Berries of bird cherry are not the most popular product and, having appreciated it from all sides, we can say that this is completely unfair. No need to create a diet with her at the head. But if you occasionally decorate your table with cherry berries - your health will noticeably improve.
What can you tell about the benefits of cherry berries and the whole plant
Of all types of bird cherry (the Pink family, the genus Plum), the most common are ornamental plants and fruit crops, common bird cherry (carpal, bird) and bird cherry, fruiting berries of red, and not black and purple, as usual.
Bird cherry has the appearance of low trees, less often - shrubs, and their flowering is unusually beautiful and fragrant - white inflorescences form lush clusters.
In them, in the middle of summer and autumn, the fruits of bird cherry gather - a small drupe of a rich and sweet taste that cannot be compared with anything, with a tart-astringent hue (which is increasingly weakening to the full ripening of berries).
Fresh berries of bird cherry practically do not eat - it’s just not very tasty, but it’s a matter of time to make them a filling for pies with sugar (or even honey and spices).
From bird cherry jam, jelly, syrup and homemade wine are prepared.
Fresh berries, laid by the leaves of bird cherry, are stored in a cool place for several weeks. Bird cherry leaf, by the way, interestingly sets off cucumbers when pickling.
Sometimes bird cherry is frozen. But more often they store it in reserve and then - you can even cook compote from it, but it is still in demand in the kitchen in a ground form.
Bird cherry flour is added to the dough for cakes, cookies, a variety of pastries, with it you can prepare meat sauce and a sweet cream. A bonus to taste and appetizing aroma - bird cherry is a bright dye.
Bird cherry belongs to those amazing plants, the air around which (especially during the flowering period) is saturated with volatile phytoncides that destroy microorganisms harmful to humans (animals, other plants), including spores of a number of mold species.
Therefore, bird cherry is a healer of the forest and a valuable decoration of the garden.
And besides - excellent honey plant.
Traditional medicine and modern herbal medicine agreed that practically all parts of bird cherry - bark, leaves, flowers, berries, are useful in their own way.
But in the field of nutrition, the fruits are, of course, most used.
Given that their energy value is 100 kcal per 100 g and usually they don’t eat bird cherry a lot, it’s impossible to be afraid of gaining excess weight because of it.
Only 100 g of bird cherry berries several times cover the daily requirement of an adult for cobalt and more than 50% - the need for manganese.
It is also worth noting the significant content of zinc and copper necessary for DNA synthesis, protein metabolism and hemoglobin production.
Other elements that create the benefits of cherry berries include:
• anthocyanins (they are pigments) are not synthesized in the body and are important for it due to a number of properties - hemostatic, adaptogenic and bactericidal;
• vitamin C strengthens the immune system, optimizes the absorption of calcium;
• tannins are responsible for the effectiveness of the plant to stop diarrhea, and they, in combination with anthocyanins, create an anti-inflammatory property;
• organic acids in conjunction with flavonoids increase the body's resistance to oxygen starvation (hypoxia);
• Vitamin PP and pectin act as an antioxidant that prevents the damaging, aging body of the effects of free radicals;
• gum supports the absorption of nutrients from food, and, according to the findings of a number of scientists, it can prevent lipid metabolism disorders towards weight gain.
What diseases will benefit from bird cherry berries?
With colds and SARS and acute respiratory infections, bird cherry acts as an antipyretic and diaphoretic.
Strengthening the body, it prevents the complications of diseases that can damage the heart, eyesight and respiratory system.
The benefits of bird cherry in bronchitis are pronounced - the antitussive effect is combined in its berries with the ability to excrete phlegm.
In the treatment of diseases of the genitourinary system, for example, jade, bird cherry acts as a diuretic.
Bird cherry is useful for the prevention of atherosclerosis due to the property of lowering blood cholesterol and preventing the formation of plaques on the walls of blood vessels.
Also, it strengthens blood vessels and capillaries, simultaneously increasing their elasticity.
Bird cherry - one of the main means of herbal medicine for violations in the digestive tract (including for the treatment of infectious diseases), when used:
• accelerates recovery from dysbiosis and enterocolitis;
• the composition and production of gastric juice is normalized;
• the perception of fatty and spicy foods by the stomach improves (with the disappearance of such a reaction to it as nausea and a feeling of heaviness).
Also, cherry berries prevent putrefactive processes in the intestine and promote absorption through the walls of beneficial substances from digested food.
The positive effect of cherry berries on the oral cavity is proven - the removal of gum disease, the suppression of bacteria that provoke periodontal disease.
How else is the benefit of cherry berries
It is known that during the development of Siberia, bird cherry was appreciated for its ability to maintain human health, even with a poor, nutritious diet.
A handful of cherry berries - a "casket" with a remedy for vitamin deficiency.
Berries of bird cherry accelerate tissue regeneration, including in such difficult cases as animal bites and ulcers, and also have a slight analgesic effect (for any focus of pain).
In relation to the nervous system, bird cherry acts as a sedative, but without inhibition of the speed of reaction and thinking, and the latter, as a side effect, is characterized by many sedative drugs of modern medicine.
Also, today, scientists insist on the benefits of bird cherry in measures to prevent malignant neoplasms.
What can be the harm from cherry berries
The leaves of bird cherry, its bark and flowers, but mostly seeds, contain amygdalin glycoside, which is converted under certain conditions (for example, during digestion) to hydrocyanic acid. And its accumulation in the body is fraught with poisoning.
Therefore, for the preparation and use of cherry berries without harm, you need to adhere to a number of rules:
• blanks (jam, tincture) from bird cherry with pits cannot be stored for longer than 9 months;
• even better - to complicate the recipes and previously wipe fresh (or steamed with boiling water) fruits through a sieve, then, having lost their harm, the berries of bird cherry will only benefit.
For the same reason ground cherry may cause suspicion - not every manufacturer prefers technologies in which there will be no seeds in it.
So that there is no harm from the berries of bird cherry, it should be abandoned in case of chronic constipation, hemorrhoids, stomach ulcer in the acute stage.
In the past, bird cherry served as a contraceptive for women, and although in this regard its effectiveness has not received solid scientific confirmation, it is well known that traditional medicine recipes with bird cherry and even its fruits are abundant - all this is contraindicated for pregnant women and risks are especially pronounced (up to miscarriage) in the first trimester.
Despite the properties of a natural antibiotic, cherry blossom bouquets in bloom are not recommended for a long time to keep indoors. Another, not so good range of elements in its composition can provoke a deterioration in well-being, including migraine, dizziness and nausea.
