Strawberry field - and a treat, and medicine

Perhaps, it is necessary to specify at once: the strawberry field to the strawberry has no relation. They are not even related, as some gardeners believe. There are striking differences in the form of leaves and berries, and in taste and aroma.

The ancestors of the strawberry garden came to us from North America, and the wild strawberry "was born" in our lands. Leaflets of the plant are complex, triple, oval-rhombic, dark green on top and silky-pubescent from below. Roots oblique, less often horizontal. Shoots aboveground, of two types (vegetative, generative). The latter can grow up to 25 cm and end with a small corymbose inflorescence with a whorl of bracts.

The wild strawberry is propagated predominantly vegetatively. Most of the berries ripen by early July. By the way, fruits are not berries, but tiny "nuts", immersed in the flesh of its base. The strawberry's fruit is in fact an overgrown flower stem. In its ripened state, it is bright red, very fragrant and sweet.

It grows in meadows, clear glades, and the edges of mainly deciduous forests. You can meet her on forest fires, felling, at the side of the highway and on the slopes of the railways.

Perhaps you will be interested in the fact that strawberries are divided into several types: each grows on its territory (the Far East, Western Siberia, China, the European part of Russia, Mongolia), but they are all so similar that a person who does not have a special botanical education , It is difficult to distinguish the berries from the Transbaikalian regions from berries from the Moscow region.

Strawberry field contains a lot of sugar, calcium, iron salts, acids, trace elements, macronutrients, oils. As a food product, the berry is used since antiquity. It is very tasty and aromatic in jams, jams, compotes. With it you can make puddings and patties.

The leaves of strawberries collected in spring or late autumn, withered and properly fermented, it is possible to replace tea, which will be much more pleasant than the one we used to buy in stores. By the way, it is not only tasty, but also useful for those who often catch cold. If you are not very familiar with the technology of cooking fermented tea, you can do with the leaves of strawberries cut in the flowering season (they are dried only in the shade, bound in small bundles, suspended). The berries should be picked up in the morning, as soon as the dew comes off, or when the heat is gone. They dry them, like leaves, also in the shade or in an oven heated to 40 ° C. The dried berry darkens, becoming bright red.

The medicinal properties of strawberries were mentioned in ancient literature (Virgil, Ovid), and Mattsoli (botanist and doctor, XVI century) wrote that her berries are used not only as a treat and food, but also possess choleretic action, relieve thirst and heat , Help with stomach pain.

Alcohol tincture is an amazing remedy against unwanted sunburn, against opacities on the cornea. Roots and leaves of strawberries heal ulcers and wounds, cut the spleen, strengthen the gums, loose teeth.

Strawberry Field copes well with the cold and even warns it, expels stones from the liver and kidneys, is used as a diuretic and anti-vitamin medication. Infusion of leaves is able to dilate blood vessels, and therefore effective in hypertension in the initial stage. Fresh berries (or dried and soaked) are indicated for gout, constipation, ulcers, atherosclerosis, hypertension. They not only improve digestion and excite appetite, but also increase hemoglobin. However, not all strawberries are useful. Sometimes unwanted reactions are possible - Quincke's edema, hives, itching.