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Viburnum is a tree whose beauty and usefulness of its fruits have been praised by people since ancient times. The tree itself often acted as 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 Viburnum Gordovina and Viburnum rugosa, the berries of which become blue-black or purple when ripe. But the most popular variety of viburnum is still the common red viburnum, which decorates many courtyards and garden plots. It is about it and its beneficial properties that will be discussed later in the article.
Our grandmothers used the fruits of viburnum in every form - they made juice and kvass from it, made jam and jelly “Kalinnik”, prepared marshmallows and marmalade, made pie filling from it, and 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, an additive to sweet dishes and tea, as well as a medicine that can cope with numerous ailments. Therefore, such a preparation as viburnum syrup for the winter should certainly be available in at least a small quantity in every home.Moreover, it is not difficult to prepare, and there are both classic recipes for its preparation and those that may be of interest to adherents of a natural lifestyle.
The benefits and harms of viburnum
The beneficial properties of viburnum are due, first of all, to its rich composition.
The composition of viburnum fruits includes rare acids: valeric, acetic, oleic, formic. The vitamin C content is about 40 mg, which exceeds even its content in citrus fruits. In addition, viburnum fruits contain an almost complete set of other vitamins. Viburnum also contains relatively a lot of carotene, invert sugars, antioxidants, as well as tannins and pectin, due to which 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 viburnum syrup, the fruits undergo minimal heat treatment, so they retain all their vitamins and beneficial properties.
What problems can viburnum syrup cope with?
- It is most often used to treat blood vessels. Their elasticity and strength increase with regular use of viburnum syrup. At the same time, blood pressure decreases.
- It is useful for everyone, and especially children, starting from 6 months, 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 significantly facilitates the discharge of sputum and is able to cope even with an old, debilitating cough.
- Viburnum is rich in phytoncides, which have a calming effect on the nervous system.
- The syrup is also useful for liver diseases, since it directs the outflow of bile in the right direction.
- Viburnum syrup can help with many gastrointestinal diseases, and can even alleviate the condition of patients with malignant tumors.
- Since viburnum fruits can 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 can alleviate menstrual pain and regulate the amount of discharge, mainly due to the content of arbutin, which has a calming effect on the uterus.
- The syrup can lower cholesterol levels and remove swelling associated with kidney or heart ailments.
- Finally, when consumed regularly, viburnum syrup simply has a general strengthening effect on the human body by increasing immunity.
But people are so different that even the most miraculous remedy will not be useful to absolutely everyone. It should be borne in mind that viburnum is contraindicated for women during pregnancy due to the content of substances similar to female hormones.
Those who usually have low blood pressure should use viburnum syrup with caution.
Viburnum is also not indicated for people with urolithiasis, with high acidity of gastric juice, as well as for those diagnosed with leukemia and thrombophlebitis.
Classic recipe for making viburnum syrup
Viburnum berries, despite all their usefulness, have a somewhat specific taste and aroma. In addition, if you start collecting and processing 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 the berries out of the freezer or bring them home from the frost, and rinse them thoroughly under running water. Then the berries must be thawed and spoiled ones must be selected.
In the classic recipe for making viburnum syrup, juice is first made from the berries. To do this, 2 kg of clean berries without branches are poured with 500 ml of water and heated, bringing to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Then take a colander, put two layers of gauze into it and strain the resulting broth. The berry pulp is additionally squeezed through cheesecloth.
The resulting juice can already be used to prepare syrup.
Viburnum juice is poured into an enamel container (aluminum and copper utensils should not be used). 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 an ordinary 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 mixed well 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 thoroughly sterilize the containers in which you will place the syrup. It should also be dry. The lids also need to be sterilized. This syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months, fully retaining all its properties.
This 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 that you can use to further enhance the taste of viburnum syrup: lemon, cranberry, lingonberry, rowan. Experiment with different combinations of flavors, but for treatment it is better to choose pure viburnum syrup, since mixtures can cause additional individual contraindications.
