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The beneficial properties of lingonberries have been widely known since ancient times. Therefore, every year, and 2022 is no exception, we try to collect these small, but so necessary for the body berries as often as possible in order to be able to get the maximum benefit from them for a long time. And although at first glance, cleaning lingonberries seems like a simple matter, some technological rules must be observed.
Useful Properties
In 2022, the berry harvest turned out to be successful, so interest in what lingonberries are like has flared up with renewed vigor. Berries are mainly used for healing. Cowberries are harvested in almost most of Our Country: in the Moscow and Leningrad regions, Siberia, the Far East, and the Urals. As a rule, berries can grow successfully in any area of our country, and in 2022 the Moscow region, provided that there are dry coniferous forests or dried peat bogs.
For the treatment of many diseases, both lingonberry berries and its leaves are actively used. The culture is extremely rich in a variety of useful trace elements, but especially in vitamin C. To get the most of this vitamin from lingonberries, berries can be eaten straight from the bush, fresh, without being processed. There is also enough carotene in the culture, in terms of its content, our berries surpassed even the famous cranberries. The leaves and fruits of lingonberries are characterized by a pronounced diuretic and disinfectant effect, so it can be used to treat diseases in the kidney area – cystitis, pyelonephritis, and urolithiasis. In addition, the culture has an enhancing effect on the activity of antibiotics, so cranberries or lingonberries are recommended for use in fevers. Lingonberry leaves are indicated for use in various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, in the absence of appetite. In addition, a decoction of lingonberry leaves is rich in copper, so it has a beneficial effect on the condition of patients with diabetes. An antioxidant effect is observed in the culture: each lingonberry leaf is rich in tannins that can neutralize a number of heavy metals that enter our body.
But there are contraindications when lingonberry remedies cannot be used, these are all forms of peptic ulcer or gastritis, characterized by high acidity.
Video “Useful properties”
From the video you will learn about the beneficial properties of lingonberries.
Harvesting
Picking healthy berries is best done deep in the forest belt, away from the roadway, where the culture is pretty saturated with toxic emissions and, instead of benefit, can harm your health (this is especially true for the Moscow region and other regions with a lot of transport). It is necessary to collect lingonberries (or cranberries) with the utmost care so as not to damage a single leaf and shoot of the bush. When picking berries, try not to pick all the fruits – leave some for the indigenous inhabitants of the forest. In 2022, this rule is especially relevant, because the winter was quite severe and protracted.
You need to collect only fully ripened fruits, those berries that have not yet ripened will not bring the expected benefits when consumed.
Having found a rich lingonberry clearing, try not to visit it more often than once in two days: it is during this period of time that greenish berries can ripen. In the Moscow region, as in any other region, it is customary to collect both berries and leaves.
In order for each leaf to retain a maximum of useful properties, the collection must be done when the snow has already melted, and active flowering has not yet begun. They collect only adult leaves that have reached 2-3 cm. At the same time, try to choose healthy bushes, without visible signs of disease (I must say that in 2022 it is becoming increasingly difficult to find such ones).
Storage and procurement
When the collection of leaves is completed, they are dried in a dry, well-ventilated area, protecting the raw material from sunlight. It is possible to dry a lingonberry leaf with high quality even in a Moscow apartment; special household dryers are suitable for this. Further storage of the product is carried out in canvas bags, in a dry place. When there are no canvas bags, you can put the lingonberry leaf in a paper bag, but you will have to store it in a dark, dry place. Properly dried and packaged lingonberry leaf can be stored with high quality for three years (harvested in the spring of 2022, they will be usable for another 3 winters).
When the berries themselves are harvested, they are harvested for future use in several ways:
- soaked with salt. In this form, the fruits are best suited as an addition to meat dishes. It is not difficult to prepare them: after the picking of the berries is completed, they are carefully sorted out, leaving only solid, intact specimens and poured with brine consisting of sugar (0,5 kg), salt (1 teaspoon) and water (3 l);
- drying. It is most convenient to dry the berries, like the lingonberry leaf, using a special dryer. When the process is completed, the berries are allowed to cool and sent to a glass sealed container for permanent storage;
- freezing. The easiest way that does not require any effort. Just clean the crop of specks and send it to the freezer.
Of course, you can make various jams, marmalades, marshmallows and even marshmallows from berries – the 2022 harvest allows this.
Video “Storage of cranberries”
From the video you will learn how to store the berry for as long as possible.
