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Kalina is a tree, the beauty and usefulness of the fruits of which has been praised among the people since ancient times. The tree itself was often a symbol of love, purity and beauty. And its fruits were in demand both for consumption and as a miracle cure for many diseases. Currently, several dozen varieties of viburnum are known, including Gordovina viburnum and wrinkled viburnum, whose berries, when ripe, become blue-black or purple in color. But the most popular variety of viburnum is still the common red viburnum, which serves as an adornment of many courtyards and household plots. It is about it and its useful properties that will be discussed later in the article.
In whatever form our grandmothers did not use the fruits of viburnum - they prepared juice and kvass from it, cooked jam and jelly "Kalinnik", prepared marshmallow and marmalade, made filling for pies from it, fermented 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 drug that can cope with numerous ailments. Therefore, such a blank as viburnum syrup for the winter must certainly be available in every home at least in small quantities. Moreover, it is not difficult to prepare it, and there are both classic recipes for its manufacture, and those that may interest 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: valerian, acetic, oleic, formic. The content of vitamin C is about 40 mg, which even exceeds its content in citrus fruits. In addition, viburnum fruits contain an almost complete set of other vitamins. Viburnum also contains a relatively large amount of carotene, invert sugars, antioxidants, as well as tannins and pectin substances, due to which the viburnum juice easily turns into jelly. Viburnum fruits are also famous for their variety of mineral salts. They contain phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper and other elements, as well as iodine.
When preparing syrup from viburnum, the fruits are subjected to minimal heat treatment, therefore they retain all their vitamins and useful properties.
What problems can viburnum syrup be able to cope with?
- Most often it is used to treat blood vessels. Their elasticity and strength increase with regular use of viburnum syrup. At the same time, blood pressure decreases.
- For everyone, especially children, starting from 6 months, it is useful to use viburnum syrup during the period of 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.
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Viburnum 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 the fruits of viburnum are able to help tissue regeneration, the use of syrup is also effective for the treatment of many skin diseases.
- The syrup is often used for various female ailments, it is able to alleviate menstrual pain, regulate the amount of discharge, mainly due to the content of arbutin, which has a soothing effect on the uterus.
- The syrup is able to lower cholesterol levels and relieve 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 miracle cure 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.
Viburnum syrup should be used carefully for those whose blood pressure is usually low.
Viburnum is not indicated for people with urolithiasis, with increased acidity of gastric juice, as well as for those who have been diagnosed with leukemia and thrombophlebitis.
The classic recipe for making viburnum syrup
The viburnum berries, despite all their usefulness, have a somewhat specific taste and aroma. In addition, if you begin to collect and process the viburnum before frost, then the bitterness will clearly appear in the syrup. Therefore, it has long been believed that picking viburnum berries begins only after the first frost has passed.
So, take out the berries from the freezer or bring them home from the frost, and rinse them thoroughly under running water. Then the berries must be defrosted and the spoiled ones must be selected.
In the classic recipe for making viburnum syrup, juice is first made from the berries. For this, 2 kg of pure berries without twigs are poured into 500 ml of water and heated, bringing to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Then they take a colander, put cheesecloth in it in two layers and filter the resulting broth. The berry pulp is additionally squeezed through cheesecloth.
The resulting juice can already be used to make syrup.
Viburnum juice is poured into an enamel container (you cannot use aluminum and copper dishes). For each liter of juice, add 2 kg of sugar and heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Then add 10 g of citric acid, bring to a boil and immediately pour into sterilized bottles or jars and seal with any sterile lids. The syrup prepared according to this recipe can be stored even in a regular kitchen cabinet.
Recipe without boiling
No one will argue that the maximum amount of nutrients 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 well the dishes in which you will put the syrup. It must also be dry. The caps must also be sterilized. This syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months, completely retaining all its properties.
Such 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 further refine the taste of viburnum syrup: lemon, cranberry, lingonberry, mountain ash. Experiment with different flavor combinations, but it is better to choose pure viburnum syrup for treatment, since mixtures can cause additional individual contraindications.
