It’s a fruit with large antioxidant features that, besides its nutritional contribution, it has additional effects that are beneficial for health, as it’s used as antidiarrheal, anti-inflammatory, healing, digestive, expectorant, diuretic and purgative agent.
The organic and the recovering of ‘what’s ours’ are concepts we are repeatedly listening and reading on mass media and they point to having a better quality of life but, What does our body need to nourish in a healthy way? What are the superfoods we must consume?
Maki (Aristotelia chilensis) is a plant native to Chile and Argentina, distributed in our country from Araucanía to Aysén regions.
Academic and nutritionist from the Catholic University of the Holy Conception, Gisela Bittner, specified that maki berries are extremely rich in antioxidants, molecules that neutralise free radicals, harmful components produced by the organism, toxin exposure and radiation.
She added that maki helps fight changes associated to the age, such as damages on cardiovascular and nervous systems, weakness in immunological functions and carcinogenous changes in cells.
She also affirmed that alternatives to fresh consumption allow to get free of the dependence on produce seasonality, through the production of frozen pulp, infusions or yoghurt, which can be consumed in most of the year.
“Processed products can be attractive to people who don’t consume fresh fruits or consume them in low quantities. In this way, we encourage children to consume antioxidants that will be beneficial for preventing some diseases typical of the contemporary lifestyle,” detailed the specialist.
Arraigo ancestral
María Isabel Manzur, researcher at Chile Sustentable and PhD in Zoology from the University of Liverpool, England, assured that maki fruits were consumed by Mapuche people since prior to Spaniards arrival, so there is abundant historical documentation from ancient historians about its traditional and ceremonial use.
“The tree was called clon and the fruit was called maki, Mapudungun term that was also called maquei, queldrón, quelón, queldón, kalún, koelón, kulón, maque or muke and, according to chronicles by Abbé Molina (1810), local people ate it with pleasure and made a tasty liqueur from it,” he commented.
He emphasised that the Mapuche ate raw berries and preserved dry ones. “Maki maze drink was very appreciated and it was called tecu, treco or trecu, words derived from Mapundungun thecu or thecú,” detailed Manzur.
Threatened species
The specialist from Chile Sustentable added another vital element, which is the threat suffered by this ancestral fruit from so-called biopiracy.
“Maki is being taken by Chilean universities that are requesting intellectual property rights. The University of Talca and Fundación Chile have filed three breeder’s right requests for three maki varieties (brunette, dark pearl and new moon), published in the Official Journal on 15 June 2016,” specified the scientist.
Manzur explained that these patenting requests make an act of biopiracy and an expropriation of a cultural heritage from Mapuche people, as a breeder’s right “…is a type of patent on a vegetative species, where exclusive rights are granted,” she warned.
In order to protect maki from improper appropriation, the Maki Defeence Coalition was established, which filed legal oppositions at the Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG) and the National Institute of Intellectual Property (INAPI) against these requests, counting on a large support from people.
Properties and uses of maki
Comes from white flowers producing the edible fruit. Also known as the Chilean wineberry, as it’s used for adding colour to wines.
The fruit is used for making jelly and black or blue dyes. Berries are eaten as food or drunk as juice. Daily doses of 200 to 1.500 mg are recommended.
Some benefits for the cardiac system have been detected through its anthocyanins.
It helps inhibit lipid accumulation and the HIV virus, to prevent visual problems, and it acts against some types of human leukemia and colon carcinoma.
Chilean investigations have determined that its juice has higher phenic acid content and higher antioxidant capacities in comparison to blackberry, blueberry, cranberry, raspberry and strawberry juice.
Dust from burnt dry leaves is used as wound healing. Fruits and also underground parts are eaten as food.
In Chiloé, it’s used by mixing it with blackberries to ease sore throat. They can also be used to make fresh juice with sugar and water, or used dry and powdered.
Its wood is used for handcrafted works, with it being fragile and resounding, and useful for making musical instruments.