All berries are useful. And what do you know about bird cherry? Its fruits are a little exotic for many, despite the fact that this large shrub is quite common in the territory of our country. And the fruits of common( black) or red bird cherry are useful for many diseases, and this is just an excellent ingredient for various recipes. We invite you to get acquainted with berries of bird cherry: how they look, what they taste, for what they are applied.
Wild cherry fruits
Small dark bird cherry berries( the photo is located below) ripen in early August. Collect them easily enough by hand. It is best to choose for this dry weather and evening or morning time.
Collected berries should be processed within four hours after collection. Store them in a cool and dry place. Can be frozen in a freezer, in a special container. The shelf life of berries is from three to five years.
Cherry berries( photos show them clearly) are quite sweet. Although not yet fully ripened fruit will be a bit tart. Therefore it is recommended to eat already completely ripe berries.
Why use?
Cherry berries are rarely used in unprocessed raw form. They are subjected to various treatments, resulting in:
- cherry jam, which can be used in a snack with tea;
- dried berries, which are then used for cooking compotes;
- decoction or compote;
- flour from dried berries, which can then be added to the dough or even make a filling for pies, cookies, cakes and so on;
- medical infusions used for medical purposes.
What is in berries?
Bird cherry( berries) is a unique product in its composition. The list of elements and substances contained in bird cherry fruits is presented in the table.
| Ingredients | Quantity per hundred grams of berries |
| Fat | - |
| Proteins | 8.44 g |
| Carbohydrates | 16.87 g |
| Vitamin C | 200 mg |
| Potassium | 13.40 mg |
| Calcium | 2.2 mg |
| Magnesium | 22g |
| Iron | 0.04 mg |
| Manganese | 1.2 μg |
| Copper | 25 g |
| Cobalt | 7 μg |
| Chromium | 0.28 μg |
| Aluminum | 27.40 μg |
| Selenium | 0.05 μg |
| Nickel | 3, 08 μg |
| Strontium | 0.8 μg |
| Zinc | 15.6 g |
| Lead | 1.8 μg |
| Iodine | 0.42 mg |
Also inlodah bird cherry found:
- citric acid;
- malic acid;
- almond oil;
- glycosides;
- provitamin A;
- tannins( up to fifteen percent).
The energy value of a hundred grams of bird cherries is a hundred calories.
Cherry berries: useful properties
Cherry fruits, thanks to their medicinal properties, are widely used in folk medicine. Curative effect is the bark, flowers and fruits of cherry. The flowers are harvested in May and dried. The fruits are also dried. This helps to use their healing properties for a long period.
Decoction of berries of bird cherry helps:
- for problems with the gastrointestinal tract( upset stomach, diarrhea);
- for increasing the potency of men;
- for dental pain. Bird cherry also helps to normalize the metabolism. For these purposes it is better not to take berries, but flowers, boiled with boiling water. Proportions: 1 to 1. It takes thirty minutes to insist.
Cherry berries are also used for the treatment of other diseases:
- rheumatism;
- colds;
- fever;
- gout;
- conjunctivitis( rinsed eye infusion);
- stomatitis and gingivitis( infusion rinse the mouth);
- sore throats( infusion caresses the throat);
- with various catarrhal diseases more often berries of red bird cherry;
- ulcers, wounds, which are suppurated and inflamed( apply juice berries).
The use of bird cherry and products from it( for example, jam) will help you strengthen the walls of blood vessels, get rid of nervous tension, calm the nervous system.
And women can make facial masks from bird cherry flour. They help to tone up the skin and refresh it.
Medicinal and culinary recipes from wild berries of wild cherry
Tincture in dysentery:
- one tablespoon of dried berries is poured in one glass of boiled water;
- everything is put on fire for five to ten minutes;
- mixture is set aside in a dark place for two hours.
Eat half the glass thirty minutes before eating.
Tincture in disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and to restore potency:
- bird cherry( berries) - one and a half kilograms;
- boiled water - one glass.
All mix and put in a dark place for twenty minutes, so that the broth is infused. After this, the infusion can be drunk two tablespoons three to four times a day.
Kissel from bird cherry: boil one glass of berries in four glasses of water, along with two tablespoons of sugar and one starch.
Cherry jam:
- the first recipe: berries are filled with sugar, proceeding from proportions 1 to 1, and are set aside for twelve hours, after which the juice merges, boils, pours back into the berries, which are then cooked to the state of complete readiness;
- the second recipe: a sugar syrup is made( one and a half kilograms of sugar and one or two glasses of water), then they are filled with berries of bird cherry( one kilogram), the mixture is cooked until ready.
Cherry cake:
- to grind the fruits of bird cherry( one full glass of bird cherry flour is needed);
- the resulting flour is bred in one glass of warm milk;
- mixture is infused for three to four hours;
- one egg is rubbed with one glass of sugar, then add a teaspoon of soda and a mixture of milk and bird cherry flour;
- knead the dough and bake in the oven for thirty minutes;
- on readiness take out a cake from an oven;Cooled cakes can be cut and smeared with sour cream, oil or other cream.
Contraindications
For all its useful properties and a fairly wide list of diseases for the treatment and prevention of which fruits are used, bird cherry is contraindicated in women who are breast-feeding or nursing a child, and also have problems with conception.
Also excessive consumption of berries and products from them can cause a strong poisoning of the body. To inflict damage to health can also infusions and decoctions of berries, which are stored for a long time. To reduce the amount of bird cherry consumption to a minimum is recommended for people prone to allergic reactions.
Such precautions are associated with the fact that in the berry cherry bones contains the hydrocyanic acid harmful to the human body( the result of the decomposition of the substance called amygdalin).Therefore, do not abuse the fruits of bird cherry and the products containing it.
We wish you good health!