Barberry is a healthy and tasty berry that has been used in cooking and medicine since ancient times. At the same time, only ripe berries of the plant are used for cooking, and for medicinal purposes - almost all of its parts: leaves, bark and roots.
Barberry berries are widely used in cooking. Jams and preserves are made from them. Dried they are put in meat dishes, in pilaf, added to various sauces and marinades. The spice gives a pleasant aroma and beautiful color to the dish.
To prepare Uzbek pilaf with barberry, take:
- 700 g of meat (lamb or beef);
- 3 large carrots;
- 3 heads of onions;
- 1 piece of sweet pepper;
- 2 cups of rice;
- 2 handfuls of barberry;
- pepper, salt;
- Bay leaf;
- vegetable oil.
Heat vegetable oil in a cauldron. Peel the meat from films and veins, cut into pieces and fry. Cut the vegetables into pieces, chop the carrots into strips and send everything to the dish with meat. Mix the mixture and add the barberry, bay leaf and spices. Salt. Pour in water and simmer everything together for 20 minutes.
Pour clean rice into the cauldron. Cover and cook pilaf over low heat until tender.
Barberry makes excellent sauces with a peculiar sourness, which gives them a berry. In Abkhazia, a dish called akatsakhur syzbal is prepared from barberry. To prepare this sauce, you will need the following ingredients:
- 1 kg of fresh barberry berries;
- 2 tablespoons of adjika;
- 2 glasses of water;
- a few mint leaves.
Wash the barberry berries and pour them into a saucepan. Pour in water, put mint leaves. Place the cookware on the fire and cook until the berries are tender. Crush the barberry and rub the mass together with the broth through a sieve. Put adjika in mashed potatoes and mix everything. Akatsakhur syzbal is served with baked meat dishes.
In the original recipe, this is marshmint, but peppermint can also be used, it will give a great fresh flavor to the sauce.
Barberry makes excellent refreshing drinks. Try to cook not only tasty, but also healthy kvass. Pour ripe berries into a jar. Their number should be half the volume of the container. Pour cold boiled water over the barberry and place in a cool, dark place. After a couple of days, a refreshing and pleasant drink will be ready.
The berries of this wonderful plant have unique wound healing properties, they contain a huge amount of valuable substances: vitamin K, which is responsible for blood clotting in the body, pectin and sugars, mineral salts and many other useful elements.
Herbal teas, decoctions and tinctures are prepared from the bark, roots and leaves of barberry. For medicinal purposes, syrup, compote or juice are made from berries.
Barberry helps with external and internal bleeding, jaundice, diseases of the gallbladder and liver, has a choleretic effect, lowers blood pressure and stimulates immunity, it is an excellent anti-inflammatory agent. The list of diseases in the treatment of which barberry is used can be continued for a long time.
The berries contain substances that remove toxins from the body and slow down the aging process. They have been shown to prevent the formation of cancer cells and atherosclerosis. Eat fresh barberry berries, put them in dishes as a healthy and tasty seasoning, drink drinks and make vitamin tea from young leaves. With regular use of it in food, it will help to improve health and forget about many diseases for a long time.
