What kind of sunberry is it? Sunberry beneficial properties and contraindications. How to make jam

A miracle hybrid with an exotic taste that looks like something familiar from childhood - it’s all about the healing sunberry. The selectively bred crop, in addition to its taste, has medicinal properties and is included in some pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements.

What diseases does sunberry help get rid of, what dishes can be prepared from its fruits, and who should not eat the plant, we will tell you further.

Sunberry - what kind of berry

Sunberry - this is how the name of the sunberry plant, exotic for middle latitudes, is translated - this is a shrub from the Solanaceae family. Other names of the plant: Canadian blueberry, garden nightshade, blueberry forte are used less frequently.

The hybrid was bred by US breeder Luther Burbank relatively recently by the standards of world history, in 1905. Sunberry is a mixture of 2 types of edible nightshades: African (large-fruited, viable, but tasteless) and European nightshade (edible and pleasant to the taste).

In the CIS countries, the hybrid appeared recently and was not widely spread due to its specific taste and external resemblance to the inedible nightshade. Amateur agronomists often call the berry “samberi,” and dishonest sellers pass off the plant as a highbush blueberry.

Description, photo

Sunberry is a herbaceous annual in the form of a spreading shrub with a stem height of 60-75 cm. Externally, the green part of the plant looks like a tomato, and its fruits look like a mixture black currant and blueberries.

Flowers are collected in inflorescences of 10-15 pieces each. Sunberry seeds are small, similar in shape and size to tomato seeds. The fruit harvesting period is the end of September-October, when they reach full ripening.

The plant is unpretentious and can grow in almost any climate, even with poor watering and lack of light.

Chemical composition

Sunberry fruits are rich in vital nutrients: ascorbic acid(vitamin C to increase the overall tone of the body, eliminate inflammation) and carotene (vitamin A to strengthen immune system, improved vision), and also contain:

hexuronic acid;
lipids;
tannins;
saponins;
niacin;
riboflavin;
fatty acid;
steroids;
bioflavonoids;
chlorophyll;
anthocyanin substances;
fructose;
pectin.

Among the minerals in berries, the leading place is occupied by potassium and sodium, but they are present in different concentrations:

magnesium (restores nerve cells);
copper (promotes production);
calcium (strengthens connective tissue);
silver (kills pathogenic bacteria);
iron (enriches the blood);
chromium (normalizes blood sugar levels, reduces “bad” cholesterol);
zinc (improves hematopoiesis, increases the number of leukocytes);
selenium (rejuvenating effect on the body);
manganese (strengthens the immune system).

The energy value of 100 g of berries is only 220 Kcal with a ratio of protein, fat and carbohydrates of 9/28/41. Thanks to the high content of dietary fiber and pectin, sunberry activates metabolism, promotes weight loss and is recommended for dietary nutrition.

Beneficial features

Berries have the following healing properties:

disinfectant;
laxative;
sleeping pills;
rejuvenating;
tonic;
hemostatic;
hepatoprotective;
adsorbent;
antioxidant;
anti-inflammatory;
antitumor.

Sunberry products and its fruits in fresh have a positive effect:

on visual acuity;
pressure;
blood sugar level;
brain activity;
cholesterol level;
memory;
functioning of the nervous system;
metabolic processes;
concentration;
endurance;
adaptation of the body to unfavorable external factors.

Sunberry - planting and care

The spreading bush of the hybrid has the following advantages compared to other varieties of garden berries:

Unpretentiousness. Sunberry is undemanding to the soil, capable of developing and producing abundant harvests both in the shade and in the sun, and does not require frequent watering.
Persistence. The hybrid is not susceptible to diseases typical of garden crops and is not afraid of pests; it tolerates dry summers and cold winters well.
High yield. From each bush per season, up to 1 kg of ripe berries the size of a medium-sized cherry are collected.
Usefulness and healing properties . The berries are used in folk medicine and in cooking for making jam, jam, compote, and other dishes.
Continuous flowering and long fruiting(until October). After reaching full ripeness, the berries do not fall off, dry out or rot, but remain hanging on the stem.

Tips for planting Canadian blueberries:

Good neighbors garden plot for sunberries - cucumbers and pumpkin.
Cabbage planted next to shrubs has a negative effect on yield.
The ideal soil for the plant is a loose mixture of medium-nutrient soil and forest turf.
Seeds from large, multiple-fruited inflorescences are suitable for propagation.

Advice! Sunberry bushes grow widely, so the distance between seedlings should be at least 90-100 cm.

The shrub is watered twice a week, the ground under it is regularly loosened, and fed once a season with organic fertilizers (manure, bird droppings, compost).

Sunberry berries ripen from the beginning of June to the end of September; for better ripening, the tops are pinched, but it is not necessary to pintle them.

There is no need to tie up the stems, but supports may be needed when the crop is ripening for overloaded branches. The berries should not come into contact with the ground.

Ripe fruits are soft and turn from green to black. At the same time, they can ripen when picked like tomatoes. Harvesting is done daily, as the ripening of the fruit is uneven.

How to grow berries

The plant reproduces by seed, so the most difficult stage of growing a sunberry bush in a garden plot is considered to be germination of seeds. To speed up the process, do the following:

The seeds are soaked for 30 minutes in a warm, pale pink solution of potassium permanganate in water.
Make a neat cut on the top shell of each seed with a sharp knife.
Future seedlings are placed on a piece of gauze or cotton wool soaked in water.
The container with seeds is covered on top with a material that allows light, but not air, to pass through (film, transparent plastic, glass).
Wait at least 4-5 days until the sprouts appear, regularly moistening the cotton wool with water.
After the formation of 4-5 leaves, the seedling is transplanted into a pot with neutral drained soil for further growing. In summer, regular watering and moderate lighting are sufficient for seedlings. In winter, in room conditions It’s better to create a greenhouse effect using film.

Advice! Seed germination begins in March in order to plant the plant in the ground by April-May. The planting is compacted with radishes or lettuce.

You can separate the husks from the kernels in another way:

Make a shallow puncture in each seed with a thin sewing needle.
Place the seeds in a plastic container along with a 1 cm thick layer of fine river sand.
Fill the container halfway with clean warm water and close the lid tightly.
Shake the container several times while closed. Sand will help clean the seeds from the husk and free the kernels for easy germination.

Strengthened seedlings are planted in open ground at the same time as other nightshades (peppers, potatoes, tomatoes). The optimal place on the site is the sunny side.

Sunberry Recipes

Fresh sunny berries have a specific taste, combining the acidity of blackcurrant and the tartness of blueberries. The pulp of the fruit smells like freshly cut grass. Not everyone likes sunberry in its raw form, but the product has many more fans in its form:

jam;
jam;
juice;
guilt;
additives for vegetable stew;
seasonings;
pickled or salty snack.

Attention! In cooking, sunberry is incompatible with any dairy products. This combination leads to food poisoning.

The cooking time of the berries should not exceed 5-10 minutes, otherwise the fruits will lose all their healing properties. Additional ingredients help improve the taste of Canadian blueberry dishes:

aromatic spices (cinnamon, vanilla);
apples;
quince;
barberry;
lemon;
orange.

Jam

To make jam from Canadian blueberries you will need:

1-1.2 kg of sunberries;
1 kg sugar;
250 ml of clean water;
zest and juice of 1 lemon;
herbs, spices.

Before cooking, the berries are washed and scalded with boiling water, and then follow the instructions:

Prepare a syrup from water and sugar, bring to a boil over medium heat with continuous stirring.
Place the berries in the syrup and cook for 5-7 minutes.
Turn off the stove and cool the jam to room temperature.
Boil the berries in the syrup twice more for 10 minutes, alternating with cooling.
Add zest and spices to the finished product to taste, pour into sterilized jars, and roll up.

If after 3 stages of cooking you drain the syrup and place the berries in a single layer in a colander, then after drying you get natural candied sunberry fruits.

Alternative way to make jam:

Rinse 1 kg of Canadian blueberries under running water.
Add 500 g of sugar.
Crush the fruits or punch them with a blender.
Let sit for 15 minutes to allow the sunberries to release their juice.
Cook over medium heat for 5-7, stirring continuously.
Pour the finished jam into clean containers and store in the refrigerator. It is not recommended to preserve this version of jam for the winter. It is recommended to consume no more than 4 tbsp per day. l. sweet product.

Sunberry jam with Japanese quince is prepared as follows:

Wash 2 kg of ripe Canadian blueberries.
10 quince fruits are ground on a coarse grater. Add to sunberry.
The berries are covered with 2 kg of sugar and 0.5 liters of water.
The mixture is boiled for up to half an hour, stirring constantly.
After 10-12 hours, the jam is simmered over low heat until cooked, cinnamon, barberries and vanilla sugar are added.

Jam without cooking is prepared from a mixture of 0.5 kg of berries, 0.5 kg of sweet apples and 1.2 kg of sugar. All fresh ingredients are passed through a meat grinder, a sweetener is added, and mixed. The product is ready to eat after 5-6 hours, but it should only be stored in the refrigerator and no longer than 3-5 days.

Compote

They approach the preparation of compote thoroughly, because it is important to properly pre-process Canadian blueberries. They work like this:

A portion of sunberry is sorted, damaged and missing fruits are removed.
The selected part is washed and dried.
The berries are scalded with boiling water three times, each time draining the water that has drained from the berries.
The peel of each fruit is pierced with a needle or pin in 2-3 places and covered with sugar (in the proportion of 2 parts sweetener to 1 part berries).
After the product has released its juice, pour boiling water over it and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
The composition is filtered, the berries are distributed into sterilized jars, and the syrup is boiled for another 15-20 minutes.
Sunberry is poured with cooled syrup and rolled up.

To obtain juice from a hybrid plant, the fruits are boiled with a small amount of water over a fire for no longer than 20 minutes. Then the berries are filtered, crushed and passed through 2-3 layers of gauze. The resulting juice is flavored with honey to taste and poured into glass bottles, jars, and decanters. Store the product in the refrigerator for no longer than 3 days.

In addition to soft drinks, Canadian blueberries are also used to make wine. To do this, 1 kg of unripe berries is crushed and mixed with 1 kg of fresh apple puree. The resulting composition is added to 1 tbsp. l. sugar and leave to ferment in a warm place for 5 days. It is recommended to keep the mixture in a wooden or enamel container with a loosely closed lid.

On the 6th day, add 200 ml of warm water and 2 kg of sugar to the bowl, closing it with a lid with a stopper. The pressure in the container is periodically released. The wine will become light in 60-90 days, after which it is bottled for further storage.

Dried berries

To prepare berries for the winter, the sunberry bush along with the fruits is hung upside down in a dry, ventilated place and dried. Even in this form, Canadian blueberries retain their healing properties. The powder obtained from crushed berries is the basis for medicinal infusions, decoctions and solutions.

Separately, the berries are dried in industrial or household dryers: outdoors, this process will take a lot of time. To dry, the fruits are distributed on a sieve in 1 layer and kept in a dryer or oven for 3 hours at a temperature of 60 degrees.

Dry berries are used to prepare a medicinal infusion against benign tumors in the prostate. Pour 1 tsp into a thermos. sunberry and licorice root, pour 950-1000 ml of warm clean water, let it brew for 10-12 hours. The finished infusion is drunk 200 ml on an empty stomach before meals, a new composition is prepared every day.

Sunberries are also frozen in portions, in vacuum bags. The product can be stored in the freezer for no longer than 1 year. An alternative preparation option is to freeze the berries, sprinkled with sugar, in plastic containers. In this case, 500 g of sweetener is consumed per 2 kg of fresh raw materials.

In folk medicine, dried sunberry leaves are used, which are collected in the summer and dried in natural conditions. Decoctions with the addition of dry leaves of Canadian blueberries reduce blood sugar levels and improve the well-being of diabetics. Infusions of dead wood in water relieve menstrual pain, neuroses, nervous fatigue, inflammation of the bladder.

The benefits and harms of berries

The fruits of an exotic bush due to its rich chemical composition and an abundance of beneficial properties in folk medicine are used to treat:

Sore throat and inflammation of the mucous membrane of the larynx and pharynx. Rinsing with a decoction or a mixture of water and sunberry juice disinfects and disinfects lesions.
Chronic headaches and migraines.
Gout.
Hemorrhoids.
Varicose veins.
Rheumatoid arthritis.
Metabolic disorders and obesity.
Rhinitis and sinusitis.
Bleeding, including painful menstruation and inflammation in the uterus.
Glaucoma and decreased visual acuity.
Neuroses.
Malignant neoplasms.

Berries can cause harm to the body only if consumed uncontrolled or if contraindications are ignored. The danger is posed by tannins and saponins contained in sunberries. However, their concentration in berries is so low that there is no threat to human health.

Sun berries can cause serious harm only to pregnant women, since they increase blood circulation, including in the pelvic organs. This effect increases the tone of the uterus, which leads to miscarriages and premature birth.

External use of the sunberry and its parts is aimed at the treatment of dermatological diseases (psoriasis, dermatitis, acne, boils).

A compress for application to purulent wounds is prepared from a mixture of 50 ml of juice from Canadian blueberry leaves, 1 tbsp. l. juice from nightshade stem, 1 egg white. Healing applications are also made from crushed berries mixed with any low-fat fermented milk product(kefir, fermented baked milk, yogurt). Keeping such a compress on the affected area of the skin is allowed for no more than 15-20 minutes.

To heal purulent wounds, use antiseptic lotions prepared according to the following recipe:

Fry a handful of berries over high heat in a frying pan with 1 tbsp. l. butter.
Crush the blanched fruits to a paste.
Apply the substance to the affected area and leave for 15-20 minutes, then rinse with warm water.

Applications made of fabric with mush from ripe Canadian blueberries are used for treatment varicose veins veins, as well as relieving pain and fatigue in the legs.

In addition to compresses, medicinal masks and lotions are made from the fruits to treat inflammation on the facial skin. To do this, berries crushed to a mushy state are mixed in equal proportions with egg white. Apply a thin layer and leave for no longer than 25-30 minutes, then lubricate the face with nourishing cream.

SUNBERRY - SUNBERRY

In May, a friend gave me a small dried berry. She said that she didn’t know the name of this plant, added that the plant was an annual and she ate wonderful jam from these berries. A friend gave her a berry, advising her to simply crush it in the spring and scatter the seeds over the garden bed. This is what I did - planting a plant unknown to me, which should produce delicious berries in one season. From one tiny berry I collected a lot of seeds (they are very small). The shoots were friendly. My mother and I named this plant “Stranger”.
The stranger quickly gained strength, but doubts remained as to when she would bear fruit and whether the berries would have time to ripen.
By chance, in one of the magazines for summer residents, under the heading “Exotics in our gardens,” I found a story about a wonderful berry - sunberry. As it turned out, this was my Stranger.

Sunberry is an unusual crop for our region, therefore it is rarely found among garden and vegetable plants. It is also called sunberry, Canadian blueberry, blueberry forte, despite the fact that it has nothing in common with our wild blueberry. Its closest relative is wild black nightshade, a weed with poisonous berries and leaves. Sunberry is its cultivated hybrid form, but unlike nightshade, its berries are edible and even healthy. Sunberry berries, or, as some call them, samberi berries are quite large, the size of a cherry, but in shape they are more reminiscent of small black “tomatoes” with a glossy skin. The bush is literally strewn with them during the period of most active ripening.

Sunberry is popular in many countries around the world. There they have already appreciated its dietary qualities and healing properties. This culture is also taking its first steps in Russia.
WITH in English"Sunberry" is translated as "sunny berry".
Sunberry is the result of many years of work by the famous American Darwinian breeder Luther Burbank. Representatives were used as parent forms flora from different continents: African and European creeping nightshade. The brainchild of L. Burbank inherited from its African ancestor large fruit, high yield, unpretentiousness to growing conditions, and from its European relative - good taste.
Sunberry has a height of up to 150 cm, a thick tetrahedral stem with powerful stepsons.

This green giant presents a grandiose sight when the berries ripen. The plant is completely covered with black berries the size of large cherries. They are collected in brushes of 10-15 pieces. The harvest is up to a bucket of berries from a bush. Flowering and ripening of berries occurs continuously until late autumn. A month before the onset of a steady cold spell, leaves and buds are plucked out daily. This agricultural technique significantly increases the yield, since the remaining berries are fully ripened. It should be noted that sunberry tolerates light autumn frosts.
I grow sunberries through seedlings. I sow seeds and plant sunberry seedlings at the same time as tomato plants. In open ground, I place sunberries according to a 70x70 cm pattern. Sunberries are resistant to lodging. Its powerful stems do not need garter. Only the stepsons, under the weight of ripening fruits, can droop to the ground. The berries should not come into contact with the ground. Therefore, I tie the stepsons to stakes or place them on wooden slingshots.
This plant is an annual plant, so I collect seeds every year. For seeds, I select the largest berries from the earliest and most prolific clusters. This is how the signs of early ripening and productivity of plants are established annually.
Sunberry berries are non-poisonous (unlike wild nightshade) and can be consumed fresh without restriction. Not everyone may like the taste of fresh berries. But the sunberry pie filling is excellent. Sunberry jam has an incomparable taste.
Sunberry is unpretentious. Even in the most unfavorable years it will delight you with a high harvest. This means that if the harvest of other berries fails, sunberry will help out, and you will make preparations for the winter from this crop. To prevent sunberry preparations from having a nightshade taste, the berries are first doused with boiling water, allowed to stand for several minutes, the water is drained, and only then they are processed.

The main advantage of berries is their healing properties. They contain a lot of pectins, which remove poisons from the body; selenium, which slows down the aging process; anthocyanins that improve blood composition.

Nightshade Sunberry cures osteochondrosis, rheumatism, asthma, atherosclerosis, digestion, improves blood composition, general well-being, sleep and memory. And for diabetes, Sunberry reduces vascular fragility (one of the main causes of blindness in diabetics).
The fruits and juice have a wide range of healing properties.
The fruits of the “sunny berry” have a positive effect on visual acuity, have laxative, antiseptic and diuretic properties, help with cramps, stomach cramps, bladder diseases, etc.
Sunberry fruit juice is used for gastritis, neuroses, colitis, cystitis, neuralgia, hypertension, bronchial asthma and sore throat. The juice normalizes blood pressure well, eliminates headaches, improves memory and visual acuity, increases endurance and the body's adaptive abilities to unfavorable factors.
Behind wide range The healing potential of sunberry is called a miracle berry!

Recipes:

For cooking ointments fresh berries are mashed with a wooden masher and mixed in a 1:1 ratio with sour milk, applied to purulent wounds, abscesses, and ulcers.

Juice Sunberry berries are diluted with water (1:3) and used to gargle for sore throat.

Juice from sunberry leaves treats chronic runny nose, it has a hypnotic effect and is a good hemostatic agent for uterine bleeding.

Elixir of health . The berries are passed through a meat grinder and the juice is squeezed out through cheesecloth. Dilute with water in a 1:1 ratio. 1.5 kg of honey is added to 5 liters of such diluted juice. The elixir is poured into jars and stored in the refrigerator or cellar. Take 2 tablespoons before meals. This remedy normalizes blood pressure, eliminates headaches, improves memory and visual acuity, increases endurance and the body's adaptive abilities to adverse factors, treats rheumatism, gout, stomach ulcers, hepatitis, asthma and varicose veins.

Eat recipe for infusion for the treatment of prostate adenoma : 5 g of dry sunberry berries and licorice roots are poured into a thermos, filled with 0.5 liters of warm water (not higher than 40 degrees). After 10 hours, you can take 150-200 ml 10 minutes before meals. The infusion cannot be stored. Prepare fresh every day.

Infusion of dried sunberry leaves helps with headaches, women's problems, cystitis, neurosis, calms nervous excitement. The infusion is prepared from 2 teaspoons of dry leaves, brewed with one and a half glasses of boiling water, tightly closed and wrapped for 2 hours. Should be taken 4 times a day before meals, a tablespoon.

You can make a vodka tincture from dry leaves or berries; to do this, add 50 g of herbs or berries to a half-liter bottle of vodka and leave it in the dark for 2 weeks. It is recommended to take 20-30 drops before meals at least 3 times a day and wash down with water.

Tincture used for vegetative-vascular dystonia, heart diseases, disorders heart rate, general atherosclerosis, stomach pain, gastroenterocolitis

Mash ripe berries (2-3 tablespoons), pour 0.3 liters of boiling water and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Leave for 4 hours, strain. Dip 20 g of a mixture of hawthorn flowers and leaves into boiling water (0.3 l) and leave for about an hour, strain. Combine both decoctions, add 200 g of honey and 2 liters of alcohol. Take 1 tbsp. spoon 3 times a day 30 minutes before meals.

For the treatment of seborrhea, eczema, psoriasis useful next recipe: Mix 100 g of sunberry leaf juice with two chicken egg whites, add 2 tablespoons of ripe sunberry juice. Mix everything thoroughly and make lotions.
It is also important to note that dried sunberry grass also has healing powers. And this makes it possible to use it for treatment all year round.

It is not recommended to cook jam from garden nightshade berries. Already at temperatures above 50°C, substances that resist aging die. It is better to mince ripe sunberry berries with the same amount (by weight) of non-acidic Ranet apples, mix thoroughly with sugar (per 1 kg of mass - 1 kg of sugar) and keep everything warm for 4 or 5 hours. Store the mixture in the refrigerator. Take 100-150 g of jam per day. This helps cleanse the blood, strengthen the immune system and longevity.

For chronic headaches take and fill an enamel bowl to the top with crushed sunberry berries, leaves and stems, fill the bowl with water and bring to a boil over low heat, and immediately remove from the stove, strain and wash your hair with this decoction. You can do this every other day, two or three until headache will not leave you. You can moisten a waffle towel in the broth, wrap it around your head and do not remove it until it dries. At the same time, you need to drink tea from sunberry flowers (brew ½ liter of water and 3 g of dry raw materials).

For articular rheumatism 250 g of honey is mixed with 200 g of horseradish, minced. The mixture is taken 1 tbsp. l. before meals, drink ½ glass of freshly squeezed juice from sunberry leaves and stems. In addition to this, for 5 days, take 20 or 30 minute baths at 37°C before bed, each time adding 50-60 g of horseradish gruel and 100-150 ml of freshly squeezed juice of sunberry stems and leaves.

The sunny berry will also cope with hypertension. Juice squeezed from the stems, leaves and flowers of the nightshade plant, mix in equal parts (by volume) with honey and consume 2-3 tbsp. l. for the night. This composition normalizes blood pressure and eliminates salt deposits; in addition, it helps treat varicose veins.

Patients with bronchial asthma It is recommended to chop and mix in equal (by weight) parts dried flowers and unripe dark green sunberries, dried flowering stalks of lungwort, then 1 tbsp. l. pour the mixture into a thermos with ½ liter of boiled water, cooled to 48-50°C (it cannot be hotter!), and after 2 hours, strain and take 2-3 tablespoons 30 minutes before meals 3 times a day.

For sore throat and sore throat mix 3-4 g of dried flowers and sunberry berries, take the same amount of lungwort, infuse in a thermos with a glass of boiled water (48-50°C no more!), and gargle.
Osteochondrosis, angina pectoris, gout, sciatica are treated with baths with sunberry infusion. It is necessary to grind the dried leaves, stems, berries and flowers of sunberry into powder, after 4 tbsp. l. pour 1 liter of boiled water (up to 48-50°C) in a thermos, leave for 2 hours and pour into a bath with a water temperature of 37-38°C. Take a bath for 20-30 minutes.
Dry sunberry stems mixed with wormwood, in equal parts, are used for the treatment of gastritis. It is necessary to pour 100 g of the mixture into 3 liters of boiled water (up to 48-50°C), leave for 2-3 hours, then strain and drink 2-3 tbsp. l. 30 minutes before meals.
Obesity, allergies, liver disease and alcoholism require such treatment: grind and mix in equal (by weight) parts dry young shoots and leaves of sunberry, dry wormwood herb, grind into powder and take it 1 hour before meals 3 times a day, first on the tip of a teaspoon, and then gradually, about by the tenth day, increase the single dose of powder to 1 tsp. without top. Course 20 days. Break for 10 days, then repeat the course.
Crushed fresh sunberry plant is used as a lotion and compress. at acne and boils.
Young shoots with sunberry leaves are brewed and taken for neurosis, cough, stomach pain and menstrual irregularities. Pour 100 g of fresh or 3 g of dry raw material into ½ liter of boiling water (up to 48-50°C), leave until cool, filter and take 150 ml 3 times a day.
For varicose veins, apply compresses of mashed berries to the inflamed veins: the pain will quickly go away. Purulent wounds, ulcers, and abscesses are well treated by a pulp of fruits mixed one to one with sour milk.

Sunberry flower tea:(3 g of dry raw materials, brew ½ liter of water).

Sunberry harvest

The berry harvest begins in September. Some gardeners cover the plant with foil in the fall and feast on the berries until the snow appears.

special instructions

Fresh fruits of nightshade can be stored for a month (in a cool room). Sunberry fruits have a special nightshade taste, which many people do not like - to get rid of it, the berries need to be scalded with boiling water.

Dried sunberries

The berries are sorted, washed, dried and placed on a sieve in one layer. Sunberry is dried at 50-60°C (process duration is 2-4 hours). During drying, the berries are stirred periodically. Garden nightshade is not dried under the sun's rays - it is believed that in this case it is deprived of its beneficial properties.

Frozen sunberries

Prepared and well-dried berries are placed on flat trays and frozen. The finished product is portioned into bags and tied tightly. Berries can be stored in the freezer compartment of a household refrigerator for no longer than a year.

There is also a “sweet” method of freezing. IN in this case sprinkle the berries with sugar, mix, place in plastic containers, close with lids and freeze (200-300 g of granulated sugar are needed for 1 kg of berries).

Sunberry liqueur

Sunberry - 1 kg Sugar - 1.2 kg The berries are sprinkled with sugar and cooked over low heat until the syrup acquires a thick consistency. Then the cooled, strained syrup is poured with vodka in a 1:1 ratio, mixed, poured into bottles and sent to the cellar.

Sunberry wine

Sunberry - 3.5 kg Water Sugar - 3 kg Overripe sunberry berries are crushed, sugar is added and mixed well. The mass is transferred to a 10-liter bottle, cooled boiled water is added (up to the hanger), a ball or rubber glove is put on the neck and allowed to stand for about a month. Then the wine is drained from the sediment, carefully filtered and bottled.

Sunberry jam

Sunberry - 1 kg Sugar - 1 kg Water - 1 tbsp. Fully ripened berries are dipped into boiling syrup and cooked for no longer than five minutes. After this, the jam is removed from the heat and allowed to stand for 4-5 hours. Then another 2-3 cycles are performed. Before finishing cooking, add juice squeezed from two lemons. Mint leaves are often added to the jam to add flavor. The finished product is rolled up and placed in jars.

Cold sunberry jam

To make cold jam, use sunberries, as well as peeled and cored apples. Everything is passed through a meat grinder, mixed with sugar in a 1:1 ratio and allowed to stand for 4-5 hours. The mass is transferred to clean jars, covered with nylon lids and stored in the refrigerator.

Sunberry jam

Sunberry - 1 kg Sugar - 900 g The berries are ground in a meat grinder, mixed with sugar and cooked over low heat until tender, remembering to stir. The finished jam is transferred to sterilized jars and sealed.

Vegetable caviar with added sunberry

Sunberry - 1 kg

Carrots - 500 g

Onion - 300 g

Vegetable oil - 70 ml

Greenery

Sugar

Salt and ground black pepper

The berries are cut in half and fried vegetable oil. Separately fry grated carrots and chopped onion. All ingredients are mixed, passed through a meat grinder, chopped herbs, salt, pepper, sugar are added and brought to a boil.

Pickled sunberries

Water - 700 ml Sugar - 300 g Cinnamon Black peppercorns - 3-4 pcs. Cloves - 2-3 pcs. Vinegar 9% - 4 tbsp. The berries are blanched in boiling water (3-4 minutes) and then drained in a colander. The berries processed in this way are placed in sterilized jars and filled with marinade (it is prepared from water, spices, salt and sugar - the filling is boiled for 10-15 minutes, filtered, boiled again and vinegar is added). The jars are covered with lids, sterilized (1 liter - 20 minutes), rolled up, turned over and wrapped.

Sunberry in tomato juice

The berries are dipped in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, placed on a sieve and transferred to steamed jars. The product is poured with salted boiling tomato juice, rolled up and sterilized (1 liter - 20 minutes).

Sunberry juice

The berries are heated over low heat (a small amount of water is added to the bowl). Then the juice is squeezed out of the mass through cheesecloth and mixed with natural honey (5 parts juice - 1 part honey). The juice is stored in the refrigerator.

Candied fruit

It is prepared like jam, but the syrup is drained through a colander, and the fruits are placed on a dish to dry, covered with gauze. The dried fruits (and they dry quite quickly) are placed in glass jars and covered with lids. Store in a cool place.

Jelly

Pass the berries through a meat grinder, squeeze out the juice, add sugar and cook over low heat until tender. 1 liter of juice requires 1 kg of sugar.

used materials from the following sites:

People from rural areas of the generation of the 40s and 50s will definitely remember their grandmother’s pies “with elderberry”. The black nightshade berry was eaten fresh, although it could not boast of taste qualities. But it grew on its own, requiring neither care nor space on the site.

The berry is small, but the benefits are great

Today, doctors agree that this inconspicuous-looking and not so tasty berry is quite healthy. And its sister - bred a century ago by Luther Burbank from the large-fruited American nightshade and our small, but high-yielding and cold-resistant - is even recognized as a medicinal plant:

In short, this plant is just a godsend for those who want to maintain their health and stay young longer!

General description of culture

Sunberry is an annual plant. But it grows more than a meter tall. And it can produce 10 to 20 kg of fruit per bush! The black berries of the hybrid are large, the size of a cherry.

The plant blooms throughout the summer, from June until frost. Therefore, you can pick berries almost every day. Flowers collected in clusters, reminiscent of potatoes, look very beautiful next to green and already black berries.

As an adult, sunberry easily tolerates drought, heat and frost. Next year it is quite possible to get a lot of shoots from self-seeding in the old place. The gardener simply needs to select the strongest and tallest sprouts and remove the excess ones.

Growing sunberries

The seeds of this plant are very similar to tomatoes. They are quite small.

Seed treatment before planting

The disadvantage of sunberry is that it is very difficult to hatch the seeds. Therefore, first they need to be kept in a warm solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes. Then carefully use a blade to make an incision in the place where the sprout usually appears on the seed.

Some gardeners offer a different method. They advise not to cut the seed shell, but only to make notches along the peel with a needle. And then the seeds are placed in a jar with coarse washed and calcined river sand. They should fill the container halfway. When vigorously shaking the jar, the integrity of the seed shells is broken, but the kernels remain intact.

This should be done very carefully so as not to damage the kernel inside the seed!

The operated seed is placed on a damp cloth, covered with film or glass and placed in a warm place so that it hatches. This process may be delayed a little if you compare sunberries with and peppers.

Sunberry seeds are planted at the end of February so that the plant has time to produce a good harvest.

Growing seedlings

Sunberry is not much different in agricultural technology from tomatoes and. You can even plant them in the same box with them. To obtain seedlings, neutral soil is required. Therefore, there is no need to add peat to the soil.

Expanded clay is poured onto the bottom of the box to ensure drainage. A layer of soil - about 10 centimeters - is poured on top of it. The hatched seed is placed in it to a depth of half a centimeter. The soil is moistened and covered with glass or polyethylene.

The mini-greenhouse needs to be ventilated regularly to prevent the soil from becoming moldy. Shoots will appear in three months. After the plants throw out the third true leaf, they are picked and placed in a well-lit, warm place.

Seedlings are not watered very often, but the soil should not be allowed to become “stony”.

Planting in open ground and caring for sunberries

Sunberries are planted together with tomatoes and peppers. Only the distance between the bushes should be at least 70 centimeters, as they grow very much.

During the summer, it is enough to feed the sunberry with mullein a couple of times and water it every other day or two - and very soon the gardener will be rewarded for his efforts!

Preparation recipes

Sunberry fruits are not very tasty fresh, but they are simply amazing in the form of jam. And the wine it makes is delicious.

It is important to remember that to preserve the beneficial properties, black nightshade fruits should be cooked for no more than 5 minutes! And to improve the taste you need to put lemon in the jam.

Preparing nightshade raisins

The berries are dipped in boiling sugar syrup for 2 minutes. Then they are taken out with a slotted spoon and feasted on. You can put these “raisins” in pies, decorate cakes and pastries with them, ice cream, and add them to porridge (non-dairy).

Sunberry medicinal jam recipe

300 g of sugar are poured onto 1 kg of berries, put on fire and brought to a boil. Sliced or ground lemon in a meat grinder is also added there. Boil the jam for 5 minutes and pour into jars. Store in the refrigerator, as it will ferment at normal room temperature.

You should consume 5 tablespoons daily, with tea or spread on a bun.

Video about sunberry in a summer cottage

For many years, many scientists have been looking for a way to slow down aging, reduce the risk of cancer, and improve vision, but so far only auxiliary substances are available. For example, the famous sunberry berries are famous for similar properties. Any gardener, even with basic knowledge, can grow a harvest of these berries.

The benefits of sunberries are not only that they contain a large number of healthy components, but they are also very tasty. They are used as raw materials for making jam, in cooking, confectionery, or simply eaten.

The history of sunberry

Today, sunberry berries can be meet anywhere in the world. On the territory of our country, they are just beginning to grow such a crop, but local breeders have already achieved significant positive results in this matter. Sunberries are famous for their dietary and beneficial properties, which is why they quickly gained their popularity and spread throughout the globe.

Sunberry berries are the result of the fruitful work of the famous Canadian breeder Luther Burbank. He was engaged in development using Darwin's method and obtained this useful variety of berries through crossing different types parent forms. Traveling around the world, Luther of Burbank found and used nightshade in his developments, which grew exclusively in Europe, as well as another variety of these berries from the African continent.

Crossing helped to inherit from African varieties the unpretentiousness to care and climatic conditions. Moreover, it is significant increased the size and yield of berries. Nightshade, which grows in Europe, gives sunberries a unique taste that is so appreciated by gourmets around the world.

The height of Canadian blueberries can reach 150 cm. You can recognize the plant by characteristic features stem, which has a tetrahedral structure and powerful stepsons located on it. It is especially interesting to observe the bushes during the ripening of the crop. The whole plant proper care may be dotted with large blue-black berries that are comparable in size to cherries. From each bush you can collect at least one bucket of harvest, and this is quite easy to do, since blueberries are collected in clusters, which have an average of 15 berries.

Ways to use sunberry

Sunberry translated from English is called - sunny berry. It is difficult to say why exactly this name was chosen for this blueberry variety, because, in fact, shrubs can grow even in the shade and still produce a large amount of harvest. Even despite its unpretentiousness, the sunberry still loves warmth, like all varieties of nightshade. Blueberries are used to make a variety of products, such as jam, marmalade, wine, and syrup. Sunberry has also found application in medicine.

Long-term observations of doctors have given results that clearly indicate positive properties of berries for diseases such as:

neuroses;
joint pain;
headache;
gastritis;
diabetes;
cystitis;
hypertension;
vision problems;
varicose veins;
angina pectoris.

In addition, blueberries are also used to treat ulcers or purulent wounds. To do this, the berries are crushed and mixed with sour milk in proportions 1:1. For sore throat, another treatment method using blueberries is used. Sunberry juice is mixed with water in a ratio of 1:3 and gargled. In addition, we must not forget that this variety of blueberry also has calming and even hypnotic effects.

Preparing for the winter period will be useful, because it is at this time that the body often lacks useful components, but you need to do it correctly. In order to eliminate the nightshade taste from sunberries, all berries must be removed before harvesting. pour boiling water over and let them stand in this state for several hours. After time has passed, the water is drained and processing can begin. It is recommended to preserve berries with a small amount of sugar, because this way the final product will be much tastier.

Contraindications to the use of sunberry

Sunberry has many beneficial properties, but it also stands out few negative consequences.

Sunberry growing process

Canadian blueberries are usually grown from seedlings or seedlings. Start planting or sowing seeds at the time of planting tomatoes. The whole growing process can be divided into several stages.

Conclusion

Consuming sunberry frequently helps solve many problems that are related to human health. Negative consequences can be traced in rare cases or if wild crops are consumed. That is why it is recommended to eat only blueberries that were grown at home from seeds or seedlings. Any novice gardener can handle growing and caring for sunberry berries, the main thing is to use all the rules and recommendations.

Exotic and with a bright characteristic aroma, Canadian blueberries, or sunberries, are quite an unusual product for Russian market and attracts attention not only with its taste properties. To know beneficial features berries and contraindications for taking them, our article will help you get information about the characteristics and composition of the product.

What it is?

Sunberry is a cultivated plant of the nightshade family, which you definitely won’t find in your local store. This “sunny” variety of garden plant is not part of the wild. Sunberry, or “berry of life,” is the fruit of cultivation, and it was obtained as a result of the selection of two types of cultivated nightshade: Russian and American large-fruited. The resulting hybrid quickly acquired a new popular name - Canadian blueberries, and became a favorite delicacy of people who care about their health.

Of course, it cannot be said that cultivated nightshade has any amazing taste qualities. The garden form is not very different from its wild counterparts, but has rather specific aromatic properties. But this representative of the nightshade family also has its own, quite obvious and important advantages.

Sunberry is an internationally recognized medicinal plant, which has a number of valuable qualities. And among other advantages, unpretentiousness can be noted. The bushes of this berry easily take root even in poor soil and do not require particularly active watering or fertilizing. Planting is possible even in a regular pot. The annual grows and produces fruit throughout the season. Each berry is the size of an average cherry, and up to several buckets of harvest are collected from one bush. True, not everyone will decide to enjoy it fresh.

The specific pungent taste has long been considered main problem this type of nightshade. But today this problem is successfully solved by processing raw materials into homemade preparations, which allow preserving a valuable product for a long time.

Beneficial features

Many experts in the field know how healing the sunberry is. traditional medicine. The benefits of sunberry are due to its unique composition. In terms of vitamin C content, the product is not inferior to citrus fruits. Accordingly, the berry itself acquires the properties of a natural antioxidant.

In addition, its pulp also contains carotene or provitamin A. It medicinal properties allow you to eliminate toxins and quickly cope with illness or fatigue. In addition, in terms of the selection of microelements, this sunny berry looks very impressive. The ongoing treatment allows you to eliminate the signs of early aging and cleanse yourself of cell decay products.

Among the valuable micro- and macroelements contained in Canadian blueberries are:

potassium, essential for the functioning of the heart muscle;
manganese, which improves hematopoiesis and the functioning of the immune system;
zinc, which has a positive effect on brain function and internal secretion organs;
chromium, necessary for metabolic processes involved in the production of glucose;
silver, which has a pronounced anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effect.

Regular consumption of this varietal cultivated nightshade allows you to replenish a significant portion of the human body’s needs for vitamins and minerals. Moreover, the composition contains pectins, bioflavonoids, tannins, which color the skin of the fruit in its characteristic color. In terms of their nutritional properties, the berries are quite consistent with other plants in the family. 100 grams of fruit contain 220 kcal.

Among the beneficial properties of sunberry, the following important and significant points are highlighted.

Improved vision. The high concentration of vitamin A in the crop product is the reason why the berry received the unofficial name “Canadian blueberry.” A particularly pronounced effect occurs in the production of medicinal extracts from fruits. Reception is recommended on a regular basis in case of heavy loads on the visual organs.

Combating dermatological problems. Poor condition skin– the presence of burns, cuts, open sores and wounds can be improved by using a paste of fried and mashed nightshade berries. For acne, fresh fruit puree has an anti-inflammatory and cleansing effect.
Anti-inflammatory effect for throat infections. Concentrated juice cannot be used - it is too caustic and can cause a chemical burn. You need to make a rinse solution in a concentration of 1:3 with water.

Ability to reduce the intensity of migraine attacks. The biologically active substances included in the composition have a mild analgesic effect and alleviate the general condition of the patient.
Normalization of the digestive tract. Having a slight laxative effect, berries rich in fiber and pectin help to establish regular bowel movements. Additionally, metabolism improves and the removal of waste and toxins from the body is normalized.
Hemostatic and vasoconstrictor effect. The green leaves of the plant are suitable for squeezing juice. The resulting raw material is taken in the form of drops or orally during heavy menstruation to reduce blood outflow.
Help with sleep disorders. Just one handful of sunberries will help you fall asleep and get a good night's sleep. But you should not forget about this property of plant materials if you plan to engage in activities that require high concentration. You should not consume cultivated nightshade before driving a car - it can cause drowsiness.

Contraindications and harm

The undoubted benefits of the plant can be significantly reduced due to non-compliance with contraindications for its use. “Sunny berry” came to Russia and the CIS countries recently and still raises a lot of questions among summer residents and gardeners, primarily because it belongs to the nightshade family, where there are many poisonous and simply dangerous plants. For example, belladonna or belladonna, the berries of which are quite similar in appearance to sunberries, are deadly.

But this does not apply to the cultivated fruit-bearing nightshade. But it’s better to collect it on your own plantation.

A relative contraindication to taking sunberry is obesity and the process of losing weight. You can only add a couple of berries to a calorie-restricted diet. Otherwise, there will be no talk about losing weight. In addition, the miraculous berry is not the best remedy on the road. Due to its laxative effect, it can cause some inconvenience during the trip. The presence of individual intolerance to other plants of the nightshade family requires taking these berries with caution.

Sunberry should not be consumed during pregnancy or before reaching 12 years of age. In addition, if you have allergic reactions, you should first conduct tests and stock up on the necessary antihistamines. In addition, when planting nightshade in the soil, you should very carefully choose the places where it grows. For example, when landing near highways Generally healthy berries will actively absorb heavy metals. Exceeding lead levels can lead to kidney problems.

For pregnant women, plants of the nightshade family and their fruits are dangerous because they can provoke contraction of the uterine muscles, which contributes to the development of the threat of miscarriage.

Landing

Planting and caring for a sunberry plant is relatively simple. But it's still not worth the risk. For example, seeds should be purchased exclusively in specialized stores, where the legal origin of the products is guaranteed. In addition, annuals are grown and planted in the ground in the spring. Practically no preliminary soil preparation is required. But you should not plant any members of the nightshade family in overly acidic soil.

Another important point is that it is better to grow sunberry bushes on pre-manured soil. This way it will be possible to guarantee their high yield and good protection from frost.

It is recommended to plant sunberries in places where other members of the nightshade family, such as eggplants and tomatoes, previously grew. The soil from under any other plants with an undeveloped root system is also suitable - cucumbers, tomatoes. Potatoes and tomatoes can be planted next to the cultivated nightshade. But you shouldn’t place high hopes on seed propagation. The vegetative growth period for this type of green space is quite long, so it can be difficult to predict its course.

Despite its frost resistance, sunberry does not like drafts too much and is quite capricious. The berries are planted in the ground at home or in a greenhouse. The optimal soil composition for it is mixed. It is necessary to combine turf, forest, and garden soil in two parts, as well as sand and turf ash. The mixture is thoroughly stirred to ensure homogeneity. Next, the plants are planted. No holes or recesses are required.

It is recommended to start growing seedlings in late February or early March. The seed parts of the plants are first disinfected for 20 minutes using a manganese solution. Next, the seeds are washed with water. The germination process of all nightshades is quite complex and lengthy. To help the sprouts break through, you should place the seeds in damp gauze in advance. The place where the shoot emerges is cut as soon as signs of opening appear. The prepared soil mixture is packaged in separate containers and then planted. The seeds are immersed to a shallow depth - no more than 0.5 cm. Deeper sowing can provoke the development of rotting processes. In addition, you must take care of drainage. If there are not enough compartments for seedlings on the balcony, you can sow sunberries in one box with tomatoes and peppers.

It is recommended to germinate seeds at room temperature. The watering process should be organized on a regular basis, but without excessively moistening the soil. Picking of seedlings is carried out after full germination three months after planting. The remaining seedlings are transplanted into separate containers and transferred to a warm, well-lit place.

Rules of care

Planting in open ground for sunberries occurs during the growth period of 5-7 leaves. It is not recommended to plant the plant before the frost period begins. In addition, it is worth paying attention to the following points regarding the care of seedlings.

The optimal time for replanting bushes is from late May to mid-June.
The best distance between plants is about 70 cm.
As they grow, the bushes need to be fed with mullein dissolved in water twice during the season.
The flowering process of a plant begins during active growth- in June, and lasts throughout the life of the bush. Nightshade does not require additional pinching, but it can be used at the end of the season before frost to accelerate the ripening of berries.
If the sunberry is still in the soil during its fruiting period, and the surrounding temperature has already dropped below zero, you should definitely use a special covering material to protect the fruits and branches.
Sunberry is quite unpretentious in care. It grows in clusters, resembling cherry tomatoes in appearance. Hybrid cultivated nightshade does not require frequent watering. It is provided only during periods of severe drought. In addition, with properly prepared and fertile soil, the plant does not need fertilizing. If the soil is depleted, additional fertilizers can be added. Nightshades love it.
With abundant fruiting, sunberry bushes may require additional support. They help reduce the load directly on the branches and facilitate the harvesting process (no need to bend low to the ground).
Especially careful care Sunberry is required at the end of fruiting. It is worth paying attention to the fact that in the autumn months the buds and stepsons must be plucked off in a timely manner so that the remnants of insufficiently ripe berries have time to ripen. In particularly difficult cases, additional pruning is performed.
Loosening and weeding of the soil in areas where nightshade crops are planted should be carried out throughout the season. The intensity of growth and successful fruiting largely depend on the active access of oxygen to the roots.

Harvest and storage

Berries completely stop appearing on the bushes only in late autumn. Moreover, in most cases, all processes associated with harvesting fruits have to be artificially interrupted by removing stepsons and buds. Otherwise, the sunberry itself, already gaining strength in the clusters, simply will not have time to ripen.

The “sunny berry” plantation looks very impressive during the fruiting period. Clusters of purple-black berries are set off favorably by the green foliage. They begin to harvest sunberries in August, when the fruits have already been saturated with the heat of the sun. The fruiting period lasts until August. Berries must be harvested promptly. If they are left for a long time, the branches and leaves may break. Up to 15 kg of fruits ripen on one bush per season.

Ripe and juicy berries have a fairly elastic shell and thick skin. The ripening process always begins from the top of the bunches. An indicator of excellent ripeness of berries is their acquisition of a rich, bright purple, close to black, color. The size of a ripe berry reaches the size of a ripe cherry or sweet cherry. Removing buds and flowers after the fruits are formed helps speed up the filling and ripening of fruits.

The glossy shine and gloss of nightshade indicates its excellent ripeness. The last harvest of sunberries must be harvested from dug out and hanging bushes. In this way, full ripening of the crop is achieved.

To determine the ripeness of the berry, if you do not have experience in growing this nightshade crop, you must pay attention to how soft and elastic the fruit is to the touch. If you do not have time to collect crop products, the lost time will lead to spoilage of the berries.