Fresh gooseberry ( nellikai / amla ) tea

Fresh gooseberry ( nellikai / amla ) tea 

We all know gooseberry is good , in fact excellent .

We all want to take it regularly ,  but do we actually do this? 

Just as all the other healthy habits which we want to practice  like, I will start exercising , I will start reading etc etc... this also  remains only a plan and we end up taking burgers and pizza regularly.

We can develop healthy habits , so that we actually do these things regularly. Starting your day with a healthy tea with fruits and herbs , whichever  is seasonally available will be indeed a good start.

Right now I am having a fresh gooseberry tea and it tastes and feels good .

We do take lot of herbal and fruit tea , but the expensive imported  dried  powders from shops will never give you the same satisfaction and goodness of a  tea brewed with   fresh fruits.

Tip for gooseberry tea 

Small Indian gooseberry, which is not hybrid  is more beneficial , but it is difficult to get to see these days .Take 2 gooseberries , deseed and crush in a mixer or stone with little water and strain it to take the juice .

Add this to prepared light black tea, but don't boil it ,as  we want to preserve all the vitamin c in it , which will be lost in the  boiling process . Add sugar , as required .

The colour changes , but the taste changes too and you will have the sweetness lingering in your mouth long after drinking.

Health benefits of gooseberries

They are packed with significant amounts of phenolic phytochemicals especially flavones and anthocyanins. These compounds have been found to have numerous health-benefiting effects against cancer, ageing, inflammation, infertility  and neurological diseases.

They have moderately well anti-oxidant values. At 3277 umol TE/100g, gooseberries have oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) value comparable to that of red currants (3387umol TE/100g).

The gooseberries are moderate source of vitamin-C. 100 g of fresh berries provide 27.7 mcg or 46% of daily-recommended intake values of vitamin C. Research studies have shown that consumption of fruits rich in vitamin C helps body develop immunity against infectious agents and help scavenge harmful oxygen free radicals from the body.

They also contain some amount of vitamin A. 100 g berries has 290 IU or 10 % of RDA of this vitamin. Vitamin A is required for maintaining integrity of mucus membranes and skin, and essential component of visual cycle. In addition, consumption of natural fruits rich in vitamins and flavonoid anti-oxidants has been found to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.

Fresh gooseberries contain small amounts of essential vitamins such as pyridoxine (vitamin B-6), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), folates, and thiamin (vitamin B-1). Some of these vitamins are essential in the sense that the body requires them for metabolism from external sources to replenish.

 gooseberries contain adequate levels of minerals such as copper, calcium, phosphorus, manganese, magnesium, and potassium. 

Indian gooseberries (amla) are exceptionally rich in vitamin C. However, their anti-oxidant properties come from other anti-oxidant compounds tannins (emblicanin, punigluconin, pedunculagin etc).