Alternative Uses of Fruit
Over the years, humans have found alternative uses for fruit, aside from eating and composting. Ancient cultures used to make instruments out of them, with gourds being the most common fruit used to make music. The calabash, for example, was used to make maracas and drums. A few people have carried these traditions to modern times. Other common fruit based products we can find today in the mainstream market include teas, dyes, moisturizers, and makeup, made from walnuts, sumac, mulberry and cherry,
Fruits are also used in medicine. As an example, scientists have been able to extract codeine and morphine from the opium poppy. This fruit also contains theabaine, important for the synthesis of another medication, oxycodone. (1)
Coconut is considered a multi-use fruit. It can be drank, eaten, and used to derive natural fibers for mattresses, insulation, and floor tiles. The shell of the coconut, as well as the dried gourds, is useful to make bird houses, instruments, cups, and souvenirs. Some fruits, like bayberries, provide wax that is used to make candles. Some home owners use cucumbers and oranges to repel cockroaches. (2)
As a motif, fruit is used in every imaginable form of art, from music to sculptures. It has been represented in cartoons, paintings, clothing, and toys. They are also used as essential images for marketing and branding campaigns, the most famous, of course, is the apple.
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Origins of Fruit Culture
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The Corruption of Fruit
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Sources:
(1 & 2) https://ic.steadyhealth.com/different-uses-for-fruits
