Berries, leaves, bark and even cornel roots are a real natural medicine that allows you to strengthen the immune system, saturate the body with vitamins and nutrients. It has become widespread in medicine due to the high content of essential oils, tannins, phytoncides and vitamins.
Cornel is a fruit shrub or small tree up to 7 meters high with red-brown bark and green-brown shoots. It is widespread in the Caucasus, Central Asia, Moldova, Crimea. You can find individual trees and bushes in the mountains, along the banks of rivers or at the edge of the forest, sometimes they form whole thickets.
Cornel is a real long-liver - trees and bushes live for over 250 years.
Dogwood blooms in spring, in March, even before the leaves bloom, and the berries are harvested in late autumn, better even after frost. The most valuable are the fruits - they are bright red, juicy, sweet and sour, with a slightly astringent taste.
Dogwood berries can lower blood sugar levels, so they are very useful for diabetics. They also stimulate appetite, improve digestion, and help with various intestinal disorders. It is especially worth noting the anti-inflammatory, diuretic and choleretic properties.
For those who suffer from cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, frequent headaches, varicose veins, regular consumption of dogwood berries will significantly improve their condition. They are also used for venous insufficiency, cystitis, arthritis, edema, they effectively remove toxic substances from the body.
Biologically, the fruits are incredibly valuable. In addition to tannins, pectin, nitrogenous substances, the pulp contains flavonoids (1-5%), vitamins C, P and A, essential oils, phytoncides, salts of iron, potassium, magnesium, calcium, sulfur, as well as from 10 to 17% of hyucose and fructose, up to 3.5% organic acids. The content of vitamin C in dogwood sometimes even exceeds the same indicator for currants - about 50 mg of ascorbic acid per 100 g of berries.
In addition to fruits, seeds are also used in folk medicine, they contain up to 34% fatty oils. In the bark, the most interesting are coryne gicoside, tannins, and organic acids. The leaves contain vitamins E and C in large quantities, they should be picked in May-June, dried, and brewed with tea throughout the winter.
The greatest benefit, of course, will bring the use of fresh dogwood berries. However, you can prepare them for the whole year to improve your health all year round. The easiest way is to dry the berries and brew if necessary: 1 tablespoon of dried fruits in a glass of water, boil for a minute and insist in a warm place for two hours. Take such a decoction of 50-70 grams before meals, 3 times a day, it greatly strengthens the immune system during epidemics of SARS and influenza.
A lot of vitamins are stored in the berries during grinding. The berries must be rinsed and rubbed through a meat grinder, blender or sieve. You can separate the pulp from the seeds using a sieve or cheesecloth. Add sugar - for 1 kg of berries you need 2 kg of sugar. Mix well and place in jars. Such a composition is stored for up to 1-2 months in the refrigerator and up to 1-2 years in the freezer. Phytoncides are stored in it, due to which the use of delicacies helps to fight many bacteria, cleanses the body of metabolic products, and helps to heal skin diseases.
Kissel from dried or fresh dogwood berries is often given to children for diarrhea, for its preparation, 3 tablespoons of berries and leaves are boiled in 1 glass of water for 10 minutes, then insisted for 8 hours and the berries are kneaded. Should be taken 0.5 glasses 3 times a day.
Cornel jelly is included in the diet for acute gastroenterocolitis.
Cornel jam is very useful for various colds. It is boiled at the rate of 1.5 kg of sugar and 300 g of water per 1 kg of berries. Cornel must be rinsed, filled with water and boiled for one minute. Then transfer to sugar syrup, leave for 5 minutes and let the jam cool. Then bring to a boil again, cook for 5 minutes and cool. Repeat cooking 1-2 times more and arrange in jars. With this method of cooking, the berries retain most of the vitamins and do not boil over.
