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Barberry: useful and medicinal properties. Video
Oblong red berries with a wonderful aroma and pleasant sour taste, which have received recognition from chefs and pastry chefs, are far from the only advantage of barberry. Its excellent appearance and unpretentiousness to the soil make it a popular ornamental shrub, and its unique chemical composition is a remedy for the treatment of many diseases.
Barberry: beneficial properties
Features of common barberry
Barberry is a deciduous, thorny shrub that is typically less than a few meters in height. The color of the branches varies as the plant ages, from shades of yellow to gray. During flowering, the plant emits a rather strong aroma. Ripening of berries begins in July and lasts until October. The fruits of common barberry are characterized by a bright red color, sour taste and juicy pulp.
In the wild, barberry can be found in the forest-steppes of Ukraine and Russia, on the Crimean peninsula and the Caucasus. Dry and light forest edges, lawns, mountain slopes and river gravels are the favorite habitat of barberry.
The cultivation of barberry is carried out for the following purposes:
– obtaining medicinal raw materials; – using as a decorative material; – creating hedges; – using berries in cooking.
Internal wealth of barberry
The main components of the shrub are alkaloids: columbamine, jatroricin, berberine, palmitine and others (there are at least 10 of them in the plant). 14% of the internal structure of barberry are fruit acids: – tartaric; – fumaric; – coffee; – malic (its content is especially high); – succinic; – chlorogenic.
Barberry berries contain ascorbic acid, sugars, tannins, retinol, phenolic compounds and pectins. There are about a dozen trace elements necessary to normalize the general condition of the body in barberry: calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, silicon, manganese and others.
An unusual feature of barberry fruits is the complete absence of fats and proteins in their composition. Barberry is a pure carbohydrate. Its caloric content is about 30 kcal / 100 g.
Do not think that the calorie content of barberry berries and the popular barberry-based sweets are the same. In fact, it is 10 times more, due to the high sugar content.
The healing properties of barberry
Common barberry has numerous beneficial properties, including:
– choleretic; – anti-inflammatory; – bactericidal; – analgesic; – hemostatic; – antispasmodic; – antipyretic; – antitumor.
For diseases of the liver, gallbladder and bile ducts, as well as for various forms of hepatitis, a decoction of barberry leaves is used. Due to its good choleretic effect, this broth is recommended for people suffering from cholecystitis. A decoction from the roots of barberry helps to improve the outflow of bile, relieve inflammation and relieve pain.
Pregnant women with toxicosis use a decoction of dried fruits and leaves of barberry, which significantly improve the general condition of a woman. The beneficial properties of the decoction and tincture of the leaves are pronounced for indigestion, inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, chronic diarrhea, spasms, gastrointestinal bleeding, dysentery and peptic ulcer disease.
In order to alleviate the symptoms of fever, reduce fever in pneumonia, tuberculosis, cough and pleurisy, a decoction of barberry leaves is used. Medicines based on the bark, root or leaves of barberry have a positive effect on heart function and blood pressure.
There are frequent cases when an infusion and a decoction from the roots of a bush is quite successfully used as a diuretic for the prevention of diseases of the bladder, kidneys and urolithiasis. Barberry juice improves appetite. It is drunk as a vitamin drink.
Eating fresh berries is effective for hemorrhoids, stomach ulcers and duodenal ulcers. In addition, the fruits of barberry help to increase immunity. To alleviate the inflammatory process of the oral cavity and gums, the infusion of berries is used as a rinse. To relieve inflammation of the female genital organs, traditional medicine recommends using a decoction of barberry.
Any funds based on barberry are contraindicated in children under 12 years of age.
Both dried and ripe fresh barberry berries perfectly complement meat and fish dishes, they are used to prepare sauces and marinades for barbecue. Young leaves of common barberry are considered an excellent substitute for sorrel, since they contain a large amount of vitamin C. In early spring, you can prepare magnificent green cabbage soup and delicious refreshing salads from the leaves of the shrub.
In Asian cuisine, barberry is often used as a delicious seasoning for pilaf. Barberry juice is rightfully considered a worthy alternative to lemon juice. Jam, jelly, jelly, marmalade from the fruits of this plant have an amazing taste. Kvass made from barberry quickly quenches thirst. Barberry wines and liqueurs have a distinctive flavor and aroma.