The yumberry, or as it is locally known, the "yang mei", has been cultivated in China for the past two thousand years, and is vastly popular among Chinese locals as a refreshing and healthy summer snack.
Health Benefits of the Yumberry
These lychee lookalikes are quickly following in the footsteps of other vitamin packed fruits like the blueberry, the pomegranate, and the Açai berry, and are now being exported and bottled as a health drink in North America and Europe. The round purple fruits are not only rich in vitamins and minerals but also boast some powerful antioxidants that fight cancer-causing free radicals as well as boost the immune system, and lower blood pressure and LDL "bad" cholesterol. In Chinese medicine, it is said to aid digestion and improve the eyesight and the complexion.
Where Yumberries Can Be Found
If you live in North America, you probably haven't seen the berries themselves on supermarket shelves - their fragility makes them difficult to transport fresh - but you may have encountered them in juice form, in health drinks and in smoothies. Those who have the good fortune to visit China, where these fruits are grown, eaten, made into wine, and used in traditional medicines, may have the rare opportunity to taste the fruit fresh. Although yumberries range from various shades of red to dark purple, the sweetest yumberries are uniformly dark purple and firm to the touch, and their season lasts only a few weeks.
The Yumberry is so popular in China that, according to David Karp in a December 12, 2007 New York Times article entitled "From China, Only in a Bottle, a Berry With an Alluring Name", twice as many acres are devoted to growing the Yumberry in China as the number devoted to apple orchards in the United States.
The Taste of the Yumberry
The yumberry has an interesting crisp and juicy texture not unlike a citrus fruit, and a slightly waxy, bumpy surface. As to its taste - it is similar to a mixture of raspberry, pomegranate, and grapefruit. Be careful biting into them though - at their center, yumberries contain a seed about the size of a cherry stone.
Where to Get Yumberry Juice
Yumberry juice is available from SoBe, Frützzo, and various other juice companies, often mixed with other juices, such as pomegranate and blueberry, to cut the mild tartness of the original flavor. Yumberry juice is also available in concentrate form.
From the fields of China to supermarket shelves everywhere, the Yumberry is taking the juice-loving world by storm.
Camilla Cheung - Camilla is a Canadian freelance writer currently living on the Central Coast of California. She has a background in teaching and ...
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