So healthy is sea buckthorn

Sea buckthorn a preventive fruit

Sea buckthorn is still considered an expensive commodity. The application possibilities are manifold. Among others, pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturers, juice, wine, jam, candy, tea and liqueur producers are interested in the plant. The demand is constantly increasing. In the northeast of Germany, the harvest of orange or bright red sea-buckthorn berries has already begun. Due to the long winter, the yield will be rather mediocre this time. Breeders are already working on varieties that are more frost-resistant than the four varieties previously cultivated in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Here in Germany, sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) was long unknown as a vitamin C donor. In Tibetan medicine, however, the berry has been used for 1200 years. The home of the thorny, tree-like shrub is in Central Asia. In Germany, it thrives best on sea coasts and in the gravel of mountain rivers. Its red berries are so full of vitamins.

Among the most important active ingredients
- Vitamin C (depending on the location of the plant 200 to 1,000 mg / 100 g of fresh substance all the vitamins of the B group
- Beta carotene (12 mg / 100 g fresh substance, more than carrots)
- Vitamin E (up to 15 mg / 100 g)
- flavonoids
- phytoestrogens
- biogenic amines (tissue hormones)
- Minerals such as zinc, iron, copper, magnesium, potassium, calcium, cobalt
- unsaturated fatty acids

effect
- immune-regulating,
- anti-inflammatory
- prevent cancer
- cholesterol-lowering, arteriosclerosis-preventive, astringent

The owner of the Darßer Manufructur, Erhard Jasper, is not quite at peace with the sea buckthorn this year. Again and again, the owner throws his controlling glance at individual shrubs of his plantation in Behrenshagen near Ribnitz-Damgarten. "The fruit set could be better. But it was too cold in spring and later too wet, "he says. Jasper expects this time only average harvest, because the temperatures of up to minus 18 degrees in the previous winter have not survived many shrubs.

The sea buckthorn is harvested mainly as a sideline. Many people take holidays for days. Equipped with protective gloves, the berries are squeezed directly on the prickly bushes to allow the juice to flow through the closed fist in the vessels brought along. This process is complex and profitable at the same time. Meanwhile, there are other procedures. The big breakthrough, however, has not been recorded to date. The berries are furthermore preferably harvested by hand. Up to 40 centimeters long branch pieces are cut off along with the berries from the shrub and then shock-frozen at minus 40 degrees. The fruits then almost fall off by themselves and can be squeezed out. The juice is often used to support immune defense and as a sunscreen. (Fr)

Picture: Püppi