When it comes to eating berries, you probably eat mostly a few well-known types. But golden berry, which isn’t as well known, is a nutritional all-star that you might want to add to the team.
The bright orange fruit from South America has a reputation as a superfood that is well-deserved. The reason is simple: the list of vitamins and minerals on its Hall of Fame resume looks like the back of a multivitamin bottle.
Beth Czerwony, RD, a registered dietitian, can give us the full scoop on this food that is becoming more and more popular.
What are golden berries?
Golden berries with a sour and tangy taste come from shrubs in the highlands of Peru and other countries near the Andes. The Incas grew the fruit thousands of years ago, and it has been used to spice up South American food ever since.
It is grown today in places all over the world, including the United States.
The fruit is about the size of a marble and grows inside a papery husk, just like its green cousin, the tomatillo. Both come from the nightshade plant family, which makes food. (More on nightshades in a minute.)
Goldenberry is also called Cape gooseberry, Peruvian groundcherry, Inca berry, poha berry, and husk cherry, among other names.
Golden berries are good for your health.
People have been eating golden berries for a few thousand years because they are really, really good for you and taste pretty good. Czerwony says that it is definitely a superfood.
This is why.
Antioxidant benefits
Carotenoids in golden berries do more than just give the fruit its orange colour. They also protect your body from free radicals, which damage cells and make it easier for diseases to spread.
In different studies, golden berry has also been shown that it can help fight cancer. One study found that the fruit might help stop lung cancer cells from growing. Another person said that it might kill oral cancer cells.
“Foods that are high in antioxidants, like golden berries, will help fight any kind of cancer,” says Czerwony. “They really do make things safer.”
Another antioxidant in golden berries, phytosterols, can help lower your cholesterol levels. This compound is especially good at lowering LDL cholesterol, which is also called “bad” cholesterol.
Powers to stop inflammation
Withanolides, a natural steroid that can reduce inflammation, is another thing that the golden berry has going for it. (Those little orange balls really do have a lot of good things in them, don’t they?)
Czerwony says that adding golden berries to your diet could help ease the pain of arthritis, stop muscle aches, and even improve circulation to make your heart work less hard.
Diabetes management
Golden berries are also full of chemicals that slow the rate at which your body breaks down carbohydrates into simple sugars. Czerwony says that this spacing keeps your blood sugar from rising too quickly.
The best way to avoid hyperglycemia, a potentially dangerous health condition that can happen to people with diabetes, is to control blood sugar levels and avoid spikes.
Vitamins and eating well
Golden berries are a low-calorie fruit option that has a lot of vitamins and other important nutrients but don’t have a lot of calories. Here are some of the best things about it in terms of nutrition. (The totals listed are for half a cup.)
- Calories: 53.
- Protein: 1.9 grammes.
- Carbohydrates: 11.2 grammes.
- Vitamin A.
- Vitamin B1 (thiamin).
- Vitamin B2 (riboflavin).
- Vitamin B3 (niacin).
- Vitamin C.
- Vitamin E.
- Vitamin K.
- Iron.
- Phosphorous.
Is there anything else?
Golden berries have one strict rule: Don’t eat them before they’re ripe.
Solanine, a natural poison found in nightshade plants, could be in golden berries with a green tint that isn’t ready to eat yet. It could cause diarrhoea, vomiting, trouble breathing, and a slow heart rate if you ate it. If you take enough, you could even die.
Czerwony says, “If you want to eat golden berries, green means stop.” “Don’t eat them if they aren’t ready,” she said.
How to start eating golden berries
If you want to try something new, you can use golden berries in many different ways. They would be great on a salad or on top of yoghurt, for example. You can also make jam or compote from the fruit. Or eaten uncooked.
Know that adding golden berries to a dish doesn’t add a lot of calories, so it’s a healthy choice for people who want to lose weight.
You can buy fresh or dried golden berries online, and some specialty grocery stores may also sell them. “It might be hard to find them,” says Czerwony, “but if you do, they’re worth a shot.”