Your Ultimate Guide To Barbados

Guava Cheese

Guava cheese is a chewy fudge-like sweet. Guavas, which are grown in Barbados, are used to make this product.

Guavas are fruits which are usually round or oval with a distinctive fragrance. When young, the guava tends to be green on the outside, but becomes yellow when ripe. The outer skin of the guava may be rough with the inside filled with small seeds.

Guava trees can be found throughout Barbados particularly in the countryside. The fruit of these trees contain an abundance of Vitamin C with the majority of that vitamin found in the skin of the fruit.

Making Guava Cheese

To make guava cheese make sure guavas are firm, pick out all seeds and peel the guavas. Put guava pulp, sugar and spice in a saucepan and cook on high until mixture starts to " jump", stirring once in a while.

Reduce heat and cook mixture, until mixture is thick and separates easily from the bottom and sides of the pot, leaving the pot "clean".

Pour Guava cheese in a greased fireproof glass dish and let it cool. When cool, cut into small squares.

Health Benefits of Guava

Guavas aid in constipation, cough and cold, skin care, high blood pressure and weight loss to name a few. Guava is one of the riches sources of dietary fiber with its seeds serving as excellent laxatives.

The juice of raw and young guavas is very helpful in giving relief in cough and cold by loosening cough, reducing mucus, disinfecting the respiratory tract, throat and lungs and inhibiting microbial activity due to its astringent properties.

Guavas can help improve your skin texture and avoid skin problems. This is chiefly due to the abundance of astringents in its fruits (more in young ones) and in leaves. You can benefit from it either by eating the fruits or by washing your skin with the decoction of its young fruits and leaves. It will tone up and tighten loosened skin.

Guavas help reduce cholesterol in blood (which is common amongst the citizens of Barbados) and prevents it from thickening, thereby maintaining fluidity of blood and reducing blood pressure. Guava, being very rich in fiber and hypoglycaemic in nature, helps reduce blood pressure.

Guava is very helpful for those who want to lose weight without compromising their intake of proteins, vitamins and fiber. Guava is also known to  help control diabetes, protects prostrate and reduce the risk of cancer.

The juice of the guava leaves cures toothache, swollen gums and oral ulcers. It heals wounds when applied externally, convulsions, epilepsy and bacterial infections.