Nature offers us many useful andtasty gifts. Sometimes we do not even think about how much good it is in this or that berry, fruit or vegetable. That's the currant, the useful properties of which are known to almost everyone, is one of the generous gifts of our mother nature.

Currant is a bush of the genusstone-clad, the average height of which is one and a half meters. The berries on such a bush can be of different colors: white, red, black. In total, there are more than one hundred and fifty species of this perennial shrub.

A relatively young species is blackcurrant, the useful properties of which were already known in the middle of the fifteenth century. Black currant has always grown well in Russia, and to this day it will not be possible to find a single garden plot on which this fruit would not have been found.

Black currant, useful properties of whichknown to all, contains valuable chemical elements (vitamins, microelements and other biological compounds, sugar, tannin and pectin substances, acids). Black currant, the useful properties of which we have already listed, has a strong coloring property, so it is used as a pigment.

Do not ignore the useful role of infusions fromblack currant. They will help with allergies, inflammations, they can be used even as a therapeutic diuretic and vitamin complex. To always be able to cook curative infusion, you need to worry in advance in the summer and dry some berries. It is prepared easily and simply: a glass of boiling water pours three spoons (tea) currant berries. Insist you need berries about half an hour, and take up to four times daily - forty or fifty grams. It is best to drink currants on an empty stomach, before eating. It is indicated in the following diseases: diseases of the stomach, skin, liver, heart, colds, allergies, kidney stones, nervousness and so on. Also, a decoction of currant berries is shown as a common restorative in case of loss of strength.

Separately, it is worth mentioning about currant leaves,whose useful properties are known, thanks to the presence of vitamin C. In them, young leaves are particularly rich in ascorbic acid. They need to be collected immediately after flowering shrubs, as with the ripening of berries the vitaminization of the leaves quickly decreases.

Currant leaves are famous for their successful combination of biological substances, which have strengthening capillaries and other positive properties.

Currant does not lose its properties after freezing, so whenever you can get a handful of berries from a freezer and cook a tasty and healthy compote.

But besides black, the red currant is known, the useful properties of which are also great. Unlike black, it is less fastidious, it gets a bigger harvest, it is viable.

If the red currant is dried, then coldOn winter evenings, it will be a great source of iodine. And fresh berries can be used to prepare tasty and healthy juices, fruit drinks, jams, jellies, marmalades, liqueurs, wines and the like.

Nevertheless, everything is good in moderation. Therefore, it is worth remembering that any vitamin has a norm, which is undesirable and even dangerous to violate. In particular, even contraindications have been revealed with respect to red fruits. Fruits of red currants should not be used for patients with stomach and esophagus problems, ulcers, for hepatitis, for patients with hemophilia, and for poor blood coagulation in the patient.

But if you are doing well with your health, thenYou can safely include these berries in your diet. From this will only have a positive effect, you can not even doubt it. Small children can also give these berries little by little.