Anthocyanin pigments are abundant in flowers and fruits, giving them a variety of colors - from red, through purple and blue, to purple. Anthocyanins, in addition to giving color to plant organs, protect them from UV radiation, and some of them from insect larvae.The most important feature of these dyes, however, is their high antioxidant activity, i.e. healing in short.
In herbal medicine, the "richest" black fruits are used as raw materials for anthocyanins - blueberries, chokeberry, lilac, blackthorn, blackcurrant, dark grapes and cornflower flowers.But anthocyanins are also found in blackberries, cherries, cranberries, eggplants, red cabbage, and red onions.
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Porzeczka Czarna Ribes nigrum (Photo: Fotolia.com) |
Aronia - an example of he alth
The record holder among fruits containing anthocyanins is the Black Chokeberry Aronia melanocarpa.This interesting shrub comes from North America, where the Indians said about its fruit that it was "the strongest and most valuable of the berries, it gives the strength of a bear and the life span of a redwood"The Indians squeezed the juice from the fruit (similarly like us today, because the raw ones are too tart) and mixed with herbs, increasing their potency.
Black chokeberry came to Western Europe only after World War II as an ornamental plant.The decorative value of chokeberry bushes is really great. It grows up to 3 m and has a nice, shapely habit. In spring (at the end of May) it blooms with white flowers gathered in corymbs, and at the end of summer the leaves begin to turn golden and orange.
The bushes already have ripe fruit, they can be harvested from August, but it is worth waiting - the later fruits are sweeter, less tart and contain more compounds.You can pick them even after frosts. Aronia begins to bear fruit 2-3 years after planting. Most of the fruit is set on 3-6 year old shoots, therefore older than 6 years old should be removed.
Aronia is most often made into juices, syrups, purees and jellies. They perfectly stabilize blood pressure (especially hypertension), are helpful in atherosclerosis and diabetes. They supplement vitamin deficiencies - they contain vitamins P, C, PP, B6, E, provitamin A and iron, calcium, copper, tannins, organic acids, anthocyanin dyes and little sugar.
Tasty and he althy
Blueberry Vaccinium myrtillus, popularly known as blueberry or simply blueberry, is a shrub 15-30 cm high and can live up to 30 years. The therapeutic properties of berries are determined by a group of active compounds, mainly tannins and anthocyanins. They also contain organic acids, sugars, vitamins C, B, provitamin A, iron, and magnesium.Blueberry berries improve blood flow in the veins.They are often used in eye diseases and visual impairment. Due to the presence of tannins, they are administered in acute diarrhea, especially in children, and in inflammation of the oral cavity. They can be an auxiliary drug in diabetes.
Black currant Ribes nigrum is rich in many valuable compounds: it contains vitamins C, P, E, B, PP, K, D, moreover, anthocyanins, carotenoids, microelements, organic acids and sugars.Currant bushes grow best in clay-sandy soils with a slightly acidic pH of 5.5-6.5. Fruits are a natural vitamin concentrate. They increase resistance to infections and infections, detoxify the body (also of bacterial toxins).They strengthen the body after illnesses, stimulate the appetite.
The pharmaceutical raw material is fruit, leaves harvested during the flowering period and at the beginning of fruiting of shrubs, and seed oil.Leaves are used as an auxiliary (almost always with other herbs) as a diuretic, externally for rinsing the mouth and throat in inflammatory conditions, with angina.
Grapes full of vitamins
The Vitis vinifera grapevine is considered, along with cereals, one of the oldest cultivated plants.For good growth, it requires fertile, permeable, calcium-rich soil and a warm climate.In its natural state, the climber is long-lived - it lives up to 100 years, and its shoots reach a length of 40 m.However, in order to obtain a high yield, the vine shoots should be pruned every year, as the fruit is set on new annual increments.
The so-called cutting is performed winter - in February or at the beginning of March (later the grapevines "cry" and there is a profuse leakage of juices) and early-summer pruning, when flower buds are visible on the shoots, or during flowering.Late-autumn pruning, popular in the warm zone Poland is not recommended for climate reasons.
Fruits, called grapes, ripen from August to September, are green, yellow, red and "black" - the darker they contain more anthocyanin pigments, besides about 15% of sugars, vitamins A, B, C, P, organic acids, tannins and numerous mineral s alts.Antioxidant compounds are also found in oil-rich seeds with unsaturated fatty acids (great for salads).
Thanks to such chemical content and their specific interaction, grapes have antiatherosclerotic properties and protect against blood vessel walls, stabilize blood pressure. Fresh fruit is also a diuretic. In herbal medicine, vine leaves are also the raw material.
