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Kalina is a tree, the beauty and usefulness of the fruits of which have been sung by the people since ancient times. The tree itself often acted as a symbol of love, purity and beauty. And its fruits were in demand both for eating and as a miracle cure for many diseases. Currently, several dozen varieties of viburnum are known, including viburnum Gordovina and viburnum wrinkled-leaved, the berries of which become blue-black or purple when ripe. But the most popular variety of viburnum is still the common red viburnum, which serves as a decoration for many yards and personal plots. It is about her and her beneficial properties that will be discussed later in the article.
In what form our grandmothers did not use the fruits of viburnum – they made juice and kvass from it, cooked jam and jelly “Kalinnik”, prepared marshmallows and marmalade, made stuffing for pies from it, sour cabbage with it. In the modern world, the most popular product is viburnum syrup, since it can simultaneously play the role of a delicious dessert, and an additive to sweet dishes and tea, as well as a medicine that can cope with numerous ailments. Therefore, such a preparation as viburnum syrup for the winter must certainly be at least in a small amount in every home. Moreover, it is not difficult to prepare, and there are both classic recipes for its manufacture, and those that may be of interest to adherents of a natural lifestyle.
The benefits and harms of viburnum
The beneficial properties of viburnum are primarily due to its rich composition.
The composition of viburnum fruits includes rare acids: valeric, acetic, oleic, formic. The content of vitamin C is about 40 mg, which exceeds even its content in citrus fruits. In addition, viburnum fruits contain an almost complete set of other vitamins. Also, viburnum contains a relatively large amount of carotene, invert sugars, antioxidants, as well as tannins and pectin substances, due to which viburnum juice easily turns into jelly. The fruits of viburnum are also famous for their variety of mineral salts. They contain phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper and other elements, as well as iodine.
When harvesting viburnum syrup, the fruits are subjected to minimal heat treatment, so they retain all their vitamins and beneficial properties.
What problems can viburnum syrup cope with?
- Most often it is used for the treatment of blood vessels. Their elasticity and strength increase with regular use of viburnum syrup. At the same time, blood pressure decreases.
- Everyone, and especially children, already starting from 6 months, it is useful to use viburnum syrup during an exacerbation of viral diseases and at the first signs of an insidious cold. Here, viburnum acts in several directions at once: its diaphoretic effect is known, and it also greatly facilitates the discharge of sputum and is able to cope even with an old, exhausting cough.
- Kalina is rich in phytoncides, which have a calming effect on the nervous system.
- Syrup is also useful for liver diseases, since it directs the outflow of bile in the right direction.
- Viburnum syrup can help with many diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, and can even alleviate the condition of patients with malignant tumors.
- Since viburnum fruits can help tissue regeneration, the use of syrup is also effective for the treatment of many skin diseases.
- The syrup is often used for various women’s ailments, it is able to alleviate menstrual pain, regulate the amount of secretions, mainly due to the content of arbutin, which has a calming effect on the uterus.
- The syrup is able to lower cholesterol levels and removes swelling associated with kidney or heart ailments.
- Finally, with regular use, viburnum syrup simply has a general strengthening effect on the human body, by increasing immunity.
But people are so different that any most miraculous remedy will not be useful to absolutely everyone. It should be borne in mind that viburnum is contraindicated in women during pregnancy due to the content of substances similar to female hormones.
Care should be taken to use viburnum syrup for those who usually have low blood pressure.
Viburnum is also not indicated for people with urolithiasis, with high acidity of gastric juice, as well as for those who have been diagnosed with leukemia and thrombophlebitis.
The classic recipe for making viburnum syrup
Viburnum berries, despite all their usefulness, have a somewhat specific taste and aroma. In addition, if you start collecting and processing viburnum before frost, then bitterness will clearly appear in the syrup. Therefore, it has long been believed that viburnum berries are harvested only after the first frost has passed.
So, take the berries out of the freezer or bring them home from the frost, and rinse well under running water. Then the berries must be thawed and the spoiled ones selected.
In the classic recipe for making syrup from viburnum, juice is first made from berries. To do this, 2 kg of pure berries without twigs are poured into 500 ml of water and heated, bringing to a boil. Boil 5 minutes. Then they take a colander, put gauze into it in two layers and filter the resulting broth. Berry pulp is additionally squeezed through gauze.
The resulting juice can already be used to make syrup.
Juice from viburnum is poured into an enameled container (do not use aluminum and copper utensils). For each liter of juice, add 2 kg of sugar and heat, waiting until the sugar is completely dissolved. Then 10 g of citric acid is added, brought to a boil and immediately poured into sterilized bottles or jars and sealed with any sterile lids. The syrup prepared according to this recipe can even be stored in a regular kitchen cabinet.
The recipe is baked
No one will argue that the maximum amount of useful substances is preserved if heat treatment is not used. True, such a product can only be stored in the cold.
You can take any number of viburnum berries that you have and squeeze the juice out of them using a juicer.
To one kilogram of the resulting juice, 1 kg of sugar is added. The mass is well mixed and left at room temperature for a couple of hours. During this time, the sugar should dissolve well in the juice. Viburnum syrup is ready. It is important to sterilize the dishes in which you will lay out the syrup. It must also be dry. Lids should also be sterilized. Such a syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months, completely retaining all its properties.
Such a syrup will be especially useful if, instead of sugar, you take 0,5 kg of natural honey for each liter of juice.
There are also many useful additives with which you can additionally ennoble the taste of viburnum syrup: lemon, cranberry, lingonberry, mountain ash. Experiment with different combinations of flavors, but for treatment it is better to choose syrup from pure viburnum, since mixtures can cause additional individual contraindications.
