Red sea buckthorn shepherdia useful properties
Gumi berries are quite pleasant in taste and resemble pineapple, apple and cherry at the same time, and according to some - ripe, but slightly tart persimmon. Reference by topic: Reproduction of sea buckthorn. The gumi root system is superficial and goes far beyond the crown, so it is undesirable to loosen the soil under the bush, it is better to use mulching. Almost all varieties of sea buckthorn do not exceed 3.5-4 meters in height. Both fractions are easily separated. It is important that the water does not rise above the 3-4th kidney. Pour the remaining so-called "beetle" and leave to roam in natural conditions. Coarse-grained river sand, sufficient light and no direct sunlight are acceptable for rooting. This plant is the closest relative of shepherdia and sea buckthorn, but it compares favorably with the taste of "speckled" fruits. I do this: 0.7-1 kg of compound feed pour 4 liters of boiling water and close the lid, then after 1-1.5 hours I add 1-1.5 liters of cold water and bring the volume to a full bucket of 15 liters with fresh duckweed. Every year, more and more berries can be harvested with gumi: from 3 kg from a young plant to a maximum limit of 30 kg. The plant needs a lot of light.
Related link from a series of articles: Sea buckthorn recipes Natural juice. Sea buckthorn was cultivated for cultivation in gardens almost only in the 20th century. There are aesthetes who pluck the fruits with tongs, but in cold windy weather this method is extremely inconvenient.
Feijoa fruits are eaten whole, while they are harvested unripe, and they ripen during storage. We recommend that you register or enter the site under your name. For future cuttings, I choose healthy lignified branches about 1 cm thick. Yellow-reddish drupes are slightly bitter, but in general they have a sour-sweet taste. Silver Shepherdia has also found application in cooking. In our south, it ripens by October, but you should not rush to collect it: wait for the first frosts.
Shepherdia is a relative of sea buckthorn. Beneficial features. Growing, planting and care. Photo - 9655975973.myjino.ru
Just specify, please, what kind of Michurin, who presented summer residents with shepherdia in 1962, are we talking about. His shoots are first silvery, then gray-brown, with thorns. With age, I felt that standing on the stairs for a long time in a tense position is not just difficult, but unbearable. Layers give good roots. Bath with sea buckthorn Pour dried berries and leaves with 200 g of water, let it brew for 2 hours, and then pour the infusion into a warm bath, adding a few tablespoons of sea buckthorn oil. The cuttings are planted in a substrate consisting of river sand and peat in a ratio of 1: 1.
Juniper berries grow for 2 years and fully ripen by the autumn of the second year: the fruits become soft, acquire a black-blue color with a bluish wax coating.
True, when the sea buckthorn ripened, it was necessary to look "in both": the birds feasted on the berries so actively that in a couple of days they harvested the entire crop "under the net." A good seedling should be 30-50 cm tall, have 3-4 shoots, trunk diameter at the base - 5-8 mm, fibrous root. Useful properties Shepherdia berries have a beneficial effect on the walls of blood vessels, reduce their permeability, fragility and increase elasticity. Now I will tell you how to cook sea buckthorn oil. The processing of sea buckthorn berries is a wide field for the creativity of any hostess or herbalist. 15-20 kg of berries are harvested from each bush. In the first days of treatment with oil, heartburn may increase, belching may appear. And although sakura is often considered a Japanese cherry, in fact, several types of cherries are called sakura during their flowering period.
Shepherdia silver is an attractive low tree or sprawling thorny shrub 4-5 m high with edible berries. In America, shepherdia is known by other names - there it is called buffalo or soapberry.
The pulp of the fruit is used to make compotes and fruit drinks, as a filling for baking and as a component of desserts. Similar silvery leaves, and only the berries are painted in a different color.
More information
Since it has a minimum of contraindications. Sea buckthorn berries are able to enhance cell regeneration, healing wounds and burns, so their oil is used to treat cervical erosion, colpitis, cervicitis, candidiasis. Apply oil both externally and internally.
The benefits of berries
- When taking 3 teaspoons of oil per day, dividing the daily dose into 3 doses. However, be careful, it can cause heartburn or nausea.
- With a runny nose, lubricate the nostrils with sea buckthorn oil several times a day.
- For angina, dilute a teaspoon of oil in 250 ml of warm water.
- Fresh berries or can effectively increase immunity and provide the body with the necessary vitamins.
For women
The benefits of sea buckthorn for women's health are obvious: it has a regenerating, protective, bactericidal and anti-inflammatory effect. After its use, fungi, staphylococci, streptococci and even Trichomonas disappear. In addition, its internal use does not harm the gastrointestinal tract.
Important! Back in the early 50s of the last century, when studies were conducted on the benefits of sea buckthorn for women, a positive result was obtained very quickly, but no side effects were observed in any of the participants.
Sea buckthorn for pregnant women
The use of sea buckthorn is allowed during pregnancy and lactation. It perfectly treats the symptoms of chronic diseases, which are often exacerbated in pregnant women.
It will not harm, because it does not have any effect on the development of the fetus, but at the same time it saturates the body with many useful substances, thereby reducing the load on the body.
The benefits of sea buckthorn for men
It is known that sea buckthorn increases sexual strength in men. This is due to the fact that, being an antioxidant and a regulator of hormonal balance, it allows the body to remain young and healthy for a long time. Men who love to eat her fresh berries retain their masculine power for a long time. There is no definite recipe for its use to normalize potency - it is enough to eat a spoonful of oil or often use jam based on its berries.
The benefits for the body are expressed in its unique properties: it not only improves immunity, but also has an antioxidant effect (antioxidants are substances that prevent the harmful effects of free radicals on the cells of our body).
Sea buckthorn is rich in vitamins. The most valuable vitamins for the body are B, PP, H, C, E, A, K, as well as the minerals potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and sodium, which provide significant support to our health, especially when immunity is reduced or hormonal changes occur.
Sea buckthorn contributes to:
- blood clotting;
- decrease in vascular permeability;
- improvement of biliary function;
- normalization of thyroid functions;
- improvement of vision;
- normalization of metabolism;
- increase male power.
Important! By drinking sea buckthorn juice and cream every day, combined in equal proportions, you strengthen the immune system, and also prevent liver disease, cancer, and peptic ulcer. The liver is cleansed, vision is improved, and even the skin is transformed - it becomes smoother and fresher.
Red sea buckthorn - useful properties
Silver shepherdia resembles ordinary sea buckthorn in shape, but of a more saturated red hue, sprinkled with a light silvery powder. It is also known for its beneficial properties.
- First of all, shepherdia is considered an excellent immunomodulator due to the content of vitamin C.
- It has a hemostatic and anti-inflammatory effect, prevents sclerosis.
- It is a dietary product, therefore it is indicated during the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases and during the period of weight loss.
Shepherdia is consumed fresh or prepared for the winter. Its taste with a slight sourness is a great addition to culinary dishes, especially this berry goes well with meat.
Sea buckthorn for face, hair and skin
This berry is extremely beneficial for facial skin. Masks based on it will help smooth wrinkles, give skin firmness and elasticity, heal wounds, moisturize, eliminate pimples and comedones. It is also indicated for oily skin that has lost its healthy color and natural protection from the harmful effects of the external environment.
To maintain skin tone, in the morning, after washing, wipe the skin with ice cubes made from sea buckthorn infusion (2 tablespoons of berries are poured with water in an amount of 400 ml and, after insisting for 1.5 hours, frozen in molds).
You need to take half a teaspoon of sea buckthorn juice, freshly squeezed, and beat it with a teaspoon of honey. If your skin is oily, replace honey with yolk.
Advice! To remove pimples, apply sea buckthorn oil pointwise to areas of inflammation.
Sea buckthorn for hair
This berry helps to make the hair healthy and shiny. Hair acquires strength, smoothness, their correct structure is restored. Curls are more manageable and even dry faster. Masks based on sea buckthorn are an excellent prevention of seborrhea and baldness.
Mask
Mash fresh berries in a puree and apply for an hour on the scalp. Wrap your head in a bag, warm it with a terry towel on top. After an hour, wash off the mask with shampoo and water. If desired, additional ingredients can be added to the mask - castor oil, yolk, mustard powder.
Sea buckthorn for skin
Sea buckthorn helps to saturate the skin with vitamins and minerals, make it smoother and more perfect, smooth out wrinkles and restore healthy color to the skin. Baths with it soften hardened feet and have a rejuvenating effect.
Sea buckthorn bath
Pour dried berries and leaves with water (200 g), let it brew for 2 hours, and then pour the infusion into a warm bath, adding a few tablespoons of sea buckthorn oil.
Important! If you add honey and milk to a bath with sea buckthorn oil, you will certainly feel like a queen basking in a bath. Mix with two tablespoons of oil a liter of milk and half a glass of honey. Pour the mixture into the bath.
Despite the negligible number of contraindications, they still exist.
You can not use it inside with:
- , and other diseases of the pancreas;
- cholelithiasis, increased acidity of gastric juice;
- hyperacid gastritis, urolithiasis;
- liver diseases and gastrointestinal disorders.
Also, this berry is considered a strong allergen, and an increased dosage can cause side effects even if it is fully tolerated.
Important! Sea buckthorn fruits should not be used for stomach and duodenal ulcers, although doctors often prescribe its oil for such a diagnosis.
Remember that before using sea buckthorn inside, you need to consult a doctor, and when used externally, check the presence of allergic reactions on the skin of your hands.
They have many useful properties. This has been used since ancient times in their homeland in North America by the indigenous population as a dietary supplement and medicine. Other well-known names include "Nebraska currant" and "buffalo berry". In this article you can find information about Shepherdia silver, its beneficial properties and contraindications for use.
What is this plant?
Belongs to the Lokhov family and is a rather undersized shrub, whose homeland is considered to be North America. The shrub bears fruit with red berries, which are covered with barely noticeable whitish dots. Bushes can bear fruit annually for 40-50 years, while each can collect 15-20 kg of berries.
Did you know? The Lokhov family includes only 3 types of plants, the distinguishing feature of which is the presence of hairs or scales on the leaves and shoots, which give them a silvery tint.
Shepherdia, also known as buffaloberry, is quite edible for humans in its raw form, but has a slightly sour-bitter taste, and after eating it leaves a feeling of dryness in the mouth. These berries serve as a source of food for many wild animals, primarily for bears, in addition, they are eaten by the larvae of some insect species.
Nutritional value and calories
The product has a rather meager nutritional value, but it carries a very large amount of other biologically active substances. The calorie content of 100 g of red sea buckthorn is only about 28 kcal.
100 g of the raw product also contains: protein - 0.5 g, fat - 0.2 g, carbohydrates - 3.7 g. The rest of the weight falls on dietary fiber and water, which any berry, based on its biological structure, pretty rich. 
Chemical composition
Shepherdia is the best natural source of vitamins and microelements. By the amount of vitamin C it contains, it is able to compete with many citrus fruits. And as for the catechins and oil substances that make up, then here they overtake the globally recognized leader in these parameters - sea buckthorn. The main chemical composition of the berry can be characterized as follows:
- various sugars;
- many organic acids;
- vitamin C;
- substances with tannic properties;
- pectin;
- carotene;
- vitamins C and P;
- lipokines.
Did you know? The composition of the fruits of this shrub also includes tetrahydroharmol, which, when ingested in large quantities, acts as a psychedelic.
Pharmacological properties
The fruits of Shepherdia silvery have many pronounced beneficial properties. The leukoanthocyanins and catechins contained in them help to increase the strength and elasticity of the walls of veins, arteries and arterioles, and also reduce their fragility. Carotene, present in excess in fruits, improves the functioning of the visual analyzer and prevents the development of many ophthalmic diseases.
In addition, carotene is the initial substance that our body needs for the synthesis of vitamin A, and therefore the use of red sea buckthorn has a positive effect on the condition of the skin.
Vitamin C, which is part of the berry in large quantities, helps to increase and strengthen the immune function of the body, helps to better cope with the processes of resuming normal work after suffering various acute respiratory viral infections and influenza.
Vitamin P is responsible for maintaining the correct structure and tone of blood vessels, strengthens the capillary network, and has an anti-atherosclerotic effect. In this regard, we can conclude that the use of shepherdia is an excellent prevention of strokes and heart attacks.
Since these fruits are dietary products, they are very often recommended for people seeking to lose weight, and for a variety of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Tannins, which are found in large quantities in this berry, have a range of different effects: astringent, bactericidal, anti-inflammatory and hemostatic. The use of fruits
Shepherdia has not found wide application in traditional medicine, but is actively used in folk and culinary. They can be found as components in various preparations and bioactive supplements.
Treatment
The fruits of this shrub are widely used and recommended by many traditional healers for the treatment of various viral infections and influenza, as well as an immunostimulant in the process of recovering the body from the effects of the latter. It is widely used as a vitamin supplement to the traditional treatment of these diseases. It is used to maintain and normalize the work of the gastrointestinal tract and the cardiovascular system.
Important!Traditional pharmacotherapy should not be abandoned in favor of treatment with shepherdia, but it can serve as an excellent addition to traditional treatment regimens.
cooking
One of the main methods of using these berries in cooking is the production of various alcoholic beverages from them by infusion. At one time, Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin himself spoke positively about various tinctures obtained using red sea buckthorn. In addition, compotes, jelly, jam, various sauces and unusually tasty seasonings can be prepared from it.
Contraindications and harm
Bison berries should not be eaten if you have an individual intolerance to it or are a pronounced allergic person. During lactation, pregnancy and in childhood, it is necessary to consult a doctor before use. 
The composition and calorie content of red sea buckthorn. Useful properties, alleged harm and contraindications to the use of buffalo berries. Recipes for dishes with silver shepherdia.
The content of the article:
Shepherdia silver (lat. Shepherdia argentea) is a small thorny shrub that belongs to the genus Shepherdia, the Lokhov family. Other names: buffalo berry, red sea buckthorn, Nebraska currant, bison or rabbit berries. The plant is native to North America. Currently, it can be found in the southern regions of Canada, in the northwestern United States. Shepherdia silver bush grows up to 6 meters in height. Its leaves are oval, elongated, with twisted tips, they are covered on both sides with a silvery fluff, thanks to which the plant got its name. Fruits reach a diameter of 5 mm. Red berries are spherical in shape, have a sour taste with bitterness, and under the influence of frost it becomes softer. They ripen in early autumn and can hang on branches until spring. The plant bears fruit for 50 years.
Composition and calorie content of shepherdia silver
The calorie content of the buffalo berry is small, but despite this, the fruits are a natural pantry of vitamins and microelements. And the amount of vitamin C in them is even greater than in many citrus fruits containing it.
Caloric content of silver shepherdia - 28 kcal per 100 g of product, of which:
- Proteins - 0.5 g;
- Fats - 0.2 g;
- Carbohydrates - 3.7 g.
The chemicals in Shepherdia silver are a variety of sugars, organic acids, vitamin C, tannins, pectin, carotene, fiber, flavonoids, leukoanthocyanins, carotenoids, lipoxins, catechins, tetrahydroharmol, vitamins P, A and oily substances.
Useful properties of red sea buckthorn
Due to the large number of useful elements in these small fruits with a low calorie content, they are widely used for the treatment and prevention of many diseases. Berries can be eaten fresh, dried, or made into tinctures.
What benefits does sheferdia silver bring to the human body:
- Increases and strengthens immunity. This is facilitated by ascorbic acid in the composition of these fruits. Of no small importance for the immune system is the fact that red sea buckthorn helps the body in the fight against viruses and infections.
- Improves eyesight. Consuming buffalo berries, rich in carotene, will help to cope with many eye diseases.
- Improves the activity of the heart and blood vessels. This is due to vitamin C, which helps keep them supple and impermeable. Vitamin P acts as a means to strengthen capillaries, protects blood vessels from sclerotic lesions. Consuming red sea buckthorn will reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
- Treats diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. The consumption of silver shepherdia berries helps to cope with diseases of the intestines and stomach due to the beneficial elements in their composition. In addition, they will benefit people who want to get rid of extra pounds.
- Rejuvenates the body. The rich chemical composition of shepherdia silver, especially vitamins A and C, prevents human aging, makes his skin smooth, healthy and velvety, improves the color of the epidermis.
- Prevents atherosclerosis. For this purpose, it is recommended to take a tincture of red sea buckthorn berries. It will reduce the fragility of capillaries and cleanse their walls of cholesterol deposits.
- Fights infections and colds. Tannins with their bactericidal effect, as well as vitamin C in the composition of berries, contribute to this beneficial property of silver shepherdia.
- Improves the functioning of the nervous system. The rich composition of the fruits of red sea buckthorn makes them useful for relieving irritation and neurosis. Consuming them also boosts performance and improves memory. Most of all, these berries contain carbohydrates, and they are necessary for the brain to work.
Contraindications and harm of shepherdia silver
Despite the many healing properties, the buffalo berry does not benefit everyone, in addition, it is an allergen due to the red color of the fruit.
Who needs to refrain from eating the fruits of Shepherdia silver:
- People prone to allergic reactions. This category of the population should consume berries very carefully, and sensitivity to individual elements that make up red sea buckthorn should also be taken into account.
- Pregnant and lactating women and babies. Before introducing berries into the diet, as well as before treating with the fruits of red sea buckthorn, it is necessary to consult with doctors.
- Patients with gastric and duodenal ulcers. During an exacerbation of these diseases, you need to eat dietary foods, but berries are not.
Recipes of dishes and drinks with red sea buckthorn
Pleasant sour taste with spicy bitterness, wonderful aroma and beautiful red color - thanks to all this, buffalo berries are very much in demand in cooking. They can be consumed fresh and dried, frozen, prepared wines and liqueurs, compotes, mousses, jams, jams and jams. Bitterness makes the fruit a component for sauces and marinades. And, of course, they make an excellent filling for pies. In addition, the berries are pickled for the winter.
Recipes with shepherdia silvery delicious dishes and drinks:
- Red sea buckthorn jam. We wash the berries. We fill them with sugar in the proportion of 1 kg of fruit and 700 g of sugar. We stand for several hours so that they start up the juice. We put on the stove, bring to a boil and cook over low heat, stirring, for 5 minutes. We spread the finished product in sterilized jars, cork, wrap until cool. Happy tea drinking in winter!
- Jam without heat treatment. We wash 1.5 kg of berries, dry them and pass through a meat grinder. Add 3 kg of sugar, mix well and put in sterilized jars. You can cork them or close them with nylon lids for preservation.
- Red sea buckthorn jam. We wash 1 kg of berries, grind them with a blender. Add 1.2 kg of sugar, pour in 1.2 liters of water and cook over low heat, stirring constantly. At the end of cooking, add 1-1.5 tbsp. lemon juice. We spread the jam in sterilized jars, and then, as usual, sealing, wrapping.
- Shepherdia silver compote. We wash the red sea buckthorn berries, put them in a sterilized 3-liter jar (300 g). We prepare the syrup: boil 2 liters of water, add 0.5 kg of sugar, bring to a boil and pour the fruits. We roll up the container. Wrap up. This compote can be stored for 2 years.
- Buffalo berry drink. It will perfectly quench your thirst on hot summer days, and will also act as a diuretic on the body. Wash 0.5 kg of berries. Fill them with 2 liters of water. Let's bring it to a boil. Add 300 g of sugar. Drink to your health. It will be better than any store-bought sweet drink.
- Biscuit. We wash 300 g of silver shepherdia berries and pass them through a meat grinder. Add to the berry mass 400 g of flour, 0.5 g of powdered sugar, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon of soda and a little salt. Optionally, for a more fluffy dough, it is recommended to pour 2 tablespoons of starch into it. You need to bake a biscuit at a temperature of 180-200 degrees, approximately 45 minutes.
- Shanks with red sea buckthorn. The first step is to prepare yeast pancakes or flat cakes. To spread on our shanks, we wash the fruits of red sea buckthorn, pass them through a meat grinder, add sugar and starch, mix all these components well and spread on pancakes, and in the oven for 30 minutes. A product with an unusual name is ready.
- Silver shepherdia sauce. We wash 200 g of berries and pass them through a meat grinder. We spread this mass in a saucepan, add salt, sugar and pepper to taste. Mix 2 tablespoons of flour in a small amount of water (this will thicken the sauce) and add to the ingredients. Cook over low heat, stirring. It turned out a semi-liquid mass - the sauce is ready! You can add a little butter. Perfect with meat, pasta or mashed potatoes.
- Red sea buckthorn sauce with spices. Take 10 g of dry ginger, 5 g of turmeric, 10 g of ground red pepper and salt, 5 g of dry thyme and 10 g of dry tarragon. They were spices. We need 1 kg of berries, and 400 ml of water. From this amount of products we get 300 g of sauce. First of all, we wash the sea buckthorn, fill it with water and boil for 5 minutes. Then we make mashed potatoes from it with the help of a crush and cook for another 5 minutes. Then we cool the mass, pass it through a sieve and put it on fire again for 10 minutes. Add spices, cook for another 10 minutes and put in jars. The sauce is ready! Great accompaniment to meat.
- Shepherdia silver tincture. We wash 500 g of ripe berries and dry them. We crush the fruits of a wooden crush and put them in a jar. Add 150 g of liquid honey or 75 g of sugar. Pour 0.5 liters of vodka. We close with a tight lid, shake everything well and insist for 30 days in a dark, warm place. After a month, the liquid is filtered and bottled.
- vitamin salad. First, we wash, peel and rub finely 400 g of carrots. Then grind with a blender half a glass of red sea buckthorn and cranberries, add 0.5 kg of sugar. All components are mixed and seasoned with vegetable oil. This is a very tasty, besides, no less healthy salad.
- garlic salad. We wash 2 carrots, peel and rub on a grater. We skip 2 cloves of garlic through the garlic maker. Grind 0.5 cups of berries with a meat grinder or blender. We mix the components. Salt and add sugar to taste. We fill 150 g of sour cream. This salad will boost your immunity and will benefit in the fight against colds.
Note! Shepherdia silver berries are a delicious filling for pies, cakes and dumplings.
The plant got its name in 1818. The botanist Thomas Natholom named it after his friend John Shepherdy, who at that time was the director of the Botanical Gardens in Liverpool, England. But it was only the discovery of a new shrub, and that's it.
And only in 1904 in the state of Dakota they began to make the first plantings of this plant and cultivate it. And after a while, the Americans discovered the healing and gustatory qualities of red sea buckthorn berries.
The Indians used the fruits of silver shepherdia both in cooking and for medicinal purposes.
This shrub has male and female individuals, therefore, to obtain a crop, they must be planted side by side.
In Russia, Ukraine and many European countries, red sea buckthorn bushes are used for decorative purposes due to their resistance to low temperatures. They are used to make hedges, planted in parks and gardens.
Watch the video about Shepherdia silver:
So, the fruits of silver shepherdia really have a lot of useful properties. Whether they are fresh or dried, in the form of tincture - these berries will help to cope with various ailments. And the taste and aroma is unusual and pleasant, it will add zest to your feast. Preparations for the winter will make it possible to enjoy jam and compotes on long winter evenings. And if you grow red sea buckthorn in your garden, then the berries will be much more useful than purchased ones.
Shepherdia silver is called red sea buckthorn because of the similarity of the plant with ordinary sea buckthorn. The difference lies in the color of the berries - in Shepherdia they are bright red.
Shepherdia belongs to the sea buckthorn family, in most botanical reference books the plant is called a hybrid of sea buckthorn and barberry. Shepherdia has a lot of useful properties, its fruits are used in cooking and traditional medicine.
Description of shepherdia
Silver Shepherdia is a deciduous shrub with a height of two to six meters. The plant got its name in honor of the English botanist D. Shepherd, North America is considered the birthplace of red sea buckthorn. You can find other names for the shrub: buffalo berry, Abkhazian sea buckthorn, pink sea buckthorn, Nebraska currant.
The leaves of Shepherdia are oval, rounded at the top, covered with silvery hairs on both sides. The leaf arrangement is opposite. Red sea buckthorn blooms in April. The flowers are small, yellow, divided into male and female. To get a harvest of berries, on the site you need to plant male and female plants next to each other. Pollination occurs only with the help of insects - this is another difference between shepherdia and ordinary sea buckthorn, which belongs to wind-pollinated plants.
Shepherdia fruit is a red spherical drupe covered with white dots. The mass ripening of berries occurs in August or early September, they are located on the branches in the same way as sea buckthorn berries. Ripe fruits do not fall to the ground for a long time, which makes their collection very convenient. Shepherdia berries taste sweet and sour, sometimes with bitterness.
The life expectancy of red sea buckthorn is up to 30 years; annually, one bush produces an average of 15 kg of berries.
Beneficial features
The nutritional value of shepherdia fruits is low, the calorie content of 100 g of the product is only 25-30 kcal. The main mass of the berry is water and fiber, the pulp contains a small amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
Useful properties of sea buckthorn, crossed with barberry, lie in its chemical composition: in terms of vitamin content, sheferdia surpasses citrus fruits. Microelements, pectin, organic acids, tannins, carotene, various groups of vitamins (vitamin C predominates) were found in the composition of the buffalo berry.
The main beneficial properties of red sea buckthorn are manifested in such an effect of fruits on the body:
Due to their antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, pink sea buckthorn berries help to cope with inflammatory processes in the intestines and accelerate wound healing. It is useful to add berries to dietary dishes that are included in the menu of people who monitor body weight.
Kissels and compotes, jelly and jam are prepared from sheferdia berries. To preserve the vitamin properties of fruits during the winter period, it is recommended to freeze them.
For therapeutic purposes, freshly squeezed juice of berries, infusions and decoctions obtained from dried fruits are used (a glass of boiling water is taken per tablespoon of berries). It is useful to brew sea buckthorn berries as tea and drink every morning and evening - thanks to the regular use of sea buckthorn tea in the autumn-spring period, you can protect yourself from colds.
Sea buckthorn oil has excellent healing properties, it is prepared as follows: shepherdia fruits are washed, dried in the oven and ground in a coffee grinder. The resulting flour is poured with olive oil in a ratio of 1: 2, mixed well and placed in a dark place for 7-10 days. The finished oil is used to treat diseases of the stomach, skin rashes. The recommended dose for internal oil intake is a teaspoon 20 minutes before a meal.
Contraindication to the use of fresh Shepherdia fruits- exacerbation of diseases of the liver, stomach and intestines. Some people have an individual intolerance to the fruit, so their use in food and as a medicine should be abandoned.
Sea buckthorn cultivation
Shepherdia is an unpretentious plant that grows on any kind of soil. Despite this, it is preferable to choose well-lit places for planting sea buckthorn - then the fruits will be more juicy and large. The plant is drought-resistant, in the absence of additional watering, shepherdia will still please with a bountiful harvest.
Buffalo berries are propagated in several ways:
- Seeds. Shepherdia seeds are sown immediately in the fall in the ground, in the spring (approximately at the end of April) shoots appear. Until the plants have entered the fruiting phase, it is impossible to determine where the male or female bush is. Therefore, several plants are left on the site, after the appearance of the first fruits, unnecessary male plants are removed. With good watering and fertilizing the soil, young bushes will begin to bear fruit in 4-5 years.
- cuttings. The easiest and most popular way to propagate Shepherdia, in which it is known for sure whether a male or female plant is planted on the site. For rooting, cuttings 10-15 cm long are used, on which there are several nodes. After cutting, the cuttings are placed in a solution of a growth stimulator, a day later they are planted to a depth of 3-4 cm. The procedure begins in early summer, by mid-autumn the cuttings successfully take root.
- Root offspring. The roots of the red sea buckthorn are shallow, so you can easily separate the root offspring from the mother bush and transplant it to a new place. Root shoots are taken from male and female plants; to ensure guaranteed fruiting on the site, it is recommended to plant four female bushes per male.
Caring for red sea buckthorn consists in removing weeds around young bushes, periodically pruning crooked and dried branches.
The plant is not susceptible to diseases and attack by insect pests, withstands winter frosts, so even novice gardeners can handle growing shepherdia.
The plant is suitable for growing in various climatic zones, thanks to which shepherdia is found everywhere in Russia.
Harvesting berries
The fastest way to collect shepherdia berries is in this way: large pieces of fabric are spread around the bush and the branches are intensively shaken. Ripe berries fall on the fabric. Picking is best done after the first frost - in this case, the berries acquire an unusual taste and aroma. But you need to be careful about choosing the time of harvest - too much frost can spoil the taste of sea buckthorn.
If the collection is carried out before the onset of frost, the berries are removed by hand, trying not to crush them, while leaving small petioles. Thanks to this method of picking, the berries will be stored in a cool place for a long time. The collected fruits are dried, frozen, used to make compotes and jams.
The taste and medicinal properties of shepherdia are complemented by another advantage - red sea buckthorn is unusually decorative, it is used to decorate household plots. Shepherdia bushes look especially elegant in autumn, when red fruits “burn” against the background of silvery leaves.
