Botanical characteristics of chokeberry
Black chokeberry Is a perennial shrub with many branches. The young crown is small, becomes spreading with age, reaches 2.5 meters in height, 1.5–2 m in diameter. Alternate leaves on short petioles are obovate and have a short sharp tip. The leaf has an upper leathery, glossy, dark green surface. The lower part of the leaf is slightly pubescent and whitish. In autumn, the leaves of the chokeberry change color to bright purple-red tones.
The shrub has a beautiful flowering (May – June), white or pink bisexual flowers make up dense corymbose inflorescences. Spherical black fruits covered with a waxy coating, sour-sweet, with an astringent taste, juicy, collected in bunches. Ripe fruits (August-September) practically do not crumble, thanks to their dense skin, they retain their juiciness and freshness for a long time.
The homeland of chokeberry is North America; today this beautiful plant can be seen in many regions of the world. It is planted in gardens, parks, squares. The fruits are carefully cut and stored in boxes in a cool room, but the shelf life is limited, so they are mainly dried or jam is made, ground with sugar, etc.
Useful properties of chokeberry
Chokeberry fruits are a real storehouse of vitamin P and iodine compounds. Chokeberry is prized for the content of sorbitol - a natural substitute for sugar: it can be consumed by people suffering from diabetes. The beneficial properties of the plant are quite impressive: it contains pectin and tannins, ascorbic acid, citrine, carotene. The content of riboflavin, folic, malic and niacin contributes to excellent prevention of prostate cancer and neurological diseases.
The substances contained in the fruits block the growth of cancer cells, negatively affect the formation and development. The presence of tocopherols, phylloquinones, pyridoxines, niacin, thiamines, important for many processes in the body, has also been proven. You can list the list of nutrients of chokeberry for a long time. Amygdalin, coumarins, rutin, quercetin, hesperidin, catechins, cyanidin and other compounds have a positive effect on human functional systems. Among the trace elements, iron, manganese, iodine, molybdenum, boron, manganese and copper are distinguished.
Chokeberry application
Black chokeberry refers to melliferous plants; in folk medicine, its fruits and leaves are mainly used.
Chokeberry tea: 6 tablespoons of leaves need to be poured with 1 liter of boiling water, leave for half an hour. It is recommended to take the product 1 glass 3 times a day. This tea helps to reduce, increase blood clotting.
Chokeberry decoction: to prepare a decoction that can strengthen the immune system, give strength and activate energy, you need to take 20 g of dry fruits, pour 200 ml of boiling water over them, simmer for 10 minutes, then leave for 20 minutes, strain, squeeze. Take the broth 3-4 times a day for 0.5 cups.
Chokeberry infusion: 2–4 tablespoons of dried fruits are infused in a thermos with two glasses of boiling water. The next day, the infusion is consumed in 3 doses 20-40 minutes before meals.
The bark also has healing properties.
Chokeberry bark decoction: 5 tablespoons (with a slide) of chopped bark is required to pour 0.5 liters of water, cook for 10 minutes, cool, squeeze and take as an anti-sclerotic agent, effective for blood vessels.
Chokeberry is used for hemorrhagic syndrome, vitamin P has a vasoprotective effect. Berries are useful for radiation sickness, vitamin deficiencies, for recovery after serious illnesses or operations. Endocrinologists advise using berries for thyroid disorders. Chokeberry is incredibly effective for the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases, such as atherosclerosis, etc. It has a strengthening effect on blood vessels, relieves insomnia, normalizes metabolic processes and the immune system.
A useful plant helps to eliminate radioactive substances from the body, will help with various bleeding, capillary toxicosis. with low acidity, kidney disease, measles, typhus, scarlet fever can proceed without complications if the use of miraculous berries is introduced into the diet. High in vitamins, chokeberry can help treat oozing eczema and other skin conditions. The use of folk remedies increases the body's defenses, stimulates appetite and has a choleretic effect. It is recommended to take berries for mental fatigue.
Chokeberry juice
Chokeberry juice is taken at high and low pressure. A pleasant-tasting drink can provide the body with vitamins and microelements, increase resistance to colds, stimulate the stomach, pancreas and liver. But it must be remembered that chokeberry should not be used for acute ulcerative manifestations and gastritis with high acidity. Bioflavonoids, sorbitol and oxycinnamic acids exhibit choleretic effects.
Chokeberry juice recipe: to prepare natural juice, fresh fruits must be crushed, the finished pulp (1 kg per 0.5–0.75 cups of water) heated to 60 ° C for 10 minutes and put under a press. Then the squeezed out raw material should be placed in an enamel pan, filled with boiled, slightly warm water (1:10), kept for 3-4 hours, stirring, and squeezed again. After that, you need to combine the juice of the first and second pressing, filter through cheesecloth, heat up to 80–85 ° С, fill sterilized jars. Previously, it is necessary to pasteurize half-liter cans for 10 minutes, liter - 12-15 minutes, two-liter - 18-20 minutes.
Chokeberry recipes
Infusion of dry berries: 2–4 tablespoons are poured with two glasses of boiling water, insisted in a thermos, drunk three times 1/2 cup in 30 minutes. before meals.
Pectin substances allow you to get rid of heavy metals and radioactive substances. Due to its bactericidal properties, chokeberry products get rid of various pathogenic microorganisms. Pectins normalize bowel function, eliminate spasms.
Chokeberry helps with reduced immunity and loss of strength after illnesses. Also, the plant has a beneficial effect on increasing hemoglobin. If you eat 1 cup of mountain ash and currant puree, adding sugar or honey for taste, you can avoid health problems.
Chokeberry tincture
Chokeberry tincture is very useful in moderation. Its antioxidant properties are higher than that of red grape wine. Ripe berries are used to make the tincture.
Preparation of the tincture
Recipe number 1: 100 g of berries, 100 cherry leaves, 1.5 liters of water must be combined and simmered for 15 minutes, then strain, add 1/3 tbsp. sugar and 700 ml of vodka, insist.
Recipe number 2: you need to boil 1-2 tbsp. l. dry berries in two glasses of boiling water over low heat for 10 minutes and leave for 5-6 hours. They drink the remedy 3 times a day with honey.
Fresh berries are more effective.
Recipe number 2: it is useful for goiter and sclerosis to take 2-3 times a day 100 g of mashed berries at the rate of 1 kg of berries per 700 g of sugar.
Recipe number 3: in case of asthenia, anemia and hypovitaminosis, 250 g of fresh fruit should be eaten 2-3 times a day together with black currant, broth or dragee of ascorbic acid.
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Chokeberry varieties
Reproduction of chokeberry
Chokeberry can be propagated by seeds and vegetatively. The shrub grows quickly and has a strong root system. Sowing freshly harvested seeds in the garden can be done at the end of October. Chokeberry is vegetatively propagated by layering, offspring, dividing the bush, grafting, grafting. One-two-year-old seedlings are used. The shrub looks beautiful in the garden as a hedge. To plant it, you need to choose sunny places, protected from the winds. If you plant 2-3 chokeberry bushes, they will provide you with useful berries for the entire winter season.
Chokeberry syrup
Syrup recipe: the fruits must be sprinkled with sugar and placed in the sun in order for the syrup to form. After a month, it should be drained by squeezing the berries soaked in syrup, add alcohol so that the syrup does not ferment (25 ml of alcohol per 500 ml of syrup). Take the remedy in the morning on an empty stomach with water. Syrup is useful for gastric disorders.
Aronia Siberian
Aronia is often called "Siberian blueberry". It is frost-resistant and therefore associated with the Siberian cold climate. Its homeland North America is a rather harsh region in terms of climatic features. In ancient times, chokeberry was used by people as a product, having studied its healing properties, they began to prepare infusions and decoctions, squeeze juice. It is harvested for future use, the fruits are dried, jam is made.
As an ornamental shrub, chokeberry took root in Russia at the time of Michurin.
This plant can beautify any garden. In May, you can already admire the beautiful white flowers, and in August, you can pick berries. In autumn, the tree changes the green color of the leaves to a reddish-purple color. Eating 30 g of berries daily, you can provide the body with protection from colds and prevent cancer.
Aronia Michurina
A fruit-bearing hybridogenic shrub from the genus of Aronia of the rose family was bred by the famous scientist I.V. Michurin in the 90s of the XIX century. Fruit and berry, medicinal and melliferous crops have become useful for people as a nutritious, vitamin product and medicinal raw material. Aronia Michurina develops rapidly and bears fruit. This culture is distinguished by its late flowering. The berries ripen until the very first frost, do not crumble, 7-10 kilograms can be harvested from one bush. Fruits are juicy, apple-like, sour-sweet taste, spherical, flattened at the top.
Aronia Michurina loves illuminated areas; when planting, the bushes are placed at a distance of two meters. Sandy loam, light loam and good watering are the most important factors for the excellent development and yield of Michurin's chokeberry.
Aronia Viking
Aronia Viking is the result of Finnish selection. She has erect branches, slightly hanging down in an adult plant, the leaves are elliptical, with serrated edges, dark green above and silky, with a slight pubescence and a whitish shade below. It has juicy, sweet and sour fruits with an astringent taste. They are red, flat-rounded, flattened from the sides, when ripe, they become purple-black. The fruits ripen in September and have many beneficial properties.
The plant is characterized by winter hardiness, high yield. High blood pressure is an indication for the use of chokeberry Viking. It normalizes the state of blood vessels. Therefore, as a prophylaxis for many vascular diseases, the plant is prescribed as an excellent adjuvant in general complex therapy.
Contraindications to the use of chokeberry
The use of chokeberry is contraindicated in the period of exacerbation of peptic ulcer disease affecting the stomach and duodenum. Carefully you need to take berries, decoctions and infusions with increased blood clotting, varicose veins and chronic.
