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Red viburnum came to us directly from folklore, from folk songs and fairy tales, it was transferred to the banks of rivers and lakes, and we transplanted it to our plots, closer to people. It grows in Europe, Asia, America, in a huge temperate zone and even in the subtropics. Botanists could not establish where it had grown all over the globe, so fairy tales are remembered: a girl who died before the wedding turns into a viburnum bush. Be that as it may, not only the berry, but the whole bush is considered especially useful for girls and women. This plant has long been woven into the life of the Slavs by indispensable participation in the main rituals. But when to collect red viburnum if we want to improve our health?
Description of the berry
Vertical sprawling shrub, growing from 2 to 4 m tall, loves moist, slightly shaded places, often grows along river banks. The elegant green of the three- or five-lobed leaves stands out beautifully against the background of the greyish-brown branches. In May – June, the bush is covered with snow-white umbrellas of flowers that attract insects with their honey aroma, and August colors the berries red.
More than 150 species and varieties of viburnum are known. There are among them completely devoid of bitterness, but the only species considered medicinal is common viburnum, the one with bitter fruits and heart-shaped bones.
For medicinal purposes, flowers, bark and berries of this fabulous bush are used. The most widely known beneficial properties of berries. They contain many vitamins. Moreover, vitamin C, which is twice as much in red viburnum berries than in lemons. In combination with iron, vitamin C is perfectly absorbed, so they are recommended for anemia with iron deficiency. Vitamins P, A, E, K, carotene, viburnin glycoside, which gives bitterness, tannins, potassium, calcium, magnesium, organic acids, including valeric acid, this is the explanation for the enormous benefits of viburnum for the body.
Kalina has a general healing effect on the body, restores strength after an illness, improves immunity, gently soothes, having a slight sedative effect. The use of berries, their infusions or juice has a beneficial effect on the purity of blood vessels, making them elastic, and on the entire cardiovascular system. The diuretic and choleretic properties of berries help to get rid of edema, remove excess fluid from the body, improve the functioning of the kidneys, liver, gallbladder, urinary and biliary tract.
Kalina helps fight hypertension, nervous excitability, hysterical and neurasthenic conditions. It lowers blood pressure, improves sleep, relieves spasms of blood vessels and soft muscles. It is used to increase hemoglobin and the general blood count, to stop internal bleeding, to increase blood clotting.
It is difficult to overestimate the help of viburnum for colds. The beneficial properties of viburnum berries and honey are especially well combined. It is this duet that will help cure diseases of the throat and upper respiratory tract.
It is usually advised to start using viburnum in the fall, immediately after it ripens, and continue to do this until the end of winter in order to support the body with vitamins just when it is most important.
But such an abundance of qualities can hurt some people. Very rarely, but still there is an allergy to viburnum (honey is a stronger allergen). Hypotension, frequent use of berries threatens to faint. Since viburnum affects the density of the blood, it should be used with extreme caution in people with increased clotting or prone to blood clots. Kalina helps to increase the secretion of gastric juice, so with gastritis and ulcers with high acidity, it should be used very carefully. It is undesirable for gout and urolithiasis due to the purine it contains.
If you want to strengthen the immune system or just support the body with vitamins during colds, if you have the above contraindications, you do not need to use viburnum in large quantities or for a long time. Caution and moderation have never harmed anyone, especially when it comes to treatment.
Video “Kalina: useful properties”
Viburnum berries have long been successfully used for the prevention and treatment of various ailments. Details in the video.
Harvest time
It is believed that the technical maturity of viburnum occurs when the berries acquire an even bright red color without green streaks or specks. This period begins in August in the southern regions, and by the end of September or mid-October, the entire viburnum of the middle lane has already reached full ripeness. This is considered the peak of its juiciness and usefulness, but many do not like the bitter taste. After the first frost, the bitterness decreases, but the beneficial properties do not become weaker. By this time, birds are hovering around the bushes with bright red berries and red, yellow, green thinned leaves.
You can start picking berries from the moment when the red color crowds out all the others. Usually they rush to collect them if they are afraid that the birds will peck everything. If there is no such fear, then it is quite possible to leave the berries until the cold weather, this will make them tastier. They will not become less useful even when snow falls and stable winter weather sets in, the berries just wrinkle, begin to dry, they will lose their presentation, but not their medicinal properties.
cleaning technology
It is best to harvest on the twigs, at least on the stalks. This will protect the berries from injury and keep them fresh for a long time. If you need to pick up berries for future use, then it is best to carefully cut them with scissors or pruners along with twigs, it is not for nothing that they are sold with umbrellas tied in bunches. Such branches with bunches of berries can be carried in any container (basket, bucket, bag), the skin of the fruit is strong enough not to burst during transportation. But if you pick individual berries, then the skin will certainly tear, and the juice will flow out.
It is better to bring whole and unharmed berries home on twigs (or at least on stalks), wash them, and only then cut off and cook dishes or drinks from them. When long-term fresh storage is planned, then only branches need to be cut – then it is easy to hang them in small bouquets down with fruits.
Berry storage
Such bouquets with bright whole fruits can be hung in a cool room – a basement, an attic, a balcony, in order to tear off the right amount of berries for tea, compote, jelly, fruit drink or pie as needed. And the rest will hang perfectly, waiting in the wings for several months.
In a warm apartment, the berries will wrinkle and dry out. Moisture and heat can do a disservice – the berries can become moldy or start to rot. Therefore, in the absence of an unheated room, the berries are stored in the refrigerator. You can put the brushes in a loosely closed bag on one of the lower shelves, or you can freeze.
For freezing, the berries are usually carefully cut off or the stalks are left, washed (not everyone considers this necessary), dried, placed in the freezer, stirring occasionally so that the berries do not freeze together. After freezing, when they have become hard and stiff to the touch, they are placed in a convenient container – bags or vessels, tightly closed and left in the freezer.
More often, viburnum is dried using special drying chambers or conventional ovens. Berries with stalks are laid in a thin layer and kept at a temperature of 50-60 degrees, it is better to keep the oven door open to ensure air circulation. As soon as all the berries have become wrinkled, they can be removed from the oven, cooled, and placed in glass jars. Some simply dry the fruits in the fresh air, stirring. This method will take more time, in addition, you need to hide trays of berries from birds or insects, monitor them, and mix often.
Berries are ground with sugar or honey (sugar is taken twice as much as viburnum). To do this, they are crushed using a sieve, meat grinder or blender, then the jar with the resulting product is stored in the refrigerator. Squeeze out the juice, mix it with the same amount of sugar and also keep it in the cold.
Jelly, jam, marshmallow, wine, liqueur are made from useful fruits. From the waste after the production of juice, you can make viburnum oil, pouring the cake passed through a meat grinder with four parts of sunflower or olive oil and leaving it for 3 weeks in a dark place. Then the cake is squeezed out, removed, the oil is bottled, used as sea buckthorn oil.
Everyone knows about the benefits of apple cider vinegar, but our grandmothers prepared viburnum vinegar, which we almost forgot about. They make it in a very similar way: half a kilogram of berries is covered with a glass of sugar, poured with two liters of water and insisted for about two months. The first week the mixture requires attention – it is stirred every other day, and then left to infuse alone. Ready vinegar becomes completely transparent.
There are many ways to save viburnum for the winter, but you need to remember that mechanical or heat treatment reduces the degree of usefulness.
Video “Recipe for harvesting viburnum juice for the winter”
In this video, the author shares the method of harvesting viburnum juice for the winter, which his great-grandmother gave him.
