How to Make Mangosteen Tea and What Is It Good For?
Mangosteen fruit, which is scientifically known as Garcinia Mangostana, often has been praised for its medicinal values. The fruit is believed to have been transported all the way from Indonesia to the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland to be sampled by Queen Victoria.
Perhaps that alone would give the fruit the high status as one of the most unusual exotic fruits out there. If you are lucky enough to visit the countries in Southeast Asia like Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia or and Vietnam, where this fruit is commonly grown, you will be given many reasons that support the locally popular name “Queen of all fruits”.
Nonetheless, the popularity of the fruit has been widely magnified by the ability to make one of the best medicinal tea, known as mangosteen tea, which is very prevalent for its high xanthone content.
According to scientific research and findings, this chemical contains anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, antifungal and antitumor properties that are essential for normal growth, development and overall well-being of a person. (1)
Step By Step Instructions On Preparing Mangosteen Tea
- Step 1: Acquire your mangosteen fruit, which could be from the market where available, online or picked fresh from the tree if you are lucky enough and have one growing in your back yard. It is better to select fruits that have a dark purple skin and are free from yellowing if possible.
- Step 2: The mangosteen fruit can be cut using a knife. Don’t cut all the way through, just make an incision in the rind all the way around. This way you won’t damage the flesh inside too much. Be sure that the knife is sharp to avoid making unnecessary cuts all over the outer skin. The rind has potent juice that can splatter on your clothing or furniture and cause stains, which are very hard to remove.
- Step 3: After making the cut, pull apart the skin with both hands to expose the inner parts. The fruit inside resembles like the flesh of orange, except mangosteen wedges are white. The taste is much sweeter, and it is very delicious. However, for the preparation of our tea it’s the outer rind that we actually need, not the fruit inside.
- Step 4: Rind is used when dried to make the tea, and this can be done in several ways. The traditional method is drying it in the sun, or if you what you can speed up the process using a food dehydrator. After is dried, the outer rind then gets pureed and the best way, to do this, is to use a food processor.
- Step 5: Boil water and when the water reaches its boiling point, you add the pureed rind and then let it to cool
- Step 6: You can add additional juices or sugar to give it a taste, and then drink your tea.
Benefits Of Mangosteen Tea
When drinking mangosteen tea, it is not just about having something to drink in the morning or the afternoon. There are a lot of benefits and reasons why most people would prefer this tea. Below are some of the benefits for your health you can get drinking this tea.
- The fruit contains antioxidants known as Xanthones, namely two types: alpha mangosteen and gamma mangosteen, which help in the treatment of various cardiovascular diseases. On top of that, the antioxidants heal cell damage by free radicals, which are mostly responsible for the aging process.
- This potent tea is very rich in vitamin C. Vitamin C is known for its property of being a water soluble antioxidant, which provides resistance to flu-like infectious agents.
- It aids in boosting the red blood cells and protects people from diseases like anemia. It is also important in improving the blood flow in the body because it causes dilation of the blood vessels. This is very useful because it protects people from getting diseases such as heart congestion, severe chest pain, and atherosclerosis.
- It is also rich in minerals like copper, manganese, magnesium and potassium. The combination of these minerals helps the body to fight against strokes, coronary heart diseases and blood pressure.
The best way to get the full health benefits of mangosteen tea is to make it from the fresh fruit if possible. There is also an option to buy mangosteen tea bags from online, made from a mangosteen powder and use them like you would steep any other tea. The taste is decent, less bitter, mostly because some of them are mixed with green tea or some other herbs.
Or you can just buy organic mangosteen fruit powder wich is more versatile, and besides tea, can be used as an addition to smoothies, juices or protein shakes.