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Viburnum is a frequent visitor to our gardens. This shrub adorns household plots with abundant flowering, lush greenery and pleases, albeit not very tasty, but very useful berries. The bright red viburnum berries have long been prized for their medicinal properties. They are used in cooking, and they are boldly prepared for the winter, because it is in the cold season that viburnum can be useful more than ever. About the benefits, possible contraindications and how the harvesting of viburnum for the winter can be carried out, and we will talk in detail later in the section.
Kalina: benefits and contraindications
Red viburnum is glorified by poets in their creations, despite the special aroma and very specific taste. But the popularity of viburnum is justified not by its taste or aesthetic qualities, but by its properties. Kalina contains in its composition a huge amount of various vitamins and minerals that have a beneficial effect on the work of the entire human body. In folk medicine, the following properties of these berries are especially noted:
- A huge amount of vitamin C has an immunostimulating effect on the human body, which is especially important for accelerating recovery.
- Coumarin in combination with vitamin K has a pronounced hemostatic effect.
- Berries calm the nervous system and normalize blood pressure.
- The tannins and phenolcarboxylic acids of the fresh product normalize the functioning of the digestive tract.
- Reception of viburnum is effective in the fight against atherosclerosis, since it does not allow the formation of cholesterol plaques.
Based on the given indications, it is possible to single out those cases when viburnum cannot be eaten:
- pregnancy of a woman;
- increased acidity of the stomach;
- low blood pressure;
- increased blood clotting.
Useful viburnum is harvested from the bush with the onset of the first frost, although its ripening begins in September. Low temperatures deprive berries of astringency and bitterness, making the taste sweet and sour. Having collected viburnum, it is worth taking care of its winter storage, because its immunostimulating properties will most likely become extremely necessary during the spread of flu and colds.
Simple storage methods
Many different delicacies can be prepared from viburnum: jam, jam, juice, tincture, syrup, preserves and more. Such preparations take time and some knowledge. Some housewives harvest viburnum in extremely simple ways using freezing or drying.
The freezing method is good if the household has a spacious freezer. It is recommended to prepare the berry as follows:
- Separate the viburnum from the branches and rinse;
- sprinkle the berries on a clean cloth or paper towel to drain the water;
- put fresh product on a small baking sheet in a thin layer;
- place the berries in the freezer;
- after complete freezing, pour the viburnum into a bag and store in the freezer.
This method is perhaps the simplest. Freezing viburnum does not require much time or special knowledge, while the berry retains all its useful properties. You can use the product for making stewed fruit, fruit drinks.
In the case when the volume of the freezer is limited, but you still want to keep the viburnum, then you can resort to the drying method. It is recommended to dry the berries as follows:
- Without plucking the fruits from the twig, the berries wither in room conditions with good ventilation throughout the week.
- Dry the bunches in the oven at a temperature of + 45- + 55.
- Pick the fruits from the branches and put them in a cloth bag.
- Store the workpiece in a dry place with good ventilation.
Dried viburnum berries can be used to make tea, compote, decoction, infusion, tincture. For example, there is a good infusion recipe that will help get rid of coughs and colds. To prepare the infusion, you need to brew only 10 g of dried berries in a glass of boiling water. After a few minutes, the product can be drunk as a medicine. The daily allowance for an adult is 1 tbsp. this tool.
Recipes for delicious winter preparations
If the house has a cellar or a spacious pantry, then you can take care of the preparation of various canned delicacies from viburnum. So, the recipes below will allow you to prepare a healthy product for every taste.
Fresh viburnum in sugar
Sugar is by nature a natural preservative that can preserve any product for a long time. Kalina can also be canned with added sugar. This will require 700-800 g of sweet sand per 1 kg of fresh berries.
The uniqueness of the recipe lies in the fact that you do not have to cook the berries. The entire cooking process consists of a few simple steps:
- Pick the berries of red viburnum from the twigs and rinse thoroughly under running water.
- Sterilize small jars.
- Pour some sugar on the bottom of the containers.
- Put a layer of berries on top of the sugar and sprinkle the sugar again.
- There should be a thick layer of sugar under the lid itself.
- Close the jars with metal lids and store in the cellar.
Such a simple cooking process will allow even a novice housewife to harvest useful berries for the whole winter. You can use viburnum in sugar for cooking compotes, making pie fillings or as a decoration for various desserts.
Viburnum berries in syrup
The recipe proposed below allows you to prepare two delicious products from the viburnum at once: the canned berries themselves and the sweet syrup from the juice. The syrup is further used as a basis for fruit drink, and berries are added to pies and desserts.
It is quite simple to make a winter harvesting from viburnum. This will require the berries and sugar themselves. For 1 kg of fresh product, 400-500 g of granulated sugar will be required. A syrup with this sugar content will be concentrated and must be diluted with water before use.
To understand how to prepare viburnum for the winter according to the proposed recipe, you need to familiarize yourself with the following points:
- Sort the berries and wash. Dry them slightly by spreading them out on a clean paper towel.
- Twist 1/4 of the berries through a meat grinder and squeeze the juice from the resulting gruel.
- Put the whole berries in a saucepan and pour over the resulting juice.
- Add sugar to the container and bring the product to a boil, stirring the viburnum regularly to completely dissolve the sweet ingredient.
- Pour the finished hot product into sterilized jars.
- Cover the filled jars with lids and sterilize for 10-15 minutes, then roll up.
- Wrap the finished seams in a warm blanket and wait until they cool completely.
Kalina prepared according to this recipe should be stored in a cool cellar. You can use the product for the preparation of fruit drinks and compotes. For diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, liquid sweet syrup is recommended to be consumed daily in the morning on an empty stomach in an amount of 3-4 tsp.
Delicious red viburnum syrup
Viburnum syrup is used for medicinal purposes and for the preparation of culinary masterpieces. Fruit drink from such a winter preparation turns out to be very tasty. The absence of cake and whole berries makes it easy to prepare this healthy drink.
To prepare the syrup, you will need 1 liter of red viburnum juice, 2 kg of granulated sugar and 10 g of lemon. You can get juice by grinding the berries through a sieve. In this case, the seeds and cake will not get into the finished product.
You need to prepare the syrup as follows:
- Pour the juice into a saucepan and mix it with sugar.
- Heat the syrup over low heat and add the lemon.
- Remove foam from the resulting liquid with a slotted spoon.
- Boil the syrup for 10 minutes, then pack it into sterilized jars and preserve.
Due to the high content of sugar and acid, red viburnum syrup is excellently stored even in room conditions. In the winter season, fruit drink from the prepared syrup will help to avoid viral diseases, and in case of illness, it will contribute to a speedy recovery.
Viburnum syrup with honey
The recipe proposed below allows you to prepare for the winter a storehouse of vitamins based on red viburnum and honey. Both products are famous for their beneficial properties, but when combined, they demonstrate their healing qualities even more clearly.
You can prepare a syrup from viburnum juice and honey, taking the ingredients in equal amounts. Juice from berries can be obtained by grinding through a sieve. It is preferable to use natural, liquid honey. If the product is sugared during long-term storage, then it can be heated in a water bath. Mix the ingredients and transfer them to a clean glass jar. Within a week, the product must be kept in the refrigerator, and then used for food.
Jars with honey-viburnum syrup can be safely called "golden", since the appropriate color of the product is combined with its amazing benefits. So, the syrup can be drunk for the prevention and treatment of viral diseases and for the healing of internal ulcers, gastritis.
Delicious jam from viburnum
The process of making jam from viburnum will take a lot of time, however, as a result of all efforts, a very tasty, long-stored product will be obtained. In order to make jam from viburnum for the winter, you will need the berries and sugar themselves. The cooking process consists in performing the following manipulations:
- Sort the berries and put them in a container with boiling water.
- When the berries become soft, they need to be grated through a sieve.
- Mix the resulting berry puree with sugar in a 1: 1 ratio.
- Simmer the jelly base over low heat for 60 minutes.
- Put the hot jelly in jars and preserve.
The proposed recipe for preparing for the winter from red viburnum does not preserve all the vitamins from the berries, but, despite this, it still has a beneficial effect on the human body. Such jelly is eaten with joy by children, which is important for caring parents.
Viburnum juice
Viburnum juice can become a real "vitamin bomb". To make it you need:
- Squeeze the juice out of the berries.
- Pour the remaining cake with water and boil for 5 minutes.
- Strain the resulting broth.
- Add pre-squeezed juice and sugar to the broth.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and pour into clean jars, roll them up.
The proportions of the ingredients for this blank of viburnum can be selected independently, but the following combination is universal: add 1 tbsp of juice from 1 kg of berries. water and the same amount of sugar. At this concentration, the compote will be successfully stored throughout the winter.
Conclusion
In addition to the suggested blanks from viburnum, you can prepare tinctures and preserves.
A good jam recipe is suggested in the video:
Even an inexperienced housewife can use it, since a culinary specialist explains in detail all the stages of preparing winter harvesting.
Our ancestors believed that a viburnum bush in the yard is a sign of family well-being. We know that this plant can not only bring peace of mind to the family, but also strengthen the health of all its members.Viburnum berries are easy enough to collect and cook. Using the above proposed recipes for harvesting viburnum for the winter, you can make an excellent delicacy for adults and children, while maintaining the healing properties of berries.
