A plant that has proven itself to be poisonous. The benefits and harms of black nightshade. What can be prepared from ripe berries. Interesting facts about the witchberry. The most dangerous substance in glycosides is dulcamarine. Its positive properties include an increase in the body's defenses, and negative - the possible development of respiratory failure.
Useful properties of black nightshade
The fruits can be eaten only after they are fully ripe. But for medical purposes, ripe and unripe berries, leaves and plant roots are used.
The benefits of black nightshade:
- Normalizes the activity of the central nervous system, has a sedative effect;
- Eliminates tachycardia, normalizes heart rate;
- It has a pronounced antimicrobial effect, destroys bacteria and viruses, suppresses the vital activity of certain types of fungal flora;
- Has a diuretic effect;
- Reduces temperature by increasing sweating;
- Accelerates the regenerative properties of the body, healing of wounds and erosive damage to the mucous membrane of the digestive tract and internal organs;
- Stimulates the production of phlegm, facilitates expectoration, relieves spasms of the respiratory tract;
- Stops the development of inflammatory processes, prevents malignant degeneration of cells;
- Reduces blood pressure, prevents the development of atherosclerosis;
- Reduces the manifestation of painful symptoms in rheumatism and arthritis;
- Helps get rid of vasomotor rhinitis and chronic sinusitis;
- It has a choleretic effect, stimulates the production of digestive enzymes.
Traditional healers with the help of black nightshade treat almost all diseases - from chronic to infectious. Traditional medicine tries with the help of fruits to stop even the growth of metastases.
Contraindications and harm of black nightshade
The main contraindication to the use of edible black nightshade is the unripeness of the berries. The greener the fruits, the more toxic compounds in their composition.
With mild poisoning, the pressure decreases, there is a slight sore throat, as at the onset of sore throat, salivation increases, and diarrhea appears.
Strong intoxication is dangerous for the body. Symptoms of poisoning: diarrhea intensifies and becomes uncontrollable, vomiting begins, nervous excitement is replaced by drowsiness, the breathing rhythm is disturbed, the pulse quickens, cyanosis occurs.
If help is not provided on time, tachycardia is replaced by bradycardia, the sphincters relax, and the victim falls into a coma.
Even very ripe fruits of the funnel should not be consumed:
- For chronic diseases and disorders of the liver and pancreas;
- With increased flatulence and a tendency to diarrhea;
- With chronic hypotension;
- For polyvalent allergies, as the product has high allergenic properties.
Berries should not be introduced into the diet for children under 3 years old, pregnant and lactating.
It is very important to observe the measure when using black nightshade. Even if you overeat ripe fruits, you can get poisoned.
How to eat black nightshade
Collecting nightshade berries is very easy as they grow in clusters. Harvesting begins at the end of July and continues until almost the end of November.
Consider how the black nightshade is eaten. Make sure that the berry is absolutely ripe, the skin has turned black and shines in the light, remove the stalks that contain toxic compounds, wash and enjoy the taste.
If the harvest is plentiful, the berries can be prepared for future use: dried, boiled jam or compote. Dried fruits retain their beneficial properties when stored in a dry, dark place for 8 years.
Black nightshade recipes
The taste of desserts from these fruits is original, at the same time bitterness, sourness and juicy sweetness are felt. In Russia, berries are more often used as an independent product, but Canadians prefer to combine it in dishes with lemon or ginger.
Black nightshade recipes:
- Pie … Usually, baking pies starts with making the dough, but in the case of black nightshade, it is recommended to first make the filling. Ripe berries are mixed with sugar in an enamel pan, in equal proportions by weight, mixed and wait 15 minutes for the juice to appear. Then cook over low heat, stirring constantly, so as not to burn. The finished filling turns purple and tastes like blueberry jam. While the filling is being prepared, knead the dough. For kneading, you need: 3 or a little more glasses of flour, a glass of kefir, 1/5 of a glass of vegetable oil, a teaspoon of salt and sugar, a bag of quick baker's yeast. When the dough stops sticking to your hands, it is placed in a warm place to come up. The dough is crushed 1 time after the appearance of bubbles, and on the second it is already rolled into a layer. The oven is heated to 200 ° C, the mold is greased with sunflower oil - it is better to spread oiled parchment under the cake. Spread most of the dough on an oiled baking sheet, fill it on top, fold the edges. Then, a grid is formed from the remains of the dough, the ends are fixed with the edges of the cake. Grease the rack and edges of the pie with whipped yolk. Bake for 20-30 minutes.
- Canadian black nightshade jam … Syrup is boiled from 2 kg of sugar; instead of water, the juice of one lemon is used. When the sugar is completely dissolved, 2 kg of washed and dried berries are dipped into it. Bring to a boil, set aside, allow to cool completely. Bring to a boil and set aside 4-5 more times. At the last cooking, the juice of 2 more lemons is poured into the pan, allowed to boil so that the liquid evaporates, and just before turning off, put a few leaves of mint.
- Simple jam … Berries, 600 g, are poured with syrup cooked from 600 g of sugar, diluted with a glass of water. The pan is left overnight until the berries are juiced. In the morning, the container is put on fire and boiled until the berries are soft. Then they are ground and boiled again. Boil should be at least 1/3.
- Quince jam … For 1 kg of ripe black nightshade berries, you need to take 13-15 quince fruits. The quince is washed, as a whole, it is poured with boiling water, insisted for 8-9 hours, changing the water 2-3 times. Then the fruit is cut into small slices, mixed with nightshade. The fruit mixture is brought to a boil over low heat, pouring 2 glasses of water. Boil for 1-2 minutes, leave to stand for the juice to stand out. After 6-8 hours, add 1, 5-1, 6 kg of sugar and cook like ordinary jam. If there is no quince, it can be replaced with winter apples. Only in this case, the cooking process should be monitored so that the apples do not boil.
- Caviar with nightshade … Ripe berries, 0.5 kg, slightly squeezed, fried in a tablespoon of sunflower oil. Vegetables - chopped onion and 2 carrots - are fried separately. Then the whole fry is mixed, pepper and salted to taste, a tablespoon of sugar is added and passed through a meat grinder with parsley. The caviar is brought to a boil, preferably in a frying pan, so that it is convenient to stir. There is no need to add oil. They are eaten cold as a snack.
Jam made from ripe berries can be consumed without restrictions.
Various drinks can be prepared from the fruits:
- Wine … Soft but not spoiled apples are mixed with nightshade berries in a 1: 1 ratio and interrupted in a blender. Add sugar - 0.5 kg a little more than half a teaspoon, pour everything into a glass jar. Leave for 4 days, covering the neck with two layers of gauze. After this time, 50 g of sugar is poured into the jar and poured with water - the ratio of water and berry puree is 1:10. Leave to ferment for 3 months. The finished wine has a very beautiful purple hue.
- Liquor … 1 kg of berries are covered with sugar - 1, 2 kg. When they give the juice, put the container on the fire and cook until the liquid has evaporated and the contents of the pan are reduced by 1/4. Remove from heat, allow to cool to room temperature, mix with an equal amount of vodka by volume. Then the berries are pounded and the mixture is poured into bottles, putting on a rubber glove on each. One finger is pierced. When fermentation is over, the liquid is strained, bottled, put in a dark place for a month to “finish playing”. For taste, you can add cinnamon, ginger, citrus juice.
If you insist on fresh berries on vodka without digesting, then the drink can only be used for medical purposes, no more than 60 drops per day. Alcohol tincture of black nightshade increases immunity, normalizes blood pressure, but also speeds up the heart rate.
Interesting facts about black nightshade
Black nightshade is rarely used. Few people know that ripe berries are not only safe, but also healthy.
The healing properties of the plant have been known for a long time. Hippocrates recommended eating berries to eliminate nocturnal emissions, Dioscorides used them to treat erosive damage to the esophagus and eliminate intoxication, and Avicenna made sedatives and eliminated migraines. Avicenna gave preference to unripe fruits.
In England, it was believed that using black nightshade could go crazy, and the growths surrounding the villages were mercilessly destroyed. But in Germany, ripe fruits with twigs were placed in baby cradles to protect babies from evil spirits.
The French believed that nightshade is useful for light and red-haired women of asthenic constitution - it increases their vitality. It was in this country that the pronounced warming effect of ripe fruits and drinks from them was noticed.
For wild-growing black nightshade, a stock of bell pepper is made. The fruits obtained from such a bush have a pronounced tart taste, and their seeds are more viable.
Dyes for natural fabrics are made from berries of various ripeness: blue, green and blue. Such materials are appreciated by fashion designers.
The nightshade witch berries were named because of their color-changing properties. When making drinks, a purple foam appears, and then all the liquid changes color. When fermented, it shimmers like opal. Truly a magic potion.
Knowing what to cook from black nightshade, it is unlikely that you will pass by it, meeting it on the river bank or on the lawn. The taste of the fruits is original, you can experiment with them, combine with oranges, add to cocktails.
Watch a video about the black nightshade berry:
It is very important to remember that only ripe berries can be picked. If you ignore this recommendation, you can get poisoned.
