Description of the fruit bush. Calorie content of berries, chemical composition and beneficial properties. Potential harm when consumed. What dishes are made from Bengal currants and how you can eat them. Interesting facts about quarantine. In ripe fruits of caranda, in addition to the listed components, there are:
- Alpha amyrin - affects the rate of metabolic processes;
- Linalool - sedative effect, but can provoke the release of histamine;
- Beta-caryophyllene - increases the body's defenses;
- Karizon - has a vasoconstrictor effect;
- Beta-sitosterol - slows down the growth of prostate tumors;
- Lupeol - destroys cancer cells.
Ripe fruit taste and aromatic odor are provided by isobutanol, isoamyl alcohol and beta-caryophyllene - volatile compounds. Bengal currants are rich in essential oils and aromatic terpenes.
Useful properties of Bengal currant
The medicinal properties of the plant were appreciated not only by traditional healers, but also by pharmacists.
The benefits of quarantine:
- Relieves intoxication and reduces the symptoms of fever, lowers the temperature in diseases of various types.
- Cleans the blood, prevents the development of purulent-inflammatory processes.
- Improves digestion, increases the absorption of nutrients - vitamins A and E, group B and iron.
- Increases immunity, stimulates the body's defenses.
- It is used to treat anemia and vitamin deficiency, stimulates the work of spinal cord cells.
- Reduces the secretion of bile.
- It has an anti-inflammatory effect on the intestines, does not allow the removal of beneficial lactobacilli in case of diarrhea.
- It stabilizes the nervous system, eliminates insomnia, and helps to cope with emotional instability.
- Has a tonic effect, increases endurance.
- Normalizes the work of the cardiovascular system.
Decoctions of the leaves have a firming and anti-inflammatory effect, are used to rinse the nasopharynx for colds of the throat and to treat otitis media as drops.
Official medicine uses extracts and extracts from all parts of the plant to prevent the spread of metastases throughout the body, to reduce neoplasms, to prevent coronary artery disease, strokes and heart attacks.
Decoctions from the roots of the plant are used to treat hypertension. Also, a mixture is made from the roots, seeds and fruits, which is used to treat helminthic infestations in adults and children.
Contraindications and harm of quarantine
Bengal currants are highly allergenic and often cause autoimmune reactions in the body, especially in young children and in immunocompromised people.
Pencil harm can provoke:
- With a tendency to flatulence;
- With peptic ulcer, gastritis with high acidity;
- With hypotension.
You should not experiment and introduce the new taste to pregnant and lactating women, preschool children, so as not to provoke dangerous symptoms - redness of the nasopharyngeal mucosa and facial skin, sore throat, laryngeal edema.
If you really want to expand the diet, then the berries should be heat treated. Substances that are in the chemical composition are destroyed by 2/3.
You should not get carried away with unripe fruits. One or two berries are not scary, but a handful can already be poisoned. Also, you can not abuse leaf tea - it contains too high a number of alkaloids.
How is Bengal currant eaten?
It has already been mentioned that the fruit is very popular in India. Sour varieties are used as a seasoning for pickles and marinades and can be harvested separately. Sauces are made from them and added to side dishes. Jam and jams are made from sweet berries, they make smoothies, puddings and squash, they are used for filling pies and as a thickener for milk, marshmallows, marmalade and jelly.
Locals eat karanda like regular berries, sometimes with seeds, although the skin is bitter. Juice is squeezed out, canned and added to refreshing drinks - it helps to quench thirst on a summer day and restore vitamin and mineral reserves. It is interesting that the inhabitants of the European part of the former CIS compare the taste of Bengal currant with an assorted chokeberry and red mountain ash, and the British - with gooseberries.
Recipes for dishes with caravan
When cooking Bengal currant dishes, do not use aluminum dishes. If the juice is slightly burnt, then it can be removed from the enamel container with vegetable oil.
Recipes with caravan of delicious dishes:
- Filling for pies … To prepare a delicious filling for pies, the berries are washed and discarded in a colander to glass the water. The karanda is mashed with a blender, rubbed through a sieve to remove the bitter, dense skin and small seeds, sugar and cloves are added to taste.
- Jam … The dessert will turn out to be thick, like confiture, so sterilized jars should be prepared in advance. The berries are rubbed through a sieve, mixed with sugar in a 1: 1 ratio, set to boil. Stir constantly so as not to burn. After 15 minutes, everything is turned off, the hot jam is laid out in the jars, the lids are rolled up. To improve the taste, you can add a little cinnamon or a couple of mint leaves to each jar.
- Pudding … If you do not plan to treat small children, it is better to use very ripe berries whole. The bitterness will add spice to the dish. But you can grind the berries, as in the previous recipes. 500 g of quranas are spread in a mold, abundantly greased with butter. It is better to beat the dough in a mixer or in a blender bowl. Combine 0.5 liters of warm milk, 4 eggs, grated nutmeg - half a teaspoon is enough, 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar, wheat flour - enough to get a dough that resembles a pancake in structure, that is, fluid. Pour the dough into the caravan, put the mold in the oven, heated to 200 ° C. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Garnish the finished pudding with whipped cream and sprinkle with powdered sugar and grated dark chocolate.
- Assorted pie … For the filling, rub mashed potatoes from equal parts of karanda, strawberries, gooseberries and raspberries. In a bowl, mix 2 cups of flour with a small amount of salt, and crush frozen butter there - half a pack. Knead the dough by adding ice-cold sparkling water in a thin stream. It should be soft and firm enough to roll out. The resulting batch is divided into 2 parts - one is approximately 1/3 larger than the other, wrapped in cling film and put into the refrigerator. Leave for 2-3 hours. In a separate container, mix a glass of sugar, half a glass of cornstarch, a little water, salt and pour in berry puree. Boil for about 2 minutes to thicken. The pectin will give you a jelly-like structure. Allow to cool. The oven is heated to 200 ° C. A cake of traditional shape is formed: a layer of dough is laid on a baking sheet greased with sunflower oil, sides are formed, the berries are smoothed and covered with strips of dough. The lattice is carefully secured. Bake for 45-50 minutes.
- Sauce … For the preparation of sauces, sour varieties of karande are used. Pour berries, 0.5 kg into the blender bowl, add coriander powder, crushed garlic - 3 prongs, a bunch of finely chopped basil. Interrupt until complete homogeneity. Add vinegar to taste. Pour berries, 0.6 kg, 200 g of pepper pods, herbs - 50 g, garlic - 200 g, 50 g of walnut kernels into a blender. Add salt to taste. The sauce is very spicy - you need to keep in mind. Serve with fried meat and chicken.
Bengal currant juice is an excellent thirst quencher. Remove the zest from 2 lemons, mix with half a glass of sugar. Citrus juice is also poured there. 0, 5 kg of quranades are rubbed through a sieve. Combine berry puree with grated sugar and zest, dilute with sparkling ice water, 2 liters are enough, filter. If there is not enough sugar, add.
After harvest, the fruit can be stored at room temperature for 3-4 days. In the refrigerator on the shelf, they retain all their properties for a week. If you plan to harvest for future use or transportation, Bengal currants are frozen, jam is boiled or vacuum packed.
Interesting facts about quarantine
Bengal currants are widely used for decorative purposes. It blooms unusually beautifully: white and pink inflorescences completely shower the bush, smell sweet and pleasant. Many farmers decorate their homesteads with hedges - this not only provides a "view from the window", but also stops uninvited guests - people and animals. The thorns of the plant are long and sharp.
Previously, karanda was germinated only from seeds. Attempts to plant cuttings have been crowned with success only recently. It turned out that for this you need to wait for the relatively cool season - late November - early December, then treat the rooted ends with a mixture of indole-butyric acid and 50% alcohol.
The shrub blooms on depleted calcareous and stony soils, however, you can get a good harvest - up to 12 kg of berries per bush per year - only with fertile, drained soil, providing daily watering and pruning 3 times a year. But plants growing on slopes and slopes stop landslides.
In Florida, karande is planted to prevent soil erosion. Of course, the original purpose of planting was to grow berries, but there were no insects in America that would provide adequate pollination. Farmers who have several shrubs transfer pollen artificially, manually, but large plantings are very difficult to process in this way.
Bengal currants begin to bear fruit 3-4 years after planting, berries can be harvested all year round. But the leaves are no less valuable - they are excellent forage for growing silkworms.
Dye for textiles is made from the juice of karanda, and a paste that drives away flies is made from the roots. Wood is rarely used as a fuel; it burns quickly. But it is often used to make handles for brushes, combs, souvenir spoons and other household utensils.
What a pencil looks like - look at the video:
Caranda is often grown on your windowsill. To admire the beautiful flowers, you need to put the flowerpot on the south side, fertilize regularly, ensure stable watering and pruning the crown. It may even be possible to get fruits that will help surprise guests with a new taste of pickled tomatoes or cucumbers in the future.
