Today, many different varieties of chestnuts are sold, and the most popular varieties are sweet chestnuts. Such chestnuts are grown especially in many parts of the world. But do not try to try the varieties growing on our city streets, these are ornamental plants!
In nature, chestnuts grow in the southern part of the Balkans (in Greece, Bulgaria), often at an altitude of more than a kilometer above sea level. Chestnuts are common both in the subtropical climate and in the temperate - in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as chestnuts can be found in a territory that is characterized by a warm and humid climate.
On Christmas holidays in many cities you can see how chestnuts are baked right on the streets. This is a rather old tradition. It came from the depths of centuries. Then special frying pans were specially made for baking chestnut fruits. But to bake chestnuts at home, you need, first, to clean them of bitter skins and membranes, and then brush off the dirt with a brush. After cleansing, you need to dress them on skewers or skewers. You can just cut the chestnuts. Without a hole, they can explode.
Chestnuts: useful properties.
The seeds contained in the chestnut fruits contain coumarin glycosides, up to 7% fatty oil, up to 10% protein substances, about 1% tannins, and also triterpene saponin escin. In the chestnut crust there are tannins, glycosides, ascorbic acid, sugars and other compounds. In leaves of chestnut, there are many glycosides, pectin substances and carotenoids. In flowers, a huge number of flavonoids, mucus, pectin substances, tannic compounds.
Fruits and chestnut bark contain triterpene species of escin glycoside, as well as coumarin quercitin plus its glycoside, called esulin. In the chestnut, in addition, flavonoid species of glycosides have been found: kaempferol, quercetin, isokvetsitrin, quercitin. In chestnut fruits, a lot of starch, fatty oils, sterols, tannins. The leaves are rich in carotenoids (lutein and violaxanthin), astragaline. Flowers contain derivatives of quercetin and kempferol flavonoids.
I must say that in chestnuts less fat than in other nuts. Chestnuts are nutritious and nutritious, but not oily, so they are more useful than other nuts. In 100 grams of chestnuts, only 210 calories, protein in them - 3, 6, fat - 2, 2, and carbohydrates - 42. Thanks to its texture, chestnuts are considered an excellent product for those who adhere to vegetarian views on food.
By the experiments, the medicinal properties of chestnuts were established. So the extract of chestnut fruits on alcohol possesses anti-edematous and anti-inflammatory effects. This extract is able to reduce the viscosity of blood, strengthen the capillary walls, lower the pressure, normalize the content of lecithin and cholesterol in our blood, reduce the formation of plaques of fat in the main artery - aorta. Chestnut extract can narrow the vessels and act as an anesthetic. Usually they resort to the help of ready-made drugs - esflazid and eskuzana.
Traditional healers recommend to widely use galenic types of chestnut preparations "horse". It should be noted that the juice from the flowers of this plant is taken with varicose or thrombophlebitis, hemorrhoids and atherosclerosis. The juice of chestnut flowers can be preserved with alcohol, and it will help with hemorrhoids and atherosclerosis, tincture of fruits will help with diarrhea. It can help smokers cure chronic bronchitis. Chestnut tincture has properties that are strong against malaria. Uterine bleeding can be stopped by making a decoction of chestnut skins. Just crushed leaves of chestnuts, as well as tincture of chestnut fruits, can be applied externally.
The bark of chestnut branches, chestnut leaves, fruits and flowers - all this is used in the preparation of pharmaceuticals. Chestnut flowers should be harvested until the end of May. The flowers are collected from the crowns, dried in the open sun one day, and then cleaned under a canopy. The bark needs to be harvested in the early spring and immediately it must be dried in natural conditions. It is collected, cut and dried in a crushed form. During the flowering of the chestnut, the leaves are also collected. They are collected, torn off petioles and spread out in a well-ventilated room or in the open air somewhere under a canopy. By the way, this raw material is exported. Chestnut fruits are harvested when they are completely ripe, when they begin to fall out of their leaflets. Dry them in a warm, but ventilated room.