Therefore, throw yourself over the fruits of autumn!

In addition to its beautiful yellow and orange colors, nature in the autumn offers some really fantastic fruits, which in addition to tasting great also contribute a lot of healthy nutrients. Unfortunately, fruit often has a bad reputation because it contains fruit sugar, but official dietary advice recommends all of us to eat a minimum of 600 g of fruits and vegetables daily. Of this, you can easily include 2-3 pieces of fruit and enjoy, among other things, the dietary fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that come with the fruit. There is plenty of fruit to choose from, but we have chosen 3 of our favorites which in addition to being in season can also be grown and bought locally.

 

Apple

The apple is anything but a "forbidden fruit", but there is certainly reason to believe it comes from the garden of paradise! The apple season extends over many months and the many different apple varieties contribute a sea of ​​colors and flavors. From the sweet to the sour and the bright green to the deep red. In terms of energy, apples contain about 55 kcal per 100 g and therefore one may wonder that fruit is so often compared to candy or cake, which will often have 6-10 times as many calories per. 100 g as an apple (1). As an example, you can eat 634 g of apple for the approx. 350 kcal you find in 100 g of wine gum (2).

This is how it can be prepared

Most apples are a snack or a snack in themselves. You can possibly give it an extra zest with a little lemon juice and freshly ground ginger poured over your apple boats or dip them in licorice powder. Apples are good as apple puree that can be added to cakes, desserts or morning porridge. Many curry dishes such as the classic curry buns taste good with grated apple in the curry sauce. Apples are good in salads along with kale and walnuts and taste great baked in the oven. Try to hollow out an apple and remove the core (leave the bottom in) and fill a little grated marzipan, a small pat of butter and cinnamon in it, after which you bake it for 15 minutes at 175 degrees. It is a wonderful dessert and can be served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or soured dairy product.

What do apples contribute?

An old saying goes "an apple a day, keeps the doctor away" and the apple certainly has a lot of healthy nutrients in it. In addition to fiber and vitamin C which you find in most fruits and vegetables, the apple also contains a number of B vitamins as well as minerals. Apples also contain pectin, which is a plant fiber that can be used as a natural starch, for example in yoghurt. Last but not least, there are flavonoids in apples, which give i.a. gives color and flavor.

Pectin is primarily a natural gelling agent used in industry, but in addition, the pectin from apple acts prebiotically by promoting the number of anti-inflammatory bacteria in the intestine (3). Pectin also helps protect against cardiovascular disease and elevated cholesterol by binding fat in the gut (4).

 

Plum

Plums originate from Asia, but thrive and grow well in Denmark in August and September. Plums vary in sweetness, size and colors. Dried plums turn into prunes, which are known for their positive effect on digestion, as they i.a. counteracts sluggish stomach.

How to cook it

Plums are in themselves a delicious snack, but can also be an ingredient in both the sweet and the salty kitchen. Plums work really well in a green salad with a little feta and balsamic vinegar as well as chopped hazelnuts, but are also delicious on a cheese board as the sweet counterpoint to the fatty and salty cheeses. Plums can also be made into jam, porridge and chutney or fried on the pan with cloves, cardamom and a little vinegar as a spicy accessory for duck breast. Plums can also be stuffed in baked goods such as pies or crumble or be a delicious plum puree in a trifle with raw cream, chopped nuts and white chocolate.

What do plums contribute?

Plums contribute like many other fruits with i.a. Vitamin C, B vitamins, minerals and antioxidants (5). When storing plums, be aware that plums produce ethylene, which can get i.a. tomatoes to ripen too quickly or give carrots a bitter taste. Therefore, a plum should not be stored with your vegetables. In dried form, plums are i.a. investigated for their possible ability to prevent osteoporosis in women, which may be due to the plums' content of i.a. Vitamin K and manganese, which are concentrated when plums are dried and turn into prunes (6).

Vitamin K primary function, one can remember K for coagulation - that is, the blood's clotting ability. Your body uses vitamin K to make the blood clot. Vitamin K is also important for the bones and you also use the vitamin for protein formation (7). Vitamin K is found primarily in green vegetables such as spinach, kale and broccoli, but also in fruits such as plums.

Manganese is an element that i.a. is involved in various enzymes in the body and is important for our antioxidant defenses (8). Manganese is found primarily in nuts and whole grain products as well as dried fruit and therefore the manganese content is significantly higher in prunes than in fresh plums.

 

Hyben

The rose hips come from the rosehip shrub that is known for the scent of summer when they bloom wildly along beaches and roadsides. When the rose blooms, the most beautiful rose hips berries come, which can be used for much more than claw powder! Sure, rose hips can be a little cumbersome to pick and clean, but they are well worth the effort as their taste and nutritional properties are something in a class of their own.

This is how they can be prepared

The easiest way to clean the rose hips is to rinse them thoroughly and then cut off the top and bottom, halve the fruits, put them in a freezer bag and put them in the freezer. The next day, some of the kernels can be shaken off and the rest removed with a teaspoon. You best preserve the rosehip's content of vitamin C and other nutrients if you do not cook them. The fresh rose hips are i.a. delicious in a salsa with tomato and avocado (still remember to remove seeds), but otherwise most recipes are with heat-treated rose hips, which i.a. is good in rosehip soup, rosehip jam, rosehip compote, rosehip chutney or rosehip marinated along with apple or pear to get on porridge or in desserts. Rose hips can also be boiled into syrup, made into rosehip jelly or drunk as a rosehip (which is made from dried rosehip leaves).

What do rose hips contribute?

Rose hips are an unsurpassed source of vitamin C. Rose hips have 840 mg of vitamin C per 100 g which is 15 x more than the orange which has only 54 mg / 100 g (9). It is especially a high content when compared to the daily need for vitamin C in adults is 75 mg / day. So you only need to eat about 10 g of rose hips to get a day's needs covered. In addition to vitamin C, rose hips also contain vitamins A and B, as well as calcium and phosphorus. Rose hips have an impressive dietary fiber content of 6.1 g per. 100 g, which is more than most fruits and vegetables. In comparison, plums have 1.6 g of fiber per. 100 g and cauliflower 2.4 g / 100 g.

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is a water-soluble vitamin, which has a number of vital functions and is important for the body's cells to produce energy. The body also uses vitamin B2 to grow with and to produce new skin cells, hair and nails. The vitamin is found primarily in animal foods (milk, cheese, eggs, meat), but also in lots of fruits and vegetables. (10).

In addition to rose hips, plums and apples, autumn also offers pears, elderberries and then the late raspberries, among other things. the yellow raspberries. So enjoy with a clear conscience all that delicious nature has to offer. Fruit can be delicious topping on ours overnight oats, which you i.a. finds among our many, delicious recipes. If you want to try the recipe with plums, we can recommend this plum salad, which you will also find in our recipe collection.

References

1. DTU food database: https://frida.fooddata.dk/food/2?
2. DTU food database: https://frida.fooddata.dk/food/1118?
3. Chung et al. (2017): Prebiotic potential of pectin and pectic oligosaccharides to promote anti-inflammatory commensal bacteria in the human colon. FEMS Microbiol Ecol. Nov 1; 93 (11)
4. https://videnskab.dk/krop-sundhed/abler-nedsaetter-risikoen-hjerte-kar-sygdomme
5. DTU food database: https://frida.fooddata.dk/food/15?
6. Hooshmand et al. (2016): The effect of two doses of dried plum on bone density and bone biomarkers in osteopenic postmenopausal women: a randomized, controlled trial. Osteoporosis Int; 27 (7): 2271-2279
7. Vitamin K: https://madpyramiden.dk/brug-pyramiden/vitaminer/k-vitamin/
8. Manganese: https://www.apoteket.dk/sundhed/oversigt-over-vitaminer-og-mineraler/mangan
9. DTU food database. https://frida.fooddata.dk/food/27?
10. Vitamin B2: https://netdoktor.dk/vitaminer/vitaminb2.htm