “Krania” and according to Theophrastus the wood of krania with its fruits “krana” was as valuable as its small berries, because of its elasticity. Fruits of the tree are sweet and sour and are usually made as juices, jams, liqueur, aromatics but also used in pharmaceutical industry. The fruit contents a great percentage of vitamin C, other vitamins, antioxidants flavonoids, anthocyanin, iron, and polyphenols. Recent research has showed that these fruits are richer in flavonoids and other nutrients than raspberries and blueberries and nearly the same vitamin C with Rosa canina.
If you want to maximize the amount of vitamic C and other sensitive vitamins for a long time you can freeze fresh krana and use it all year round while a delightful combination is making chocolates with krana, cooked hazelnuts and biscuits.
Evropi-Sofia Dalampira is an Agriculturist-MSc Botany-Biology and PhD Candidate in Agricultural-Environmental Education and Science Communication
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations, Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC-BY-SA Copyright: Bouba
