Chokeberry not only adorns gardeners' plots with its beautiful appearance, but also brings a lot of health benefits when used correctly. In addition, it has a very pleasant and unusual tart taste.
Description of chokeberry
Chokeberry is a small fruit tree with small black berries. It came to Russia relatively recently, only about two centuries ago, but during this time it has firmly taken root as one of the favorite horticultural crops. Its other names are "chokeberry" or "black chokeberry", and among the people it is sometimes called "black chokeberry".
Summer residents and gardeners fell in love with her for her beautiful appearance that decorates any autumn plot, and later for her tasty and healthy fruits. Berries, sweet with a pleasant sourness, leave astringency behind.
Useful properties and contraindications
In Greek, the name of black chokeberry sounds like "chokeberry", which translates as "benefit, help", and for good reason, because this plant has a beneficial effect on all systems in the human body. It is best known for its positive effects on the cardiovascular system. Hypertensive patients are shown to eat berries to prevent coronary heart disease and lower blood pressure. They activate blood clotting, which is very helpful with bleeding gums.
Raw rowan berries are a light dietary product, the calorie content of which reaches about 50 kcal. It significantly reduces the level of harmful cholesterol, rid the body of metals and toxins. The amount of gastric juice produced increases, especially with low acidity. All this has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and on the well-being of a person. With the regular use of rowan fruits, the appearance also improves, because the trace elements and vitamins contained in it improve the condition of the skin and hair.
But this product also has a number of contraindications for use, because with some diseases, the advantages of mountain ash can turn into disadvantages. An increased level of blood clotting, increased acidity of the stomach, ulcers, hypotension, developed ischemic diseases, heart attacks and strokes - with all these symptoms and disorders, you should be very wary of black rowan berries and, if you want to add it to your diet, be sure to consult your doctor …
Unfortunately, fresh, this valuable product for health is stored for no more than 3-4 weeks. Therefore, experienced housewives harvest rowan for future use, processing it in a variety of ways.
How to dry chokeberry
Rowan berries collected in autumn are most often dried in two ways: in the open air or in a special dehydrator (electric dryer).
To dry in natural conditions, the berries should be thoroughly washed, dried on towels and spread in a thin layer on a baking sheet. Next, the container should be placed in a dry and well-ventilated place, preferably outdoors, under the rays of the sun. At night and on cloudy days, they must be brought into the house. If you do not have the opportunity to place trays with rowan in the garden, then you can dry rowan at home. To do this, clean berries are strung on threads and hung in the room.
But the fastest and easiest way is to dry the berries in an electric dryer. Put the washed berries in the device, set the temperature to 50 degrees for 3 hours. Then - reduce 5 degrees and dry the chokeberry until tender.
With any drying method, readiness is checked as follows: you need to squeeze the berry strongly, and if it does not release juice, the product is ready. Store dry berries in a place protected from moisture. If a dense container with a lid is chosen as a storage container, it is necessary to periodically open and ventilate the berries.
How to freeze chokeberry
Another way to preserve the fruits of the chokeberry for the winter is freezing. The berries must be thoroughly washed, spread on waffle towels and dried very thoroughly with paper towels. When there is no water left on the berries, they need to be decomposed into portioned zip bags or containers.
It is advisable to freeze berries in the "quick freeze" mode, which is available on many modern models of refrigerators. This mode allows you to preserve the product with minimal loss of taste and benefit. Before use, the berries are thawed at room temperature.
What can be cooked with rowan
Aronia fruits are the basis for many autumn desserts and drinks. Delicious homemade jam is made from it with added sugar, and sometimes in combination with other fruit crops. The most successful is the combination of chokeberry with sour apples or lemon.
A simple chokeberry compote turns out to be very interesting and pleasant to the taste. It is advisable not to boil it, but to fill it with hot sweet water and insist, or preserve it in large jars. In addition, you can make tea with mountain ash by adding black tea leaves to berries brewed with hot (but not boiling) water. If you season it with cloves, cinnamon or star anise and orange peel, you get a real, multivitamin winter tea.
For toasts, pancakes and cheesecakes, you can make original mountain ash jam. To do this, chokeberries are chopped in mashed potatoes using a blender and seasoned with sugar according to the proportions in the recipe. Such jam will not be stored for a long time, but it can also be poured into sterilized containers.
There are a lot of ways to prepare black chokeberry, but the most important thing is to follow all the tricks of preserving it for the winter in order to enjoy the benefits and taste of sweet berries until next season.
