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Ethnobotany ofpru, a traditional Cuban refreshment

Etnobotánica del Pru, un refresco tradicional de Cuba. Gouania polygama (Jacq.)

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Abstract

Urban, Smilax domingensis Willd., and Pimenta dioica Merr., are three species widely used within Cuban ethnobotanical traditions and practices. Pru is a traditional refreshment and medicinal drink produced by their decoction and fermentation with sugar. It is claimed to have hypotensive, stomachic, depurative, and diuretic properties. Pru has long been confined to a number of traditional villages in eastern Cuba, and its origin may be traced back to the ethnobotanical knowledge of French-Haitian people that migrated to Cuba from the end of the 1700s. With the economic crisis of the early 1990s that resulted in the disappearance of industrial soft drinks and in the search for new income sources, pru spread across almost the entire island. This has resulted in the commoditization of the drink and related traditional knowledge, and possibly in increasing pressure on the species’ wild populations.

Resumen

Urban, Smilax domingensis Willd. y Pimenta dioica Merr., son tres de las especies más utilizadas en la cultura etnobotánica de Cuba y de ellas se elabora el pru. El pru es una bebida tradicional, refrescante y medicinal con propiedades hipotensivas, estomaquicas, depurativas y diureticas, que se obtiene del cocimiento y la fermentación con azúcar de estas tres plantas. El pru ha sido por mucho tiempo una estricta tradición familiar del oriente cubano. Su origen está posiblemente en la sabiduría y en las tradiciones de los Francos-Haitianos que migraron a Cuba a partir del final del 1700. Durante la crisis economica de los años 90, debido a lafalta de bebidas industriales y a la búsqueda de fuentes de ingreso alternativas por la población cubana, el pru se ha difundido casi en toda Cuba. Esta difusión comporta una modificación de los conocimientos tradicionales sobre la bebida y las plantas y posiblemente una presión sobre las poblaciones silvestres de las especies utilizadas.

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  1. Gabriele Volpato, Laboratorio di Agroecologia ed Etnobiologia, Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Padova, via U. Bassi, 58/b, 35121, Padova, Italia

    Gabriele Volpato

  2. CIMAC, Centro de Investigaciones de Medio Ambiente de Camagüey, Camagüey, Cuba

    Daimy Godínez

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Volpato, G., Godínez, D. Ethnobotany ofpru, a traditional Cuban refreshment. Econ Bot 58, 381–395 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1663/0013-0001(2004)058[0381:EOPATC]2.0.CO;2

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