Many people know about the healing properties of sea buckthorn. Its berries contain carotenes, carotenoids and a large amount of vitamins. What is characteristic, the fruits of sea buckthorn do not lose their benefits even after processing, which is why they are often harvested for the winter.
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The benefits of sea buckthorn
Sea buckthorn has been known since ancient times, references to it are contained in Chinese medical books and manuscripts of Tibet. Unfortunately, in the Middle Ages, this wonderful berry was forgotten.
In Russia, sea buckthorn was cultivated in the St. Petersburg Botanical Garden at the beginning of the 19th century, but the first varietal berry appeared only in the 30s of the 20th century in Altai.
When doctors discovered the miraculous properties of this plant, a "sea buckthorn boom" occurred in the country. This happened in the 80s of the last century. It is noteworthy that sea buckthorn oil was a real shortage, and there were huge queues in pharmacies to buy this “magic” medicine according to special prescriptions from a doctor.
Sea buckthorn berries contain a large amount of vitamin C (more than in lemon), the entire group of vitamins B, K, P, PP and E.
Sea buckthorn contains 15 different trace elements:
- calcium;
- sodium;
- manganese;
- iron;
- magnesium;
- aluminum;
- silicon;
- titanium and others.
Fruits contain beta-carotene, organic acids, sterols, flavonoids, alkaloids, phospholipids, leukoanthocyanins, phenol acids, serotonin, inoside, rutin, choline, betaine, coumarins, pectin substances.
All this literally means that sea buckthorn is a berry charged with the most valuable substances for health and beauty. 100 grams of fresh berries or sea buckthorn juice are enough for the body to receive a daily norm of substances useful to it.
The fruits of sea buckthorn effectively relieve inflammation, heal burns, help restore liver cells, strengthen immunity and saturate the body with vitamins.
By including sea buckthorn in your menu, you can stabilize the level of cholesterol in the blood.
Sea buckthorn oil is very popular in folk medicine. It is used to treat various skin lesions:
- cuts;
- burns;
- frostbite;
- pressure sores;
- cracks.
Buckthorn Harvest Time
Ripe sea buckthorn berries have a rich orange color. Fruits usually ripen in late summer - early fall. Harvesting is a rather difficult task.
The stem of the berries is firmly connected with the skin and the berries are easily wrinkled, and the thorns painfully scratch the skin and make it difficult to harvest.
Berries literally showered branches, and therefore collecting them individually - this is a long and monotonous work. There are several ways to collect sea buckthorn.
If you plan to freeze berries, it will be more convenient to cut branches with berries, put them in the freezer, and later it is easy to separate the frozen fruits from the branches. However, in this case you need to be careful, otherwise there is a risk of damage to the tree.
The second method of collecting sea buckthorn is the use of special devices. There are many interesting inventions for easy “combing” of berries from branches.
One of the easiest and most affordable handy items is a regular table fork with conveniently bent teeth.
Also, sea buckthorn can be cut with garden scissors or simply neatly assembled with your hands.
Remember, sea buckthorn juice can cause skin irritation, so be sure to work with gloves.
Berries are picked from the top to the very bottom of the branch.
Methods for harvesting berries for the winter
For winter, sea buckthorn is harvested in various ways. Compotes, fruit drinks, mashed potatoes, jams, preserves, wine and oil are made from it.
To maximize the useful qualities of sea buckthorn, its berries must be harvested whole. A great option is freezing. To do this, you need to carefully sort the fruits from the leaves and debris, put them in bags or plastic containers and store in the freezer.
For several months, berries can be stored in the cold outside, without tearing them from the branches. To do this, you need to cut young twigs together with the fruits and hang them in a room with a maintained temperature from 0 to +4 ° C. In this form, the berries do not lose their benefits and can be used as needed.
In order for the berry to stand until spring, it is worth pouring it one by one with sugar and putting it in the refrigerator. Sea buckthorn prepared in this way retains its taste and is perfect as a useful additive to pancakes, cereals, cottage cheese.
In the following way, you can prepare a whole berry or grated with sugar. To do this, ripe clean berries need to be crushed or chopped with a blender, add sugar, pour into sterilized jars and cover with lids. For 1 kg of berries you need 1-1.5 kg of sugar. They store such a delicious sea buckthorn medicine in a cool, dry and dark place. Due to the large amount of sugar, sea buckthorn puree does not spoil for a long time.
The fruits of sea buckthorn can be dried. For this preparation you will need whole berries. They need to be sorted out, washed, dried and laid out with a thin even layer on a tray or any horizontal surface. If you want to speed up the drying process, use a special electric dryer for vegetables and fruits.
Sea buckthorn can be dried in a conventional oven. The main thing is not to dry the berries, otherwise they will lose not only taste, but also useful qualities.
First you need to set the temperature at 35-40 degrees, then after three hours, increase it to 60 degrees. Open the oven a little to evaporate the condensate.
Cool the finished sea buckthorn berries and leave for several days in an open container, then sprinkle them in bags or jars with lids.
Sea buckthorn jam
Ingredients:
- sea buckthorn berries - 1 kg;
- sugar - 1.250 kg;
- water - 1.3 liters.
To sort and wash berries, to fill with sugar and put to cook on a slow fire. After the sugar has dissolved, increase the heat, and regularly stir the berry mass, cook until tender.
Pour the finished jam into clean jars and roll up the lids.
Sea buckthorn berries compote
Ingredients:
- sea buckthorn - 300 g;
- sugar - 400 g;
- water - 1 l.
For compote, it is better to take slightly unripe berries. Sort the fruits thoroughly, rinse with cold water and throw them in a colander. Then dry the berries on a towel.
Then fold the sea buckthorn into sterilized jars by about 2/3 of their volume.
From sugar and water make syrup. Pour the berries with hot syrup almost to the top of the cans and pasteurize in a pot of boiling water. The pasteurization time for cans with a volume of 0.5 liters is 10 minutes, and for cans with a volume of 1 liter - 15 minutes.
Ready compote roll up lids and store in a cool place.
Sea buckthorn
Ingredients:
- sea buckthorn berries - 1 kg;
- honey - 1 kg.
Grind honey with sea buckthorn to a homogeneous mass with a blender and put in clean glass jars.
This cooking option allows you to save almost all the useful components of sea buckthorn.
Sea buckthorn juice
Ingredients:
- fruits of sea buckthorn - 1 kg;
- boiled water at room temperature - 0.8 l.
Rinse sea buckthorn, crush with a wooden crush, pour water. After 15-20 minutes, mix the resulting mass well, squeeze the juice, pour it into bottles and sterilize.
Sea buckthorn jam
Ingredients:
- Fresh large berries of sea buckthorn - 1 kg;
- sugar - 1.5 kg.
Wash dried berries manually by a wooden crush or beat in a food processor until a homogeneous consistency.
Pour the resulting berry mixture with sugar and mix gently. Leave on for 40-60 minutes until sugar is completely dissolved, then mix again.
Transfer fresh jam into sterilized jars with a volume of 0.5 - 1 liter, add sugar on top with a layer of 1 cm. This is necessary so that the jam is preserved longer and not sour. Close the jars with clean plastic lids and store them in the basement. In this form, sea buckthorn jam can be stored for up to two years.
Useful advice: inside juicy berries there is a hard, tasteless stone. It can be consumed inside, it contains useful oils and minerals. Once in the body, it absorbs harmful substances and naturally removes them out. If you do not like the seeds, you can grind them, then the jam will become even more tender in consistency.
Apple and sea buckthorn jam
Ingredients:
- sea buckthorn berries - 500 g;
- 3 green apples;
- sugar - 600 g;
- cinnamon, vanillin - to taste.
Sort the berries of sea buckthorn and add water to get rid of small debris. Throw sea buckthorn into a colander, and then pour into enameled dishes (large basin or pan).
Pour the berries with sugar and mix well. Leave to insist for 1-1.5 hours, the berries should let the juice.
Wash apples, peel and cut into cubes. Put the real sea buckthorn on the fire and add chopped apples to it. Cook over medium heat, stirring regularly, for 20-30 minutes.
Set the jam aside, cool slightly and grind the warm mixture with a submersible blender to a homogeneous consistency.
Then add vanilla and cinnamon to the berries and cook on low heat for another 15-20 minutes.
To check the readiness of the product you need to take a little jam in a spoon and drip on a saucer. If the jam does not spread, then it is ready.
Arrange the hot jam in sterile jars, cork with lids and cover with a towel until it cools completely.
Sea buckthorn oil
Homemade sea buckthorn oil is slightly different from the factory, but not inferior to it in useful qualities.
To prepare it, you need to grind sea buckthorn and squeeze the juice from the resulting mixture. The resulting juice is filtered and left to infuse. Over time, an oil film forms on the surface, it must be collected in a separate bowl.
The remaining pulp must be dried, crushed and pour refined vegetable oil.
After 3-5 days, an orange layer forms on the surface, it must be collected and filled with another portion of fresh oilcake. Repeat this procedure 4 times until the oil acquires a bright orange color.
Sea buckthorn oil (a simple recipe)
Grind the berries in a blender or grind thoroughly with a wooden mortar. Add extra virgin olive oil and put in a dark place for 3-4 days.
Then, through a sieve or cheesecloth, separate the thick residues, and store the juice that has formed, in a glass bowl. This is sea buckthorn oil made by hand.
Sea buckthorn jelly
Ingredients:
- sea buckthorn juice - 2 liters;
- sugar - 1 kg.
Mix the berries with sugar and cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes. Put the jam in sterilized jars and close with iron lids. Store in the cold.
Mashed potatoes “Sea-buckthorn happiness”
In winter, sea buckthorn puree is used as an additive to tea, various sauces and desserts.
Ingredients:
- sea buckthorn berries - 1 kg;
- sugar - 700 g;
- water - 100 ml.
Pour water into the berries, heat the berry mass to + 60 ° C and then rub through a sieve. Add sugar, mix gently and cook at + 90 ° C for 5 to 7 minutes. Put ready mashed potatoes in sterilized and warmed cans and roll up.
Mashed potatoes “Sea-buckthorn + Hawthorn”
Ingredients:
- mashed berries of sea buckthorn - 1 kg;
- mashed hawthorn - 650 g;
- sugar - 700 g.
Carefully sort the berries of sea buckthorn, wash in cool water, pour into a colander and let the water drain. Then rub the berries through a fine sieve. Blanch the fruits of hawthorn for 2-3 minutes, then scroll them through a meat grinder.
Mix mashed berries and sugar. Stir the resulting berry mass and cook at a temperature of 70 ° C for 3-5 minutes. Arrange in hot sterilized jars and pasteurize. Pasteurization time: cans, 0.5 liter - 20 minutes, 1 liter - 30 minutes. Ready mashed potatoes rolled up with iron lids for canning.