Drinking hawthorn is useful - With him, the heart does not have a disease!

Hawthorn is a very valuable food and medicinal plant, which in Greek means "strong."Possessing strong and very hard wood, he can live several hundred years, staunchly enduring all unfavorable environmental conditions.
Already since ancient times healers have known the useful properties of hawthorn, which was used to treat rheumatic pains and restore the nervous system. Despite the fact that a lot of time has passed since then, this green doctor continues to enjoy immense popularity not only among traditional healers, but also among traditional medicine specialists.

Description and chemical composition of

On the territory of our country there are about 50 species of this plant, which grow almost everywhere except in the Far North.
This unpretentious frost-resistant plant. It can be found on the slopes of mountains, in rare dry forests, in glades and in floodplains of rivers.


The most useful species is the hawthorn blood-red. This is a shrub or a small tree from the family of Rosaceae, with hard straight spines and pointed leaves. It starts to bloom abundantly in May - June. The flowers of this plant are white, small, collected in dense multicolored scutes, which have a weak specific odor. By the end of August - beginning of September sweet and sour blood-red fruits with mealy pulp begin to ripen on the plant.

Hawthorn fruits contain tannins, organic acids, pectins, fatty oils, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, vitamins and sugars.
The leaves contain organic acids( coffee, akontolovoy, chlorogen and kratolyovaya), and in flowers - essential oils, flavonoids, carotenoids and some organic acids. Also, fruits and flowers of hawthorn contain carotene and vitamin C, trace elements, alkaloids and colorants, and in the bark of the plant is glycoside esculin.

What is used as a medicinal raw material?

As a healing plant raw material, fruits, leaves and hawthorn flowers are used.

Note: this plant in the hot weather fades very quickly( 2-3 days).Therefore, the harvesting of flowers should be done at the beginning of flowering, when the buds have not yet opened. After rain or dew, it is not recommended to collect them, as they can quickly darken, and immediately, 1-2 hours after harvesting, you should start drying in a well ventilated area.

Dry flowers and inflorescences of hawthorn are used for preparation of tincture or broth.
Fruit harvesting is carried out during their full maturation( from September to the most frosts).Drying the fruit is also done in a well-ventilated room for 7-8 days.

Pharmacological properties of hawthorn

1. For a long time in folk medicine the medicinal properties of hawthorn were used in the treatment of heart diseases. The medicinal substances entering into its composition expand the lumens in the vessels, saturate the heart with oxygen and reduce the manifestations of ischemia. That is why the preparations from this plant are recommended for taking with cardiac pains of a pressing nature.
2. At the same time, hawthorn prevents the development of atherosclerosis, reduces the excitability of the nervous system and normalizes the heart rhythm, and pectin, found in fruits, promotes the excretion of heavy metal salts.
3. In Tibetan medicine, this plant was used to treat diseases of the bile duct and liver, and folk healers advise it to take with insomnia, nervous exhaustion, migraine, epilepsy and excessive excitability.
4. After studying the therapeutic properties of hawthorn, folk healers came to the conclusion that all parts of the plant can be used for treatment. A mixture of leaves, fruits and flowers is used for diarrhea, as a fixative and astringent. To purify the blood, young leaves and flowers are used, and for cardiovascular diseases, the fruits of hawthorn.

Warning! Experts do not recommend consuming more than one glass of berries at a time, as the fruits of hawthorn reduce blood pressure, and excessive use of them can trigger symptoms of hypotension( weakness and drowsiness).

Contraindications and side effects of

Contraindications to the treatment of fruits, flowers and hawthorn leaves is the individual intolerance of the plant, pregnancy and lactation, as well as low blood pressure( hypotension).
In large doses, hawthorn can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting and heart rhythm disturbances.

Recipes of folk healers

The healing properties of hawthorn have found wide application in folk medicine.

• To make infusion of flowers, a tablespoon of raw material is poured into a glass of boiling water, placed for 15 minutes in a water bath, and then cooled and filtered. Take this drug should be half a glass 30 minutes before meals 2-3 times a day.
• In order to prepare the tincture, for 1 liter of 70% alcohol it is necessary to take 100 grams of fruit and insist in a dark place for two weeks. Take 3-4 times a day for 20-30 drops before meals.
• To prepare the tea from the hawthorn fruit, two tablespoons of the crushed fruit of the plant are put in the teapot, add the black tea to taste, pour boiling water and insist.
• The plant is used in the composition of phytospores. For example, for a gentle reduction in pressure, an antihypertensive collection is used, in which, in addition to the hawthorn, often comes the common ore. This herb has the ability to normalize blood pressure, and also brings the body a different benefit. More information on this can be found in the article: Grass oregano heals people - Pain removes in adults, children!
• Also from the hawthorn fruit cook jam, jams, jelly, add to the dough for baking bakery products and use as a surrogate for making tea and coffee.