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Viburnum is a frequent guest in our gardens. This shrub decorates home gardens with abundant flowering, lush greenery and pleases, albeit not very tasty, but very useful berries. Bright red viburnum berries have long been valued for their medicinal properties. They are used in cooking, and boldly harvested for the winter, because it is in the cold season that viburnum can come in handy more than ever. We will talk about the benefits, possible contraindications and how harvesting viburnum for the winter can be carried out, and we will talk in detail later in the section.
Kalina: benefits and contraindications
Red viburnum is sung by poets in their creations, despite the special aroma and very specific taste. But the popularity of viburnum is justified not by taste or aesthetic qualities, but by its properties. Kalina contains in its composition a huge amount of various vitamins and trace elements that have a beneficial effect on the work of the entire human body. In folk medicine, the following properties of these berries are especially noted:
- A huge amount of vitamin C has an immunostimulating effect on the human body, which is especially important for accelerating recovery.
- Coumarin in combination with vitamin K has a pronounced hemostatic effect.
- Berries calm the nervous system and normalize blood pressure.
- Tannins and phenolcarboxylic acids of a fresh product normalize the functioning of the digestive tract.
- Reception of viburnum is effective in the fight against atherosclerosis, since it does not allow the formation of cholesterol plaques.
Based on the above indications, it is possible to single out those cases when viburnum cannot be eaten:
- woman’s pregnancy;
- increased acidity of the stomach;
- low blood pressure;
- increased blood coagulation.
Useful viburnum is harvested from the shrub with the onset of the first frost, although its ripening occurs in September. Low temperatures deprive the berries of astringency and bitterness, making the taste sweet and sour. Having collected viburnum, it is worth taking care of its winter storage, because its immunostimulating properties will surely become essential during the spread of flu and colds.
Easy ways to store
Many different goodies can be prepared from viburnum: jam, jam, juice, tincture, syrup, jam, and more. Such blanks require time and certain knowledge. Some housewives harvest viburnum in extremely simple ways using freezing or drying.
The freezing method is good if the household has a spacious freezer. It is recommended to prepare the berry as follows:
- separate viburnum from twigs and rinse;
- sprinkle the berries on a clean cloth or paper towel so that the water is glass;
- put a fresh product on a small baking sheet in a thin layer;
- put the berries in the freezer;
- after complete freezing, pour the viburnum into a bag and store in the freezer.
This method is perhaps the simplest. Freezing viburnum does not require much time or special knowledge, while the berry retains all its beneficial properties. You can use the product for the preparation of compotes, fruit drinks.
In the case when the volume of the freezer is limited, but you still want to save the viburnum, then you can resort to the drying method. It is recommended to dry the berries as follows:
- Without picking the fruit from the twig, the berries are dried at room conditions with good ventilation for a week.
- Dry the bunches in the oven at a temperature of +45-+55.
- Pick the fruits from the branches and pour into a cloth bag.
- Store the workpiece in a dry place with good ventilation.
Dried viburnum berries can be used to make tea, compote, decoction, infusion, tincture. For example, there is a good infusion recipe that will help get rid of coughs and colds. To prepare the infusion, you need only 10 g of dried berries to brew in a glass of boiling water. After a few minutes, the remedy can be drunk as a medicine. The daily norm for an adult is 1 tbsp. this tool.
Recipes for delicious winter preparations
If the house has a cellar or a spacious pantry, then you can take care of preparing various canned goodies from viburnum. So, the recipes below will allow you to prepare a healthy product for every taste.
Fresh viburnum in sugar
Sugar by nature is a natural preservative that can preserve any product for a long time. Kalina can also be preserved with added sugar. This will require 700-800 g of sweet sand per 1 kg of fresh berries.
The uniqueness of the recipe lies in the fact that you do not have to boil the berries. The whole cooking process consists of several simple steps:
- Pick red viburnum berries from twigs and rinse thoroughly under running water.
- Sterilize small jars.
- Pour a little sugar into the bottom of the containers.
- Put a layer of berries on top of the sugar and sprinkle with sugar again.
- Under the lid itself should be a thick layer of sugar.
- Close the jars with metal lids and store in the cellar.
Such a simple cooking process will allow even a novice hostess to harvest healthy berries for the whole winter. You can use viburnum in sugar for cooking compotes, making fillings for pies or as a decoration for various desserts.
Viburnum berries in syrup
The recipe proposed below allows you to prepare two delicious viburnum products at once: the canned berries themselves and the sweet juice syrup. The syrup is later used as the basis for fruit drinks, and the berries are added to pies and desserts.
Making winter harvesting from viburnum is quite simple. This will require the berries themselves and sugar. For 1 kg of fresh product, 400-500 g of granulated sugar will be required. A syrup with this sugar content will be concentrated and must be diluted with water before use.
To understand how to prepare viburnum for the winter according to the proposed recipe, you need to familiarize yourself with the following points:
- Sort and wash the berries. Dry them lightly by laying them out on a clean paper towel.
- Twist 1/4 of the berries through a meat grinder and squeeze the juice from the resulting slurry.
- Put whole berries in a saucepan and pour over the resulting juice.
- Add sugar to the container and bring the product to a boil, stirring the viburnum regularly to completely dissolve the sweet ingredient.
- Pour the finished hot product into sterilized jars.
- Cover the filled jars with lids and sterilize for 10-15 minutes, then roll up.
- Wrap the finished seamings in a warm blanket and wait for them to cool completely.
Kalina prepared according to this recipe should be stored in a cool cellar. You can use the product for the preparation of fruit drinks and compotes. For diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, liquid sweet syrup is recommended to be consumed daily in the morning on an empty stomach in the amount of 3-4 tsp.
Delicious red viburnum syrup
Viburnum syrup is used for medicinal purposes and for the preparation of culinary masterpieces. Morse from such a winter preparation is very tasty. The absence of pomace and whole berries simplifies the preparation of this healthy drink.
To prepare the syrup, you will need red viburnum juice in the amount of 1 liter, 2 kg of granulated sugar and 10 g of lemon. You can get juice by grinding the berries through a sieve. In this case, the bones and cake will not get into the finished product.
Prepare the syrup as follows:
- Pour the juice into a saucepan and mix it with sugar.
- Heat syrup over low heat and add lemon juice.
- Remove the foam from the resulting liquid with a slotted spoon.
- Boil the syrup for 10 minutes, then pack in sterilized jars and preserve.
Due to the high content of sugar and acid, red viburnum syrup is perfectly stored even at room conditions. In the winter season, fruit drink from prepared syrup will help to avoid viral diseases, and in case of illness, it will contribute to a speedy recovery.
Viburnum syrup with honey
The recipe proposed below allows you to prepare for the winter a storehouse of vitamins based on red viburnum and honey. Both products are famous for their beneficial properties, but in combination they demonstrate their healing qualities even more clearly.
You can prepare syrup from the juice of viburnum and honey, taking the ingredients in equal amounts. Juice from berries can be obtained by grinding through a sieve. Honey is preferably used natural, liquid. If the product is sugared during long-term storage, then it can be heated in a water bath. The ingredients must be mixed and transferred to a clean glass jar. Within a week, the product must be kept in the refrigerator, and then used for food.
Jars with honey-viburnum syrup can be safely called “golden”, since the corresponding color of the product is combined with its amazing benefits. So, syrup can be drunk for the prevention and treatment of viral diseases and for the healing of internal ulcers, gastritis.
Delicious viburnum jam
The process of making viburnum jam will take a lot of time, however, as a result of all the efforts, a very tasty, long-term storage product will be obtained. In order to make viburnum jam for the winter, you will need the berries themselves and sugar. The preparation process consists in performing the following manipulations:
- Sort the berries and put them in a container with boiling water.
- When the berries become soft, they need to be rubbed through a sieve.
- Mix the resulting puree from berries with sugar in a ratio of 1: 1.
- Boil the base for jelly over low heat for 60 minutes.
- Pour hot jelly into jars and preserve.
The proposed recipe for harvesting red viburnum for the winter does not retain all the vitamins from the berries, but, despite this, it still has a beneficial effect on the human body. Such jelly is happily eaten by children, which is important for caring parents.
Kalin juice
A real “vitamin bomb” can be viburnum juice. To make it you need:
- Squeeze juice from berries.
- Pour the remaining cake with water and boil for 5 minutes.
- Strain the resulting broth.
- Add pre-squeezed juice and sugar to the broth.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and pour into clean jars, roll them up.
The proportions of the ingredients for this viburnum blank can be chosen independently, but the following combination is universal: add 1 tbsp to juice from 1 kg of berries. water and the same amount of sugar. With this concentration, the compote will be successfully stored all winter.
Conclusion
In addition to the proposed viburnum blanks, you can prepare tinctures and jams.
A good jam recipe is suggested in the video:
Even an inexperienced hostess can use it, as a culinary specialist explains in detail all the stages of preparing a winter harvest.
Our ancestors believed that a viburnum bush in the yard is a sign of family well-being. We know that this plant can not only bring peace to the family, but also improve the health of all its members. Viburnum berries are quite simple to collect and cook. Using the above recipes for harvesting viburnum for the winter, you can make an excellent delicacy for adults and children, while maintaining the healing properties of berries.