Today we will talk about a berry with a huge track record, revered by all traditional medicine healers. This is chokeberry, and I will talk about the beneficial and medicinal properties of chokeberry, contraindications for use, and share recipes for treating diseases with its help. Nature has everything that can help a person stay healthy for many years. The homeland of chokeberry is the American continent, where Indian tribes made flour from tart, sweet and sour berries and baked cakes.
Traders brought chokeberry to Europe, or more precisely to Holland, at the beginning of the 16th century. The Dutch were not only interested in animal skins, they were inquisitive and interested in the life of local tribes. This is how they learned about chokeberry, which captivated them with its gorgeous blooms in the spring and beautiful anthracite-colored berries in the autumn. At first, chokeberry was brought to Europe only as a decorative decoration for parks and gardens.
In Russia, the plant appeared and took root at the beginning of the 20th century thanks to I.V. Michurin, who developed a new variety of chokeberry, differing from the American one in its larger berries, high yield and frost resistance.
Then it turned out that the black fruits of the tree have wonderful healing properties.
Chokeberry - beneficial properties
- Chokeberry is famous for its high content of vitamins, and above all P and PP, a lot of vitamins A, C, and numerous group B. It contains microelements that are important for the functioning of the whole organism. This list includes iodine, which is beneficial for the endocrine system. Among the microelements, boron, molybdenum and phosphorus, which are rarely found in plants, can be distinguished.
- The healing properties of rowan are also improved by fruit acids, including citric and malic. Tannins give the berry its astringent taste.
- Rowan contains beta-manganese and beta-carotene, pectins, sugars, and folic acid.
- In addition, the beneficial properties of black fruits are enriched with the cyclic alcohol sorbitol, which is used as a sweetener for diabetes, as it has a sweet taste.
- The beneficial properties of chokeberry make it possible to help the body with atherosclerosis, dissolving plaques in blood vessels, reducing blood viscosity, and strengthening the walls of blood vessels.
- Treats rheumatism, stomach and bladder diseases with the help of chokeberry.
- Chokeberry stimulates the liver, reduces cholesterol, and improves the functioning of the immune system.
- It will be beneficial for diseases of the thyroid gland, since it contains a lot of iodine.
- It is a good choleretic agent, but rowan is even more valued for treating high blood pressure.
- Berries not only reduce intracranial pressure, but your eyes will also benefit greatly. Eye pressure will decrease and the risk of developing glaucoma will decrease.
- Pectins remove toxic substances from the body.
- Traditional healers suggest using black fruits as an aid for scarlet fever and rheumatism.
- Chokeberry is an excellent preventative against aging and is useful for older people.
Chokeberry extract is used to make various medicines. As an auxiliary remedy, traditional healers use it in the treatment of the following diseases:
- Atherosclerosis.
- Diabetes.
- Rheumatism.
- Low immunity.
- Poor eyesight.
- Bronchial diseases.
- Metabolic disorders and many others.
- Hormonal imbalance.
Chokeberry - medicinal properties
- Vitamin deficiency, weak immunity, after surgery. Pour dry berries and leaves with a liter of water, then bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Cool, strain, add a glass of sugar and half a teaspoon of citric acid. Boil for another 15 minutes, then cool again and pour in half a liter of vodka. Pour into a glass container and keep in the dark for 2 weeks. Drink a tablespoon.
- Another wonderful recipe for treating immunity and vitamin deficiency. Pour a glass of boiling water over a spoonful of black fruits, cook for 10 minutes, and drink half a glass half an hour before meals.
- Atherosclerosis. For this disease, eat 100 grams. chokeberry three times a day. For effect, add rosehip tea. There are no fresh berries - you can use rowan, pureed with sugar.
- Rheumatism. A very quick effect is achieved if you drink chokeberry juice daily. Take 100 ml. half an hour before meals. At the same time, take baths with brewed birch or sea buckthorn leaves.
Chokeberry increases or decreases blood pressure
Modern medical statistics claim that the most common disease among the world's population is unstable blood pressure. Therefore, before consuming chokeberry, you need to find out whether rowan increases or decreases blood pressure. And this factor cannot be overlooked: health safety
Attention! Rowan reduces high blood pressure. Hypotension is a contraindication for use. This applies not only to medicines, tinctures and decoctions, but also to all preparations made from chokeberry for the winter: jelly, jam, jam, liqueur, alcohol tincture.
Chokeberry under pressure
As we have already found out, chokeberry reduces high blood pressure. I offer several recipes:
Recipe No. 1. Mix equal amounts of chokeberry, blackcurrant and viburnum juice. Drink 50 ml twice a day. In order to improve the therapeutic effect, add a little honey and walnuts (it can be chopped). The result is a very pleasant healthy drink.
Recipe No. 2. Mix in equal parts crushed rowan berries, horsetail, birch leaves, wheatgrass, crushed dandelion roots and corn silk. Pour boiling water (a glass) over a tablespoon and leave for half an hour. Drink the infusion fresh, one glass at a time, three times a day.
For a better effect, add rose hips, currants, or even both.
Recipe No. 3. Chokeberry tincture with vodka.
- Method one. Fill a liter jar with berries, fill it with vodka and let it sit for a week. Take a spoonful three times a week.
- Method two. Fill a three-liter jar with berries up to the shoulders, fill the rest of the jar with sugar and pour vodka on top so that the jar is full. For therapeutic purposes, you need to insist for a month. Drink a course, 3 weeks, a tablespoon three times a day.
You can drink the tincture for pleasure, but it should sit longer, a couple of months.
Recipe No. 4. Place a handful of chokeberries and rose hips in a thermos. Pour boiling water and leave for about 6 hours. Drink a glass with honey added.
Chokeberry for diabetes
There are many recipes in which rowan berries can show their healing properties. Healers use not only the berries, but also the leaves of the plant. Juice is squeezed out of the berries, which is no less healthy.
This is one of the few berries on a small list that diabetics can safely eat. Juice from berries is especially useful, but it should be consumed with caution due to its high concentration. Don’t be upset, drink juice, but just dilute it with water, or no less medicinal juices, such as apple juice. The benefit will be double.
Chokeberry leaves
Don't miss the opportunity to store the leaves of the plant for future use.
- They will help with reduced immunity and loss of strength.
- Eliminate stagnation of bile.
- Remove excess fluid from the body.
- Will help with skin diseases.
- Helps stop bleeding.
Prepare a wonderful healing drink:
- Pour a tablespoon of chokeberry leaves with a full glass of boiling water and leave for 40 minutes. Take 50 ml before meals, apply compresses for skin diseases.
Harm and contraindications
Chokeberry has wonderful beneficial qualities, but there are nevertheless contraindications for use in treatment.
- Chokeberry should not be used for treatment or as food for gastritis with high acidity and ulcers. Fruit acids, which are found in large quantities in the berry, greatly irritate the gastric mucosa and cause harm.
- Hypotension is also a contraindication, since the berry significantly reduces blood pressure. However, a few berries will not greatly affect blood pressure, but chokeberry should not be consumed regularly.
- Use chokeberry with caution if you have problems with veins, in particular thrombophlebitis.
- If you are prone to constipation, the berry is also contraindicated.
When to collect and store
Traditional healers advise collecting literally all parts of chokeberry for medicinal purposes: leaves, preferably young ones, inflorescences, berries.
In the spring, do not miss the time and collect the leaves, in early summer - the inflorescences and dry them. Drying is not difficult, just place it in a well-ventilated room or, even better, in the fresh air, but covering the berries from the sun.
The berries are harvested immediately after ripening; depending on climatic conditions, they become ripe in September - October.
The best way to dry rowan berries is in the oven, always with the door ajar, at a low temperature of 50 - 60 degrees. If you do more, the berries will become hard; at a lower temperature they may not dry out and will quickly spoil. Properly dried berries can retain all their beneficial and medicinal properties for up to two years.
I hope my article on the medicinal properties of chokeberry helped you and you learned something useful. Be healthy, friends, don’t forget to come visit me. With love... Galina Nekrasova.
