History
Guava (Psidium guajava) comes from South America probably the area of Peru. The guava takes its name from the Arawak word "guayaba", used by the people of Hispaniola. It was introduced by the Caribbean Indians in the various islands of the archipelago.
If we do not have an official date for the introduction of guava in Martinique, we know that the Carib Indians who lived on the island used them against stomach aches.
The leaves were used to smoke meat, bark to conserve and tan leather. The guava buds were used for women after miscarriage, to strengthen the organ.
Varieties
There are over a hundred varieties of guavas. Guavas can be of different sizes. It can vary in Martinique, from the size of a tennis ball to that of a small ball! Usually, they are green before they ripen and must generally wait until the skin turns yellow to be eaten. Some guavas can stay with their green skin being mature. So please feel guava whether it is ripe whatever its color. The flesh can be bright pink to totally white depending on the variety.
Guava is a bushy tree of 2 to 8 meters high has the distinction of having young and not quadrangular cylindrical branches.
The bark of its larger branches and trunk peel off per plate. His whole and opposite leaves are elliptical to lance-shaped oval. Rough, they have a strong odor when bruised. The fragrant white flowers, grouped by 3 or lonely, give rise to globular fruits, oval or pear-shaped.
Health benefits
Today, the guava is used to treat gastrointestinal pain and diarrhea. Some leafy buds or guava leaves will be prepared as an infusion and manage to cure and stop diarrhea.
Guava is low in calories.
The leaves are also used to treat wounds and skin disorders either bath or decoction. In an infusion with other plants, the guava leaves are used as antidiabetic.
Uses
Guava is found in all its forms in Martinique into jam, jelly, tea with the leaves of guava, into juice, with or without alcohol cocktails in pastries (Robinson, pâtés, amour caché). To learn more about this delicious fruit, please visit "An Griyav la" in Vert-Pré (Robert).
