Berries of bird cherry: useful properties, photo

All berries are healthy. What do you know about bird cherry? Its fruits are a little exotic for many, despite the fact that this large shrub is quite common in our country. And the fruits of ordinary (black) or red bird cherry are useful for many diseases, and this is just a great ingredient for various recipes. We suggest you get to know the berries of bird cherry more closely: how they look, what they taste like, what are they used for.

Cherry fruits

Small dark berries of bird cherry (photo below) ripen in early August. Collecting them is easy enough by hand. It is best to choose dry weather and evening or morning time.

Harvested berries should be processed within four hours after collection. Store them in a cool and dry place. It can be frozen in a freezer, in a special container. The shelf life of the berries is from three to five years.

Berries of bird cherry (photos show them clearly) are quite sweet. Although not yet fully ripened fruits will be a little tart. Therefore, it is recommended to eat completely ripe berries.

What is it used for?

Berries of bird cherry are rarely consumed in unprocessed raw form. They are subjected to various processing, resulting in:

• cherry jam, which can be eaten with tea;
• dried berries, which are then used for cooking compotes;
• broth or compote;
• flour from dried berries, which can then be added to the dough or even make a filling for pies, cookies, pastries and so on;
• medicinal infusions used for medical purposes.

What is in the berries?

Bird cherry (berries) is a unique product in its composition. The list of elements and substances contained in cherry fruits is presented in the table.

Also in the fruits of bird cherry contains:

• lemon acid;
• malic acid ;
• almond oil;
• glycosides;
• provitamin A;
• tannins (up to fifteen percent).

The energy value of one hundred grams of cherry berries is one hundred calories.

Berries of bird cherry: useful properties

The fruits of bird cherry, due to its healing properties, are widely used in folk medicine. The cortex, flowers and fruits of the common bird cherry have a therapeutic effect . Flowers are picked in May and dried. The fruits are also dried. This helps to use their healing properties for a long period.

A decoction of cherry berries helps:

• with problems with the gastrointestinal tract (upset stomach, diarrhea);
• to increase the potency of men;
• with toothaches.

Bird cherry also helps to normalize metabolism. For these purposes, it is better to take not berries, but flowers boiled with boiling water. Proportions: 1 to 1. It is necessary to insist thirty minutes.

Berries of bird cherry are used to treat other diseases:

• rheumatism;
• colds
• fever
• gout
• conjunctivitis (washed eyes with infusion);
• stomatitis and gingivitis (infusion rinse the oral cavity);
• sore throats (infusion gargle);
• with various colds, red cherry berries are more often used;
• ulcers, wounds that fester and become inflamed (apply juice of berries).

The use of bird cherry and products from it (for example, jam) will help you strengthen the walls of blood vessels, get rid of nervous tension, and calm the nervous system.

And women can make face masks from bird cherry flour. They help tone the skin and refresh it.

Medicinal and culinary recipes from cherry berries

Tincture for dysentery:

• one tablespoon of dried berries is poured with one glass of boiled water;
• everything is set on fire for five to ten minutes;
• the mixture leaves in a dark place for two hours.

Drink half a glass thirty minutes before eating.

Tincture for disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and to restore potency:

• bird cherry (berries) - one and a half kilograms;
• boiled water - one glass.

Mix everything and put in a dark place for twenty minutes, so that the broth is infused. After this infusion, you can drink two tablespoons three to four times a day.

Cherry from cherry: boil one glass of berries in four glasses of water along with two tablespoons of sugar and one starch.

Bird cherry jam:

• first recipe: the berries are filled with sugar, based on the proportions of 1 to 1, and set aside for twelve hours, after which the juice is drained, boiled, poured back into the berries, which are then boiled until fully cooked;
• second recipe: sugar syrup is made (one and a half kilograms of sugar and one or two glasses of water), then they are filled with cherry berries (one kilogram), the mixture is cooked until cooked.

Bird cherry cake:

• grind the fruits of bird cherry (you need one full glass of bird cherry flour);
• the resulting flour is bred in one glass of warm milk;
• the mixture is infused for three to four hours;
• one egg is pounded with one glass of sugar, after which a teaspoon of soda and a mixture of milk and bird cherry flour are added;
• knead the dough and set to bake in the oven for thirty minutes;
• when ready take out the cake from the oven; cooled cake can be cut and greased with sour cream, oil or other cream.

Contraindications

Despite all its useful properties and a fairly wide list of diseases for the treatment and prevention of which the fruits are used, bird cherry is contraindicated in women who bear or breast-feed a child, and also have problems conceiving.

Also, excessive consumption of berries and products from them can cause severe poisoning of the body. Infusions and decoctions of berries that are stored for a long enough time can also be harmful to health. It is recommended that people prone to allergic reactions reduce the amount of bird cherry consumption to a minimum.

Such precautions are connected with the fact that the seeds of cherry berries contain harmful hydrocyanic acid (the result of the breakdown of a substance called amygdalin). Therefore, do not abuse the fruits of bird cherry and its products.

We wish you good health!