- How to procure the barberry raw material
- What is remarkable about berry and how to use barberry in the treatment of
- How barberry is used in cooking
- Contraindications to the use of barberry preparations
There are a lot of varieties of barberry bush, only in the wild they are more than five hundred. There are evergreen varieties, and there are decorative, deciduous varieties. Some plants do not exceed one meter in height, but in the natural habitat there are instances of up to five meters. Barberry ordinary is usually used for decorative purposes, in this case it is specially grown as a decorative fence.
Barberry bush is most beautiful in autumn, when its foliage becomes colorful, and berries mature and darken. Three basic species of this shrub are common in our country. It's barberry Tounberg, Ottawa and ordinary.
For medicinal purposes berries of barberry ordinary are used. It is also used in cooking. This plant looks like a big, necessarily prickly bush, densely leafy and with several main trunks. The height reaches two and a half meters. The natural habitat is forest-steppe and steppe, sometimes found on loamy slopes, forest glades and in dry river valleys.
How to procure barberry raw material
As a homeopathic raw material, the whole plant is suitable. But herbalists focus on harvesting fruits and leaves. There is no definite answer, to the question - when to collect barberry? Because for each separate part of the bush, there is a time for harvesting:
- Foliage is collected immediately after the bush has faded, that is, the approximate harvesting time is from May to July;
- The root must be excavated immediately before the first frosts, in late autumn;
- The bark is collected after the beginning of the sap flow, in March-April;
- The fruits are stored as they mature, but it's best to devote their collection to August.
You can not collect all kinds of raw materials from one bush, as this will contribute to its degeneration. It is necessary to take medicinal billets from those plants that this year must be cut down.
Important: in no case can not recruit green berries, since they are very poisonous. Ripe fruits are dried in fresh air, under canopies, or in a special dryer, setting the temperature at 50C.Dried raw materials should be folded in cardboard boxes and stored in dry rooms. The shelf life of useful substances in dry raw materials is three years.
What is remarkable about berries, and how to use barberry in the treatment of
Dried barberry has a choleretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, bactericidal and hemostatic effect. It is also known for its antispasmodic, anti-cancer and antipyretic properties.
Decoction made from the root of the plant, promotes a rapid outflow of bile, relieves pain and inflammation in the joints. He is drunk with hepatic insufficiency, gall bladder disease, hepatitis. A decoction of the leaves helps to cope with jaundice. While the decoction from the cortex is the primary means of arresting the inflammatory process in the pancreas.
Pregnant women who have severe toxicosis, it is recommended to use a decoction of berries and leaves of barberry. It will be needed to calm the bouts of nausea and vomiting. Alcohol tincture or decoction from foliage is used to treat digestive disorders, disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, chronic diarrhea, intestinal bleeding, stomach ulcers, dysentery. Combined decoction is prescribed as a prophylactic for fever, pneumonia, pleurisy, the initial stage of tuberculosis, dry cough.
Useful properties of barberry root can not be overemphasized - drugs from this raw material normalize the work of the cardiovascular system, lower blood pressure, used as a diuretic in diseases of the pelvic organs.
In mature berries there are so many useful vitamins and microelements that they can be eaten not only in dried or fresh form, but also pickled, closed for the winter stewed barberry, cooked jam or jam. Recipes for compote from barberry for the winter we collected in the article http://priroda-znaet.ru/kompot-iz-barbarisa-na-zimu/.
Fresh barberry juice spurs appetite and has the effect of a mild laxative. A berry pomace can be treated with hemorrhoidal cones and peptic ulcer of the duodenum.
It is not superfluous to grind fruits with honey - this is an excellent preventive tool, whose action is aimed at increasing the body's immune defenses, especially for those whose work is associated with possible radioactive risks. Juice and tea from the fruit of narcologists use to remove narcotic withdrawal and with toxic lesions of the patient's spleen.
Useful properties of barberry have found application in gynecology, where decoction from the roots is successfully prescribed in the form of trays and syringings for various female ailments. And in dentistry use a decoction of leaves, which helps to heal wounds in the mouth, and also eliminates bleeding from the gums. Diphtheria patients are given a drink and drink rinses.
The barberry root is used for inflammatory processes in the eyes and skin eczema. For this treatment, decoction from the root should be applied to the affected areas in the form of lotion. With arthritis, rheumatism, radiculitis, spasmodic leg cramps and osteochondrosis - raw material from the root of the plant is useful as a compress or rubbing, as it has anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.
Recipes for medicinal preparations from barberry
To get broth from foliage or bark, it is necessary to take one dessert spoon of finely chopped dry raw material and dilute it in one glass of cool water. Blend the mixture on low heat for one minute, then wrap it and let it brew for thirty minutes. Before drinking, you must carefully strain. Take one spoonful every hour, with diarrhea and dysentery.
Decoction of barberry berries is prepared according to the following scheme: two spoons of ground root are taken and 500ml of filtered water is poured. Then one minute is boiled and it is insisted for an hour. It is filtered and used as a preventive agent in diseases of the gallbladder.
Than barberry is useful for alcohol: take one dessert spoon of finely crumbled foliage, pour 250 g of quality, strong alcohol or alcohol and insist for seven days in a dark room. Then filter and drink, diluting with cool water. One dose is thirty drops of tincture. You can take three times a day, be sure before meals. It treats intestinal bleeding.
How to use barberry in cooking
The "Barberry" seasoning is widely used both in Asian and European cuisines. Most housewives boldly add it to pilaf, to give the dish an exquisite and tart flavor. Grinded berries can be a component of many compound mixtures, in which they receive additional qualities and perfectly set off the taste of meat and fish.
To determine your own preferences, you can prepare barberry in several ways. To prepare jam from barberry, the fruit is thoroughly washed, poured cold water so that it completely covers the berries and boils them on low heat in aluminum dishes. After the end of cooking, gently grind through a fine sieve, pour sugar in the ratio: 250 g sugar / 1 kg of boiled berries. And rolled into jars as a usual jam.
There are many recipes for jam from barberry, experienced culinary experts recommend adding ground ginger, clove heads or cinnamon to it. But in this case, the berries, ground with sugar, must be boiled again. And when cooking is constantly in the way, and pour on the banks only when the mass thickens.
You can safely leave jam from barberry for the winter - it does not sugar and does not lose its taste qualities. In addition - it is able to treat sore throat, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases. And if you add less sugar when cooking, then at the entrance you will get an excellent sweet and sour seasoning for meat and fish.
Compote from barberry is prepared quite easily: it is enough to take fresh berries, rinse them, a little sunflower and then cook according to standard rules. Sugar and other berries can be added at their discretion, in the drink, the barberry taste will still be clearly felt. The compote is served chilled, it is great for washing down fatty and spicy meat dishes. Gives them a refined aftertaste.
Contraindications to the use of drugs from barberry
Treated folk remedies based on barberry is strictly prohibited in postpartum and menopausal hemorrhage, and also during pregnancy itself.
Important: You can not drink tincture from the leaves when diagnosing stones in the kidneys, cirrhosis, complex forms of hepatitis, an individual allergic reaction. Do not give it to children who have not reached the age of twelve.