Strawberries gained a reputation as a rare delicacy. Total 3 week in a year, you can see it packaged in plastic cups on the elemental market. The ripening period of both wild and cultivated varieties is identical, so the population is trying to grab as many berries as possible in a short time.
Strawberries are ahead of strawberries in several ways. Its taste is much sweeter and more expressive, and the aroma persists even after prolonged heat treatment. The fruits of strawberries look more neat and noble (you can draw an analogy with tomatoes and cherry), fit perfectly into the structure of both sweet and savory dishes.
General product characteristics
Strawberries are a perennial herb of the pink family. In total there are 17 varieties of berries, but our climatic conditions are characteristic of the entire 3-4. Among them: forest (alpine), pineapple, eastern, meadow (green).
Plant height does not exceed 20, see. Rhizome short, thin, covered with hairs. Leaves on long petioles, divided into 3 sectors, green non-uniform color. Developed shoots become white, grow on a long pedicle and give false fruit.
Berry loves sunny slopes, hills, edges and light forests. Reproduction occurs vegetatively. Habitat: Central Asia, Western and Eastern Siberia, the Caucasus, Ukraine, Belarus, cultivated in the United States and South Africa.
The etymology of the name of the berry is overly simple. “Strawberry” is a derivative of the word “strawberry” (Old Russian). Ripe fruits are located very close to the ground, in order to get them you will have to bend low – hence the formed name of the species.
Chemical composition
Vitamin content (in milligrams based on 100 grams of raw berries)
Retinol (A) 0,005 Beta-carotene (A) 0,03 Thiamine (B1) 0,03 Riboflavin (B2) 0,05 Pantothenic acid (B5) 0,18 Pyridoxine (B6) 0,06 Folic acid (B9) 0,01, 60 Ascorbic acid (C) 0,5 Tocopherol (E) 0,004 Biotin (H) 0,4 Nicotinic acid (PP) XNUMX
Nutrient balance (in milligrams based on 100 grams of raw berries)
Macronutrients
Potassium (K) 161 Calcium (Ca) 40 Magnesium (Mg) 18 Sodium (Na) 18 Sulfur (S) 12 Phosphorus (P) 23 Chlorine (Cl) 16 Boron (B) 0,185 Vanadium (V) 0,009
Trace Elements
Iron (Fe) 1,2 Iodine (I) 0,001 Cobalt (Co) 0,004 Manganese (Mn) 0,2 Copper (Cu) 0,13 Molybdenum (Mo) 0,01 Fluorine (F) 0,018 Chromium (Cr) 0,002 Zinc ( Zn) 0,01
Useful properties of berries
Due to the rich vitamin composition, the presence of acids and tannins, strawberries are considered to be a real sweet medicine. Berry is introduced into the diet of patients with gastritis, colitis, dysentery, ulcers and pathologies of the biliary system (only at the stage of remission). The product quenches thirst for a long time, restores the body’s water balance and well stimulates hunger. Strawberry serves as a kind of aperitif. A handful of berries triggers the process of salivation, improves digestive function and makes us hungry. The body literally makes uncontrollably eat berries (without a feeling of fullness), if there are no nutritious foods for the current meal.
What else can be useful ingredient:
- Reduces blood pressure.
- Helps to cope with anemia.
- Regulates salt metabolism.
- It has a diuretic effect on the body. Normalizes the bladder and kidneys.
- Regulates sleep.
- It is used for internal bleeding.
- Facilitates the manifestations of infectious and viral diseases.
- Expands and strengthens the walls of blood vessels, prevents diseases of the cardiovascular system.
- It accelerates the metabolism to a possible limit, normalizes peristalsis, increases the overall tone of the body.
Not only berries have medicinal properties. Strawberry leaves are used as part of pain-blocking medications (antispasmodics). Strawberry extract, isolated from the leaves, strengthens the immune system and creates an additional block for pathogenic microorganisms.
Strawberry juice is recommended for patients suffering from insomnia, sleep rhythm disturbances and for the prevention of such pathologies. On the basis of strawberry leaf tea is brewed, which relieves spasms, puffiness, and helps with colds. A decoction softens the mucous membrane, removes sputum from the lungs.
Special benefits from strawberries can get women. Berry is able to regulate the menstrual cycle, copes with swelling and minimizes pain. A similar effect is observed during childbirth. Strawberries increase the tone and degree of disclosure of the uterus, which helps the child to more quickly overcome the path to life and minimizes the risk of complications.
Use in cooking
Each variety has a special palette of taste and aromas. There are several characteristics of all berries, without exception:
- characteristic sweet taste (strawberries are more watery, and strawberries are thick and sugary);
- fresh aroma.
Most often strawberries are used in desserts and various sweet dishes. In addition to taste, the ingredient also has an aesthetic function. Small neat berries of the correct form – an attractive accent of any dish or drink.
What to make from berries:
- Tea / compote / jelly / tonic fruit water.
- Jelly / sorbet / ice cream.
- Candied / caramelized snack.
- Pastry.
- Dessert with cream / topping / chocolate.
- Sauce for meat and fish dishes.
- Marinade.
Recipe for Walnut Sabayon with Berries and Ice Cream
Nutritional value (based on the 1 portion of the finished dish)
Caloric value
Proteins
Fats
Carbohydrates
322 kcal 7,7 g 18,3 g 31,3 g
We need:
- milk – 150 ml;
- cream of any fat content – 100 ml;
- yolk – 15 pcs;
- hazelnuts (can be replaced with your favorite nuts) – 50 g;
- white chocolate – 65 g;
- sugar / honey / agave syrup / sweetener to taste;
- butter – 5 g;
- strawberries – 450 g;
- blueberries – 450 g
Preparation
Pour into the container milk and cream, stir, put on a slow fire and bring to a boil. In another bowl, crumble chocolate (make large crumbs), add 7 yolks and warm creamy-milky mixture. Stir thoroughly so that all components become homogeneous. The resulting mixture must be cooled: just put in the fridge for a few hours. The mass with the ingredients will look like ice cream both in appearance and taste.
Cooking Board (1). If there is an ice cream maker among kitchen devices, perform all the manipulations in it. So you will save cooking time, freeze and be sure of the right consistency of the dish.
Prepare a skillet, pour in 50 grams of sugar (if you chose another sweetener, skip this step and immediately pour honey / syrup into the frozen mass), 25 ml of water, put on a slow fire and bring to a boil. As soon as the mixture begins to bubble and turn into a thick syrup – remove the container from the fire. Add chopped nuts to the boiling syrup, put it back on the fire and fry until golden brown, stirring constantly with a spatula.
Cooking Board (2). As soon as you inject the nuts, the sugar immediately becomes dry and seems to curdle. This is a normal reaction. Over time, in the process of frying, the consistency will become thick and viscous, similar to caramel.
As soon as the sugar gets a shade of dark caramel – remove the saucepan from the heat and add the butter. Stir the mixture thoroughly, transfer to baking parchment and allow to cool. After hardening, break the caramel into small pieces, place in a blender and wait until the nuts are completely chopped. They should turn into crumb, while not breaking the structure of the caramel.
Take an extra bowl of a blender, mix in it 8 yolks and 80 grams of sugar / selected sweetener. Turn on the blender, mix the ingredients until the mass turns white. Without turning off the blender, add the nut-caramel paste and stir for another 3 minutes. Sabayon is ready!
Use small deep plates for serving. Put a big handful of berries on the bottom of the dish, pour it with the sabayon and lightly go around the cooking torch. Place a ball of your favorite ice cream on top and serve it to the table.
Used in cosmetics
In the season of berries in each woman wakes up “people’s cosmetologist.” All the food brought home is the first thing on the face, and only then on the plate. Women are used to spending time as efficiently as possible and doing several things at the same time. Cooking time strawberry cake or cupcakes can be combined with the application of strawberry mask on the face, lips and crease of the upper eyelid.
Strawberries struggle with hyperpigmentation, post-acne, dries active acne and visibly rejuvenates. How to use the berry for the benefit of not only digestion, but also natural beauty:
- Apply a quick nutritional mask. Rinse the berries thoroughly, cut them in half and rub the face with the halves. Get ready for the skin to turn red. It looks as if you were skinned alive, so warn your family about beauty procedures. Hold the mask on your face for 10-25 minutes, rinse with warm water and apply the usual care products.
- Freeze strawberries along with ice cubes. You can crush strawberries and mix them with ice, or freeze whole berries for the same effect. Each morning should start with an ice cold massage. Take frozen berry ice and gently massage it along the massage lines on your face. The massage will smooth out fine wrinkles, ice will refresh the skin, tone it up, and the strawberries will nourish with vitamins and moisturize.
- Add crushed strawberries to basic care products. Please note that the implementation period of such cosmetics is reduced several times. As soon as you feel the putrid smell of the cream – throw it away. This indicates rotting berries. The damaged ingredient can no longer nourish the skin and will act with the exact opposite.
- If you are not sure of your cosmetic abilities, then do not be discouraged and purchase a special line at a pharmacy or a mass market containing strawberries. Pay attention to the composition: the berry should be in the first positions in the composition and be listed as an ingredient, and not as a perfume.
Contraindications and possible side effects
Who are contraindicated berries:
- People with individual intolerance to the product or components that make up.
- Patients with pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract at the stage of exacerbation or at any stage, if prohibited by the attending doctor.
- Pregnant women are advised to reduce the number of berries in the diet. Strawberries are quite a strong allergen that can adversely affect the condition of the baby.
Parents knowingly took away our 3 glass of strawberries, justifying this with the coming pain in the stomach and rashes. Excessive consumption of berries really bad impact on the skin and well-being. In the body there is a specific reaction to the satiation of acids and vitamins. The result – a rash over the whole body or its individual sections, malfunctions of the digestive system.
The occurrence of irritation on the dermis is accompanied by pain and a constant feeling of discomfort. The rash is always itchy, and from contact with an irritant (our hand, the material of clothing, the air) is even more damaged and can get an infection. As for the deterioration, the manifestations are purely individual. Someone is sick, someone loses consciousness, someone gets rid of episodic abdominal pain.
Interesting fact
The inhabitants of Velion (a city in Belgium) were so indifferent to the berry that they decided to develop a semblance of the cult of strawberries. They created a museum dedicated to the ingredient. It contains all the varieties of plants, information on territorial movements, features of breeding. Near the museum sell thematic symbols, through which you can express your love for delicacy.
The locals decided that this would not be enough and decided to create their own holiday. The first Sunday of June became a household word. Anyone can come to Velion on this day and become a member of the International Day of Strawberries.
