What You Need to Know About Elderberries

What is Elderberry?

Elderberry, with the scientific name of  Sambucus Nigra, is known by many names --- sweet elder, common elder, or Sambucol. It is a shrub that is native to Europe, Asia, and Africa, but has grown abundantly in the United States, particularly  North America. The US elder grows to 4 meters as compared to its European cousin, that grows up to 10 meters. The tree with a light brown to grayish bark, have deciduous leaves that grow opposite each other. It has clusters of white fragrant flowers that turn into berries. The berries change in color from green to black/dark purple when ripe and ready for picking.

Elderberry has been used since ancient times as traditional medicine and food additive. Folk medicine claims that various parts of the plant can cure certain ailments. The flowers are said to have diuretic and laxative properties. Other parts of the plant are used for the treatment of a number of disorders, including cancer. The flower, when placed in distilled water, can help cure skin ailments. It can also be used as food enhancer - to flavor alcoholic drinks and as a fruit wine.

Sambucus nigra is edible when cooked properly and picked ripe. The entire fruit can be eaten raw when ripe. The other parts of the plant, however, are poisonous. Though non-toxic, it is still advisable to cook the Elderberries to make it more palatable and edible.

How to take Elderberry?

Elderberry can be taken in several forms: as tea drink, syrup, tincture, capsule and in lozenge form, The dosage is standardized to 0.8 percent for dried elder flower used as flavonoids, 38 percent and 19 percent for elderberry extract used by adults and children, respectively. The use of elderberry in treating body ailments began in ancient times. However, unsupervised ingestion may have contra-indications and proved harmful if the advice of a health care professional is not sought. There are few known side effects if taken for short periods of time, like five days or less. Nonetheless, it is not recommended for lactating or pregnant women; and people with autoimmune disorders without first seeking medical advice.

Health Benefits of Elderberries

The 1985 CRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs listed Elderberries in the 2000 Mosby's Nursing Drug Journal as a cure for various respiratory ailments, flu, and Hay Fever. The Hasassah Oncology Laboratory in Israel came out with researches that Elderberries can be used in the treatment of cancer and AIDS since it enhances the body's immune system. In Israel's Hasassah's Oncology Lab, have the same finding and are using the berries in treating cancer and AIDS patient. This outcome has also been replicated in research centers in Germany and in Austria,  where they found out that Elderberries can also be used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.


Photo credits:  Pixabay.com

References:

Elderberry: Supplement Information from WebMD
Elderberru: Uses, Side Effects and Warnings from WebMD
Elderberry Benefits and Information by herbwisdom


writer_csm


Onli in da Pilipins: A Writer's Journal
Copyright © csmiravite™. All Rights Reserved

Fruit Slush Drinks-Healthy Eating Habits

Fruit Sluch - Green Mango with Nestle yoghurt (raspberry and apple)

Fruit slush drink, anyone?

I have been doing combinations of fruits for my daily intake of fruit slush drinks. This has become habitual that whenever I go out, I buy fruits that would go into my slush drink whenever I reach home.

However, I noticed that the shelf life of fruits is just around two days. After that, it discolors and the taste is affected. The kiwi fruit can get mushy after two days. Green mango would lose its tang and crispiness after two to three days. Grapes (seedless variety) will hold in the fridge for around five days. Guayabano would have to be eaten within two days of being cut.Apples, papaya, and dragon fruit can hold up to three days.

After several days of mixing my fruit juice, I conclude that any fruit can go well together. It becomes a nice slush drink after mixing it with non-fat milk and a pinch of muscovado sugar. I sometimes have a fruit mixture without ice and drink it straight from out of the blender.It's swell and I get my kick out of it!

My meal at home - Pineapple Juice, Nestle Fruit Yoghurt, and fruits

Really delicious!

Today, I tried green mangoes with Nestle Yogurt (raspberry and apple), without sugar. Wowee! It's sour but yummy! It feels good in the tummy right after gulping a cup of the slush.This I may say, is real food! It's filling and your body doesn't hate it. It's so good that I may try several yoghurt flavors in the next few days in lieu of the non-fat milk.


BOTTOM LINE

I hope to be able to get the right combination of fruits--- and who knows, I might be able to come up with a franchise of  nutritious fruit slush drinks! I'll see if there are still available stalls in Southmall. I might do a test run first, to know what's saleable and voila! I am in business! :D

I'll have a doable project by next year, God willing. Who knows I might be the Fruit Slush Queen, before you know it!  Lololol!

It's a fun, fun day while drinking my favorite slush drink.


+fruit-slush-drink


Onli in da Pilipins: A Writer's Journal
Copyright © csmiravite™. All Rights Reserved

Eating Healthy by Using Food Blenders

Blender with fruits

I saw a recent advertisement about food blenders and it gave me an idea about my style of eating. As I am always online and hardly has the time to eat, I planned to do a short-cut of my eating habits.

What seems to be the problem?

I always get sleepy right after eating; most especially, if I have an enormous intake of carbohydrates. Before I knew it, my eyelids droop, then I see my body hit the sack, and before the count of three---I  am oft to dreamland.

This tendency to fall asleep at a drop of a hat, is horribly annoying. I have to pump so much coffee into my bloodstream to waken me up. I have to do something to keep me awake, and at the same time address my hunger pangs.

Guyabano with grapes ---delicious!

What to do?

I have to eat food that will fill me up and not make me sleepy. I can do that by eating fruits. But, eating fruits per se is messy. I end up messing my work and getting my computers and tech paraphernalia dirtied--- by having morsels of food into the word processor.

That's a disaster, and I never like disasters. The saving grace is the blender. What I can do is peel my choice of fruits, and put it in an osterizer or blender. I can then add a little muscovado sugar and low fat milk, and I'm oft to a good start.

My first taste test

I tried mixing a few seedless grapes with green apple, a pinch of sugar and non fat milk. Wow! That's good! I did away with the hunger pangs and was wide awake for a few hours.

What I did next was mix a few seedless grapes with guyabano.Oh boy, superb! It is like tasting a few drops of heaven!

I am going to try to mix dragon fruit with a ripe mango in a little while, and put crushed ice like a slush. I hope the grinder blades don't break since it is not an expensive variety. I only bought the unit for P500 at Southmall the other day.

Grapes and Guyabano inside the blender

Bottom Line

As I am getting picky with my food, I better create the kind of food that suits my lifestyle ---healthy, easy to prepare, fast to eat, and cheap. I am thinking of cooking crispy kankong one of these days as snack alternative.

I have been longing for bulanglang (leafy greens with a dash of fish bagoong) for sometime now, that I may ask the old woman in the barrio, to cook for me this coming weekend on my way to the farm.

Ah, food! Glorious food!  :D

Fruits that I bought for slush juice drink

Onli in da Pilipins: A Writer's Journal

CSMiravite Copyright 2014