Adam's apple (maclura) for joints: healing properties

Orange maclura, or apple maclura (lat. Maclura pomifera) is a species of fruit trees of the Mulberry family. This plant is also called Adam's apple, dye mulberry, false orange or Indian orange. Maclura fruits have become widely known for their medicinal properties.

MacLure comes from the USA and got its name in honor of the American geologist William MacLure. Currently, this plant can also be found in the Krasnodar Territory, Stavropol Territory, Crimea, and Central and Central Asia. Such a wide distribution area is associated with the high drought and frost resistance of the tree.

What it is

Adam's apple is a citrus fruit that grows on the orange maclura tree. Scientists give it many names: some call it “false orange” or “Indian orange”, while others call it “dye mulberry”. This fruit is considered inedible, as it contains toxins that can poison a person. However, despite this fact, there is a lot of talk about the fruit about its medicinal properties.

This raises a simple question: why? The fact is that the Adam's apple has qualities that positively affect the health of a sick person. So let's figure out what this fruit treats and what healing properties it has.

Where and how does it grow?

The place of origin of this representative of the mulberry family is South America. Only in the nineteenth century did the plant move to the European continent. At the same time, the inhabitants of Russia saw the intricate fruits for the first time. Bring them to Yalta. The trees on which maklura are far from dwarf. These are spreading and tall representatives of the flora.

If we talk about growth, they can easily grow up to two tens of meters in height. Moreover, in the first couple of years they reach a meter in height. Thanks to these characteristics, as well as its strength qualities, the plant fell in love with Europeans.

After all, they planted it as a green fence. And only in the last century, scientists proved that Adam's apple is an antibiotic created by nature. It can help overcome a whole host of ailments. Today you can find gardens with such plants in Uzbekistan, on Turkmen and Caucasian soil.

In our country, you are most likely to run into such thickets on the Crimean Peninsula. But you can also meet them in the Krasnodar region. This is not to say that the plant is very heat-loving, so gardeners can find it in Voronezh. And in general, this representative of the flora cannot be called particularly picky. Winds are not scary for him, nor is drought.

The root system is very solid, it penetrates quite deeply into the soil. Therefore, it makes sense to plant such a specimen where you need to strengthen the soil layer. The leaves are more than ten centimeters long and about seven centimeters wide. By autumn they turn yellow. In winter the leaves fall off. While the tree is young, it grows at lightning speed. But with age everything changes.

The buds of the tree are very small. Pale flowers are divided into two types: male inflorescences resemble clusters, while female ones are collected in round inflorescences. Maintenance is easy. So if your region is on the “allowed” list, then you should try your luck and plant a tree. All a mature tree requires is watering and pruning.

For sanitary purposes, trim the branches once a year. In order to form a crown, you need to pick up scissors every four years. You can buy ready-made seeds, keep them in the cold in winter, and in the spring plant them directly in open ground.

You can take a ripe fruit, cut it into several parts, and just dig it into the soil. Soon stems will sprout from these “pieces”. Juveniles need to be fed with fertilizers every twenty days.

Appearance and distribution area of ​​the Adam's apple

The orange maclura, on which the Adam's apple fruit grows, is a tree from the Mulberry family. Its maximum growth can reach up to 20 meters in length. This tree has a spreading crown that contains needles hidden in the leaves. Maclura flowers are small in size, light green, collected in earrings.

The tree significantly changes its appearance when 15-centimeter fruits with green or yellow-light green skin appear on it. The fruits are very similar to oranges. However, if you taste an Adam's apple, it will seem bitter and smell like a cucumber. Gloves are used when picking Adam's apple fruits, and their shelf life is up to 6 months.

The native country of orange mackerel is the United States, namely the central part of Texas. But maclura can also be found in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and the Caucasus. This tree also grows in Russia. It is found in Krasnodar, Stavropol, Crimea. Orange Maclura is capable of growing not only in arid climates, but also in harsh winter conditions.

Where is maclura used?

All parts of the maclura are recycled and actively used. The wood of this plant is very hard, durable, heavy and at the same time quite flexible. It is characterized by a beautiful golden-yellow hue and resistance to rotting. It is used for the production of furniture, sports and hunting bows. The quality of the bows is better than those made from English yew. However, due to the complexity of processing, the use of wood is limited.

Maclura leaves are used to feed silkworms, and the bark and roots of this tree are used to make yellow paint. In the USA, maklura is used to make products for controlling household pests and insects.

Adam's apple fruit

The Adam's apple contains a poisonous and sticky milky juice. It can also be seen on some parts of the tree on which it grows. And yet this fruit contains useful substances for humans. In its internal composition it resembles our mulberry.

Adam's apple helps with diseases of blood vessels, skin and heart. Adam's apple is also used to improve the functioning of the immune system and is beneficial for joints.

Healing ointments, tinctures and extracts are obtained from the fruits of maclura . The Adam's apple is especially popular in alternative medicine, since its role in conventional medicine has not yet been fully explored.

Interesting Facts

We have already talked about the strength of a tree trunk. So, thanks to this, furniture manufacturers fell in love with the material. Owners of such products note the good density of the wood, the appearance of such products is quite good, and they are also quite flexible.

It was for this reason that the natives once appreciated the material and began to use it for the manufacture of small arms - bows. This tradition has not gone away to this day. Athletes prefer such products during competitions.

The roots are also used. A coloring pigment is obtained from them. And the resin serves as the basis for a very good glue. If you decide to pick such a “Chinese orange” (another name for the fruit), then make sure that your hands are protected with gloves. After all, the peel is covered with mucus. It's sticky and oily. So it's not that easy to wash it off.

By the way, the fruit from the Maclura Adam's apple to make people feel bad after eating it only. Animals have no problems with this. For example, large-horned animals kill it without consequences, and the same goes for horses.

Thanks to its thorns, the plant replaced barbed wire for cattle breeders in the nineteenth century. Such a fence was enough to prevent the herds from moving beyond the designated territories. And in general, the estate could be easily protected from uninvited guests in the form of wild animals.

There is a substance in the tissues of fruits called alvaxantone. And its presence allows the fruit to cope with the larvae of various bugs and spiders. The Adam's apple has found its way into American cities . They repel insects with it. It turned out that the fruit acts like a repellent. Asians, on the other hand, use the product very prosaically - they play with it like a ball in football.

Compound

The composition of the “false orange” or Adam’s apple includes the following components:

• flavonoids,
• triterpene saponins,
• isoflavones,
• bile, fatty, and citric acids,
• sterols,
• sugar and pectins.

The main special feature of the Adam's apple is that this healthy fruit, which has medicinal properties, is very poisonous. As a result, before using medications based on it, a doctor’s consultation is required.

Medicinal properties

The healing effects of fruit pulp are determined by its composition. The fruits contain many powerful antioxidants that help the body resist various ailments. That is why maclura is an additional tool in eliminating cancer. The fruits also contain beneficial bile acids, saponin compounds, flavonoids, isoflavone substances, citric acid, and sterol.

Adam's apple in the human body:

• kills harmful microbes;
• prevents the development of allergies;
• prevents sclerotic changes in blood vessels;
• improves the activity of the cardiovascular system;
• stabilizes sugar in the bloodstream;
• regenerates cells;
• calms the nerves;
• heals wounds;
• prevents bleeding;
• actively fights harmful bacteria

What are the benefits of Adam's apple? With regular use of fruit products, metabolism is normalized, the immune system is strengthened, and recovery processes are activated. The fruit restores the elasticity of blood vessels, prevents the development of varicose veins, rheumatoid arthritis, and tumors. Fruits help eliminate inflammation inside the body and remove toxins from the body well.

Properties

• Thanks to the properties of Adam's apple, colds are treated . Medicines containing maclura are natural antibiotics. Thanks to this, they strengthen the immune system well and destroy harmful microorganisms.
• Due to the presence of flavonoids in its composition, Adam's apple is a powerful antioxidant . This, in turn, prevents the development of sclerosis in blood vessels. Flavonoids also have an anti-carcinogenic effect, have a positive effect on the functioning of the heart and strengthen the walls of the vascular system. It should be understood that all these effects have not been proven and may or may not occur during treatment, so simultaneous use of medications prescribed by a doctor is necessary.
• In small doses, Adam's apple poison can have a healing effect. It removes waste and toxins from the body that are harmful to the human body.

Read also: Device for the treatment of arthritis: features of the effect on joints, review of popular devices, indications and contraindications

• It has the property of helping to liquefy mucus and cough it up when coughing . Adam's apple contains saponins, which stimulate the body and help absorb nutrients.
• Maclura fruit also has an analgesic effect . It also normalizes metabolic processes in the body.
• Adam's apple has medicinal properties that are responsible for regeneration and wound healing . This fruit also has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and soothing effects.
• Helps restore joint mobility .
• Relieves swelling , provided that the main drug treatment is prescribed and the cause of the swelling is eliminated.

The properties of Adam's apple are used in alternative medicine for diseases associated with blood vessels, heart, joints, hernias, skin, nervous system, colds and even cancer. Such diseases include: radiculitis, osteochondrosis, gout, varicose veins, dermatitis, eczema, fibroids, polyarthritis, radiculitis, hypertension and partial paralysis after a stroke.

Properties of maclura

Everyone knows how healthy it is to eat mulberries. So, the same applies to this unusual apple, because the properties of maclura are identical to those of mulberries. The milky juice is full of fatty acid esters. The foliage of the tree is rich in citric acid, and the seeds are rich in fatty acids (one third of the composition).

The fruits contain a special enzyme. He has the power to break down proteins into their components. This quality is highly valued by cheese makers. It can be used in the meat processing industry and even in the brewing industry.

Pomiferin can also be added to the list of ingredients. It is able to compete with various vitamins as a powerful antioxidant. This product is a fighter against cancer cells. The principle of action here is this: the substance envelops the tumor, thereby cutting off its connections with the outside world. Accordingly, no nutrients are supplied to the affected area, and it cannot grow.

The drugs obtained from the product should become your ally in the fight against chronic fatigue, inflammation and pain. There are even several studies on this matter. True, they were not carried out in public. So official medicine has not yet appreciated all the advantages of the fruits.

But folklore says that there is an effect, and what an effect it is. And if you want to strengthen it, then other herbal “healers” can help. You can combine taking drugs with drinking vegetable juices - carrots or cabbage, for example.

How to use

There are many ways to use it in folk medicine. For skin diseases and lesions, an oil-based extract is used, which helps in the treatment of eczema, dermatitis, burns, wounds, scars and bruises.

In this case, it has healing and antibacterial properties .

To prepare the oil extract, you need to have two ripe and well-washed maclura fruits with you. They should be cut into strips and filled with a glass of vegetable oil. After this, the resulting consistency must be placed in a glass container and infused in a cool, dark room. After 10 days, the contents of the vessel should be strained from the cake and poured into a dark glass bottle.

The resulting cake will be useful for calluses, warts, fungi and boils.

For cardiovascular diseases, it is recommended to use tincture of Adam's apple fruit. It helps with hypertension, gout, fatigue and other diseases related to the heart and nervous system. However, taking the tincture in no way replaces drug treatment and does not increase survival rate for cardiac diseases. It also helps in the treatment of spinal hernia and joint pain, but provided that it is in addition to a complex of medications.

1. Method of using the tincture internally . To normalize the general state of health, patients with tumors are prescribed 3 drops a day in the morning, increasing the doses by one every week. That is, the second week 2 times 3 drops, the third - 3 times. In total, you need to take the medicine for a month, and after six months you can take it again. Do not forget to accurately monitor the dosage, as increasing it incorrectly can lead to deterioration in health or poisoning. The tincture should be drunk 30 minutes before the start of a meal, while dissolving it in water.
2. The next way to use Adam's apple is to rub the drug into the affected areas . You need to dip a cotton swab into the tincture and then wipe the problem skin. After completing the procedure, you need to wash your hands yourself, and wrap the area smeared with the medicine with a blanket, while giving the patient a rest. This treatment method is best done before bedtime. If a person has joint pain or bruises, then he needs to apply a compress. If the patient has a hernia, rub the tincture three times a day onto the problem area. In cases where a person suffers from eczema, mastopathy or prostate adenoma, two-hour lotions are used. They are also used in the removal of warts and wen.

Read also: Swelling of the knee joint: causes and treatment

Creams and ointments are used in cases where joints hurt , there are sprains, and hemorrhoids are present. When creating them, you need Adam's apple pulp preserved in alcohol. To do this, mix the pulp with vegetable oil or pork fat in a one to one ratio and beat the resulting mixture with a blender. The ointment should not be heated over a fire, because it may lose its healing properties. Also, external products with maclura fruits are created using a pharmaceutical base.

To obtain such a mixture, you need to mix a glycerin or zinc base with a tincture of the fruit. After this, the resulting ointment should be spread on the affected area. It helps with the healing of wounds and various skin diseases.

Medicinal recipes from maclura

Let's start with the joint preparation. To prepare it, you need to arm yourself with ripe “apples”. Their pulp needs to be turned into pulp. The easiest way to do this is with a grater. It's better if you take the middle one. The second ingredient is alcohol, or moonshine.

It should be seventy percent. The proportion of alcohol and pulp should be 50/50. For the maclura tincture to be ready, you will have to wait a couple of weeks. During this time, the fruit will transfer all its healing properties to the liquid.

You can put the resulting composition into circulation not only if you have problems with the joints, but also when your muscles ache. The list of these includes rheumatism, arthritis, and gout. To do this, apply the resulting product to sore spots, like a rubbing.

There is a medicinal recipe for Adam's apple tincture , which should not be smeared, but drunk. The ingredients will be the same as described above. But you need to reduce the alcohol level to forty percent, i.e. Regular vodka will do. And one more nuance - you need to wait not 14 days, but thirty. They make this drug to get rid of cancer.

There is a special scheme for its use. For the first three weeks, you need to consume three drops of the mixture once a day. In the fourth week, these same three drops should be drunk three times a day. During the fifth week, you need to increase the number of drops you drink to 30 per day. But this must be done gradually, increasing the quantity, one for each dose.

When you reach the desired number, start walking in the opposite direction. Those. First, reduce the dose, and then the number of doses. But there are healers who are against this regimen. They argue that gradually increasing the pace of treatment gives parasites a head start. They manage to adapt to new conditions. Therefore, some folk doctors prefer to start the fight against the disease with loading doses.

use the medicinal properties of Adam's apple in the form of an ointment. It is praised by those who suffered from hemorrhoids. To do this, you need to get lard, but not ordinary lard, but interior lard. I don't use it raw. To begin with, the fat should be melted in a frying pan. Then it will become viscous. The basis of the workpiece is the fruit, it needs to be cut. Don't make it too small.

Just right there will be slices no thicker than one centimeter. And then, like a casserole, place a layer of fruit, pour lard over it, and so on several times. The next step is very important. You will need to seal the resulting composition tightly. And in this form send it to a water bath. Here you need patience, because the raw materials will take a day to steam.

You can make candles from already mixed ointment. To do this, just add heated wax to the composition. And, without waiting for the mixture to become colder, you need to package it in pre-prepared molds. If you don’t have any ready-made ones, make them yourself from regular foil.

Among grandmother's recipes you can also find decoctions. True, what you need to use here is not the fruit, but the green part of the plant. A glass of water needs to be brought to a boil on the stove. A couple of tablespoons (tablespoons) of foliage should be sent there. And immediately turn off the fire. This is a very “quick” recipe. After all, you just have to wait a few minutes until this “compote” cools down, and you’re done.

For joints

Maclyura has proven itself in the treatment of joints. However, it should be remembered that it does not eliminate the disease itself. Thanks to Adam's apple tincture, you can relieve pain and restore joint mobility.

To create the tincture, you should take only ripe fruits that have a slightly yellowish tint. They should be collected with gloves and no earlier than October.

1. To make a tincture based on maclura, take ripe, washed Adam's apple fruits. Crumble them with a grater, pour vodka or alcohol in a 1:1 ratio.
2. Then take small jars and fill them completely with the resulting consistency. This is necessary so that the medicine does not lose its medicinal properties.
3. Make sure that no air penetrates into the container with the tincture and do not forget to turn it over every day.
4. To prevent skin burns on the patient, add fat to the healing product. Vegetable oil does this job well.
5. To prevent the tincture from becoming very viscous, add pork fat.
6. The resulting product should be stored in a cool, dark place. It is best to age Adam's apple jars for a year, but if you need it faster, they can be used after a few weeks.
7. If you want to strain the tincture, be sure to do it through cheesecloth. From the cake obtained in the process, you can create a healing ointment. The shelf life of the tincture is 10 years.

Adam's apple compresses are most suitable for sore joints The tincture is rubbed into the problem area of ​​the skin and covered with a cloth to improve the warming effect. This compress should be left for 2 hours or overnight.

How to treat joints with Adam's apple?

Tinctures and ointments are prepared from Adam's apple for treatment:

1. Recipe No. 1 . Mix ripe fruit juice (five parts) with vodka 50 degrees (1 part). After several days in the container, the liquid will separate into two components: aqueous alcoholic liquid and milky juice. A water-alcohol liquid should be taken orally.
2. Recipe No. 2 . Chop the maklura fruits and place them in a jar to the top, add 50-proof vodka and keep in a dark and cool place for 6 months. Since some useful components are destroyed under the influence of oxygen, the finished tincture must be stored in fully filled containers.
3. Recipe No. 3 . Chop young twigs with leaves and fill them with 70 percent alcohol. Strain after two weeks. This product, diluted with boiled water, is used to treat damaged skin.
4. Recipe No. 4 . Grate the Adam's apple, add alcohol or vodka, leave for 12 days, shaking every day. Strain and rub into sore joints overnight.

Recipes for taking Adam's apple internally

A tincture based on maclura fruits is taken orally. The process of preparing it takes a long time, but it has excellent medicinal properties.

The method for creating a tincture is simple:

1. Wash the ripe fruit thoroughly, using a brush to remove any dirt and sticky juice from the skin.
2. Cut 3 fruits clean from dirt into pieces.
3. Take a glass vessel and put the chopped stuff there. Then pour vodka or alcohol inside.
4. Infuse and store in a cool place, protected from light.

This tincture can be used after at least 2 months, however, it will become most useful only after six months.

Tincture based on Adam's apple can be used for diseases associated with the heart or blood vessels. It also helps strengthen the immune system. There are no guarantees of a positive effect from such treatment, so it is mandatory to combine maclura tinctures with the main treatment prescribed by the doctor, especially for cancer!

The healing properties of maclura, or Who can the Adam's apple help?

It happens that our eyes deceive us: you look at the fruit and see the painfully familiar orange, only unripe and greenish, but in reality it is maclura. You can’t eat it, but you can treat joints with it. I was inspired to write more about maclura fruits by a wonderful recipe sent by our reader Yulia. In this article, you will learn what maclura is, why it can be confused with an orange, and how it should be used correctly for medicinal purposes.

Maclura fruits can be stored in a dark, cool place for 6 months and do not lose their healing properties

Orange, not orange!

I remember as a child, when my parents and I went on vacation at the seaside, my grandmother asked me to bring her as a gift not persimmons or dates, which were a traditional souvenir from the Caucasus, but a mysterious Adam’s apple. Now I know that this is just one of the many names of the fruit of the orange maclura pomifera, but then the task seemed impossible and almost fabulous - like living water or rejuvenating apples. Grandmother suffered from rheumatic pain in the joints, firmly believed in the healing power of maclura and... was not far from the truth.

It can be difficult to distinguish a ripe maclura fruit from a ripe orange

Orange Maclura is a tree from the Mulberry family. North America is considered its homeland, but artificial plantings are widespread in the Krasnodar Territory, Crimea and Central Asia. The tree can reach 20 meters in height. Maclura leaves secrete specific substances that repel insects. The fruits are 10-15 cm balls, similar in appearance to a wrinkled orange, ripen in September-October. If you cut the maclura fruit, its smell is reminiscent of a fresh cucumber, but it is not edible at all.

The branches have large, sharp thorns that can easily injure you when harvesting.

The first to discover the new tree was the Scottish naturalist William Maclure, in whose honor it received its official name. Also, due to their external resemblance to the fruits of an orange tree, the fruits of maclura are often called “false orange” or “Indian orange”. And due to the fact that the fruits cannot be eaten, but they are very tempting to do so, they are also given the name “Adam’s apple” (a reference to the myth of the forbidden fruit, which the first man on Earth could not resist).

What can maclura help with?

Official medicine is still in the process of studying the beneficial properties of maclura, but scientists have already noticed that its fruits contain a large amount of flavonoids, organic acids and saponins. As for traditional medicine, herbalists and homeopaths have long used maclura fruits as raw materials for the production of various ointments, creams, tinctures and extracts to combat inflammatory diseases of the joints, for cosmetic purposes and for the treatment of various skin diseases.

Maclura tincture

An alcoholic tincture of maclura fruit is used to treat arthritis, osteochondrosis and gout.

Any preparations from maclura should be stored out of the reach of children, as they are toxic if taken orally

500 g of fruits must be crushed (it is better to use a disposable grater for this), pour 500 ml of medical ethyl alcohol into them and leave for 14 days in a dark, warm place, shaking occasionally. When the color of the tincture turns ocher, it is considered ready and can be used as a rub for problem joints at night.

Contraindications

The Adam's apple fruit is toxic. Before preparing ointments and tinctures, you must obtain approval from your doctor. In addition, treatments based on this fruit are mainly made with alcohol. And therefore there are a number of contraindications to its use:

• It is strictly forbidden for lactating and pregnant women to take Adam's apple, because it is toxic, contains alcohol and has not been fully studied.
• Maclura fruits contain sucrose, so it is unsuitable for patients with diabetes.
• When taking other antibiotics and alcohol, since this fruit is incompatible with them and puts excessive stress on the liver.
• When a patient undergoes chemotherapy.
• Persons under 18 years of age are prohibited from consuming any medicine containing Adam's apple.
• The patient has no gallbladder.
• For allergic diseases to fruit.

Read also: What causes arthritis flare-ups?

The medicinal properties of Adam's apple can have a positive effect on human health if consumed in moderation . It alleviates the disease and improves the patient’s well-being.

Description of the plant

South America is considered the homeland of maklura, but despite this, the plant can be found in Africa, Crimea, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. The tree can reach a height of 20 meters, the crown is spreading, the trunk is wide with numerous cracks.

The fruits are characterized by:

• large sizes (about 15 cm in diameter);
• light green shade (unripe), orange (ripe);
• round shape;
• wrinkled skin.

The pulp of the fruit contains a sticky substance that has a cucumber aroma. In some ways, the Adam's apple even resembles an orange, hence the names: “false orange,” Chinese and Indian orange.

Harvesting takes place in mid-autumn. It is advisable to do this with gloves on, since the maclura fruits are also sticky on the outside and stain your hands too much.

The chemical composition of the fruit is in many ways similar to mulberry, but unlike it, Adam's apple is not edible. Orange maclura contains a large number of different compounds. Flavonoids are especially valued because they have an antioxidant effect. Of these, it is worth highlighting kaempferol, which has an anti-carcinogenic and anti-sclerotic effect. Isoflovones (maximum osaiine content) – strengthen vascular walls and support the cardiovascular system. There are phytosterols that are converted into vitamins: K, D, A, E. Maclura juice also contains fatty acids and pectin substances.

All components complement each other and serve as a good immunomodulator, a powerful natural broad-spectrum antibiotic.

Adam's apple: reviews

Many patients who took medicines based on Adam's apple believe that they helped them heal the complications of various diseases. These include joint diseases, skin lesions, heart and nervous system problems.

Patients treated with “false orange” tinctures and ointments also noted that they act as sedatives and pain relievers , and also destroy harmful microorganisms.

Many doctors advise using maclura for women's diseases. This may be mastopathy, a cyst or uterine fibroids. They claim that this fruit has medicinal properties that have a positive effect on health in these cases.

Can it be eaten?

There is a clear answer here: when it comes to fresh fruits, absolutely not. People do not die from using them, but they get quite severe poisoning, and with it all the symptoms (vomiting, diarrhea). Therefore, use only in the form of various tinctures, rubs, creams, etc.

But keep in mind that even if you do everything as you should, you cannot do without liver support. After all, the fetus does not have the most beneficial effect on the organ. So supporting or cleaning preparations will be very helpful.

Useful properties of the plant

The medicinal properties of maclura fruits are used in various branches of medicine. Biologically active substances:

• fatty acids – 30%;
• citric acid – 13%;
• pectin – 10%;
• flavonoids – 7%;
• saponins;
• micro-, macroelements.

Medicinal properties of maclura fruits:

• anticarcinogenic;
• antisclerotic;
• regenerating;
• immunostimulating;
• bactericidal;
• sedative;
• painkiller;
• healing;
• anti-inflammatory.

The healing properties of maclura, or Who can the Adam's apple help?

It happens that our eyes deceive us: you look at the fruit and see the painfully familiar orange, only unripe and greenish, but in reality it is maclura. You can’t eat it, but you can treat joints with it. I was inspired to write more about maclura fruits by a wonderful recipe sent by our reader Yulia. In this article, you will learn what maclura is, why it can be confused with an orange, and how it should be used correctly for medicinal purposes.

Maclura fruits can be stored in a dark, cool place for 6 months and do not lose their healing properties

Orange, not orange!

I remember as a child, when my parents and I went on vacation at the seaside, my grandmother asked me to bring her as a gift not persimmons or dates, which were a traditional souvenir from the Caucasus, but a mysterious Adam’s apple. Now I know that this is just one of the many names of the fruit of the orange maclura pomifera, but then the task seemed impossible and almost fabulous - like living water or rejuvenating apples. Grandmother suffered from rheumatic pain in the joints, firmly believed in the healing power of maclura and... was not far from the truth.

It can be difficult to distinguish a ripe maclura fruit from a ripe orange

Orange Maclura is a tree from the Mulberry family. North America is considered its homeland, but artificial plantings are widespread in the Krasnodar Territory, Crimea and Central Asia. The tree can reach 20 meters in height. Maclura leaves secrete specific substances that repel insects. The fruits are 10-15 cm balls, similar in appearance to a wrinkled orange, ripen in September-October. If you cut the maclura fruit, its smell is reminiscent of a fresh cucumber, but it is not edible at all.

The branches have large, sharp thorns that can easily injure you when harvesting.

The first to discover the new tree was the Scottish naturalist William Maclure, in whose honor it received its official name. Also, due to their external resemblance to the fruits of an orange tree, the fruits of maclura are often called “false orange” or “Indian orange”. And due to the fact that the fruits cannot be eaten, but they are very tempting to do so, they are also given the name “Adam’s apple” (a reference to the myth of the forbidden fruit, which the first man on Earth could not resist).

What can maclura help with?

Official medicine is still in the process of studying the beneficial properties of maclura, but scientists have already noticed that its fruits contain a large amount of flavonoids, organic acids and saponins. As for traditional medicine, herbalists and homeopaths have long used maclura fruits as raw materials for the production of various ointments, creams, tinctures and extracts to combat inflammatory diseases of the joints, for cosmetic purposes and for the treatment of various skin diseases.

Maclura tincture

An alcoholic tincture of maclura fruit is used to treat arthritis, osteochondrosis and gout.

Any preparations from maclura should be stored out of the reach of children, as they are toxic if taken orally

500 g of fruits must be crushed (it is better to use a disposable grater for this), pour 500 ml of medical ethyl alcohol into them and leave for 14 days in a dark, warm place, shaking occasionally. When the color of the tincture turns ocher, it is considered ready and can be used as a rub for problem joints at night.

Maclura extract

Maclura extract (the milky juice found inside the fruit) helps well with eczema and non-allergic dermatitis.

The cut maclura fruit is similar in structure to another exotic fruit, pineapple.

For this purpose, it is necessary to chop the fruit into pieces of 1-2 cm, squeeze the juice out of them through gauze and add medical ethyl alcohol to it in a ratio of 1:4. After 2 days, “stratification” of the liquids will occur. The milky juice that appears on top must be carefully separated, and the aqueous-alcoholic fraction must be filtered. Pour into different containers with tight-fitting lids and store in the refrigerator. The milky juice is diluted with boiled water in a 1:1 ratio and used as a lotion on the affected areas of the skin 2 times a day for 10-15 minutes. And the water-alcohol part is suitable for warming compresses for radiculitis.