Cowberry ordinary - vacciinium vitis idaea l.

Family Heather - Ericaceae

Botanical characteristics. Evergreen shrub up to 30 cm tall. It grows on loaches, spruce groves, in thickets of cedar wood.

Rhizome creeping. Stalk erect. Leaves are leathery elliptical, finely toothed, with slightly wrapped edges, dark green on top, shiny, below - lighter, with scattered dark brown glands. Flowers are campanulate, four-dimensional, pale pink, in short drooping inflorescences. Fruit is a red, juicy berry. Seeds of a semilunar form. Blossoms in May - June, fructifies in August - September.

Used parts of the plant. Medicinal raw materials are leaves and fruits. The leaves are collected before flowering, the fruit - as it ripens.

Chemical composition. The leaves contain vitamins, phenols and their derivatives, aldehydes, phenolcarboxylic acids, tannins, catechins, flavonoids.

Fruits contain carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, sucrose, pectin), organic acids (citric, benzoic, malic, cinchona, tartaric, salicylic), vitamins, essential oil (aliphatic alcohols in it), salts, anthocyanins.

Application. Cowberry has long been used in folk medicine. For centuries, this evergreen evergreen has been serving people. The high content of benzoic acid in the plant made it so popular. Collected fruits for a long time do not deteriorate, as benzoic and salicylic acids suppress the processes of decay and fermentation. It is used as a tonic, antipyretic, diuretic, antiseptic, astringent, antiscorbutic, antihelminthic. Decoctions and infusions of leaves and fruits are used for dysentery, gastritis, cholecystitis, stomach tumors, bleeding, pulmonary tuberculosis, diabetes, rheumatism, enteritis as antibacterial, hypertension, salt deposition, cough, radiculitis, gout, kidney stone disease, uterine Bleeding, diarrhea.

In Siberia, cranberry preparations are used for catarrhal diseases, headache, upper respiratory catarrh as haemostatic. Infusions and decoctions of cranberry leaves are antibacterial for staphylococci, streptococci and Escherichia coli.

Fresh fruits of cowberry are used in homeopathy with beriberi, as a laxative, diuretic, bactericidal, antiseptic, anthelmintic, choleretic.

Fresh juice and cowberry extract are used as a strengthening, tonic, inflammatory processes of the urinary tract, with a violation of mineral and purine metabolism, in the treatment of stomach and skin tumors, jaundice; Diabetes. Fruits are prescribed for gastritis with reduced secretory function of the stomach, atherosclerosis, as a multivitamin product. Infusion of flowers is used for eye diseases, diathesis, as a phytoncid agent, with ulcer of the stomach and duodenum.

Preparation

• For infusion take 20 g of leaves, pour 200 ml of boiling water, insist on a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, cool 45 minutes, filter. Take 1/3 cup 3 times a day.
• Fresh juice is used for 1 tbsp. Spoon 3-6 times a day. Infusion of flowers is prepared in the same way as from leaves.

Use of lingonberry in the diet

Fruits of cranberries are widely used for food, in dietary curative nutrition. Berries are eaten fresh, sour and wet, candied, pickled, dried. They cook jams, jams, syrups. Sweet and sour cranberries are served to fried meat, game, to fish dishes and added to salads. Of dried berries are prepared jelly, filling in caramel, cranberry drinks. Tea is made from leaves.

Compote

Ripe berries are washed, dried, placed in jars and filled with hot syrup (per 1 liter of syrup 600 ml of water and 600 g of sugar). Filled cans are covered with lids and sterilized for 20 minutes. Seal, cool and store in a cool place.

Cowberry natural with cream

Berries are washed, let the water drain, put in a rosette, top covered with whipped cream, syrup and sprinkled with nuts.

• Cowberry - 100 g,
• Cream - 30 grams,
• Syrup - 20 g,
• Walnuts - 5 - 7 yr.

Cowberry natural

Ripe berries are washed, dried, placed in jars, filled with boiling water, covered with lids and sterilized for 10 to 15 minutes. Seal, cool and store in a cool place.

Lingonberry wax

Cowberry is washed in cold water, put in a dry enamel dish and poured with chilled syrup. Store in the basement.

Preparation of syrup : per 1 liter of water 50 g of sugar and 6 g of salt, cinnamon, sweet pepper to taste.

Morse

Rinsed berries cranberries carefully kneaded with a wooden pestle and squeeze the juice. The mixture is poured hot water and boiled for 5 minutes. Filter and add the squeezed juice and sugar to the broth. The drink is aged for 2 days.

• Cowberry - 150 g,
• Sugar - 120 grams,
• Water - 1L.

Lingonberry with horseradish

Marinated cowberry mixed with grated horseradish and served as a seasoning for meat dishes.

• Cowberry marinated - 300 g,
• Horseradish grated - 70 - 100 g.