Nature presents us with many useful and tasty gifts. Sometimes we don’t even think about how much benefit this or that berry, fruit or vegetable conceals in itself. That currant, the beneficial properties of which are known to almost everyone, is one of the generous gifts of our mother nature.
Currant is a shrub of the genus Saxifraga, whose average height is one and a half meters. The berries on this shrub can be of different colors: white, red, black. In total, more than one hundred and fifty species of this perennial shrub are known.
A relatively young species is black currant, whose beneficial properties were already known in the middle of the fifteenth century. Black currant has always grown well in Russia, and to this day it will not be possible to find a single garden plot where this fruit would not be found.
Blackcurrant, the beneficial properties of which are known to everyone, contains valuable chemical elements (vitamins, trace elements and other biological compounds; sugar, tannins and pectic substances, acids). Black currant, the beneficial properties of which we have already listed, also has a strong coloring property, therefore it is used as a pigment.
Do not ignore the beneficial role of blackcurrant infusions. They will help with allergies, inflammation, they can be used even as a therapeutic diuretic and vitamin complex. To always be able to cook a healing infusion, you need to worry in advance in the summer and dry some berries. It is prepared easily and simply: three tablespoons (tea) of currant berries are poured with a glass of boiling water. You need to insist the berries for about half an hour, and take up to four times daily - forty or fifty grams. It is best to drink the currant infusion on an empty stomach, before eating. It is indicated for the following diseases: diseases of the stomach, skin, liver, heart, colds, allergies, kidney stones, nervousness, and so on. Also, a decoction of currant berries is indicated as a general strengthening agent in case of loss of strength.
Separately, it is worth mentioning about currant leaves, whose beneficial properties are known due to the presence of vitamin C. Young leaves are especially rich in the content of ascorbic acid. They need to be collected immediately after flowering of the shrub, since with the ripening of berries, the vitamin content of the leaves decreases rapidly.
Currant leaves are famous for the successful combination of biological substances that have strengthening capillaries and other positive properties.
Currant does not lose its properties even after freezing, so whenever you can get a handful of berries from the freezer and prepare a tasty and healthy compote.
But in addition to black, red currant is known, the useful properties of which are also great. Unlike black, it is less picky, they get a larger crop from it, it is viable.
If the red currants are dried, then on cold winter evenings it will be an excellent source of iodine. And from fresh berries you can prepare tasty and healthy juices, fruit drinks, preserves, jellies, marmalades, liquors, wines and more.
Nevertheless, everything is good in moderation. Therefore, it is worth remembering that any vitamin has a norm that is undesirable and even dangerous to break. In particular, even contraindications have been identified regarding red fruits. Fruits of red currant should not be used in patients with problems with the stomach and esophagus, ulcers, with hepatitis, hemophilia patients, and in case of poor blood coagulation.
But if everything is normal with your health, then you can safely include these berries in your diet. This will only have a positive effect, you can not even doubt it. Small children can also be given little berries.