Dandelion jam: benefits and harms

Bright yellow dandelion, like a little sun, is associated with spring, childhood, weaving wreaths. But this little miracle of nature is an unusual flower. Our ancestors knew about its benefits. They worshiped the plant, and this is understandable.

The name "dandelion" in Russian has similar roots with the verbs "blow" and "blow". He has many names, including euphorbia, and bald patch and parachute. Researchers, however, believe that the roots of the word are of Arab origin.

Dandelion is a perennial from the astro family. To date, approximately two thousand plant species are known, and only 70 of them are studied by science. The leaves of the flower form a rosette with a serrated edge. The flower itself has a yellow or white color.

Its useful properties can heal constipation, eliminate metabolism, remove cholesterol, maintain liver health, improve the digestive tract and much more. It is worth noting that in medicine all parts of this plant are used. For example, decoctions and medicinal tinctures are prepared from the roots, and the leaves are used for infusions. A large number of cosmetic preparations are produced from dandelion juice or its milk, which can rejuvenate and even out the skin. Well, of course, the inflorescences themselves, bright and fluffy, can also work wonders thanks to their unique composition. A lot of information has reached our days about where they are used as the main component - these are medicines, and cosmetology products, and, of course, dishes from this plant.

One of the most popular recipes is considered to be dandelion jam, which many housewives prepare at home in order not only to treat homemade delicious treats, but also to maintain the health of loved ones.

Composition and calorie content

Since the dandelion itself is very useful due to the healing elements in its composition, the jam made from it has similar qualities. In its composition you can find:

• phosphorus;
• calcium;
• iron;
• potassium;
• manganese;
• zinc;
• selenium;
• copper;
• iodine;
• tocopherol;
• vitamins of group B, C, K, PP;
• choline;
• beta carotene;
• alimentary fiber;
• pectin.

The calorie content of 100 g of jam is 192 kcal, protein - 1 g, and fats and carbohydrates - 0.15 g and 49 g, respectively.

Due to this unique composition, dandelion jam is not only an excellent dessert, but also a tool that helps with gastrointestinal diseases, calms the nervous system and activates brain activity.

Useful properties of dandelion jam

General benefit

The scientific community seriously took up the study of this plant and established its unambiguous benefit for the human body. But it did not stop there and also examined almost all products that are made from dandelion. Jam was no exception, especially when studying, it was possible to enjoy a delicious “experimental”. As a result, the following properties of a sweet dessert were established:

• restoration of liver cells, prevention and treatment of diseases of this organ;
• decreased acidity of the stomach;
• choleretic property;
• treatment and prevention of the bladder and urinary tract diseases;
• slowing down the aging process;
• treatment of intestinal infections;
• cancer prevention;
• slowing down the aging process;
• improving the condition of the skin;
• increase immunity;
• treatment and prevention of seasonal viral infections;
• prevention and treatment of bronchitis;
• bone skeleton strengthening;
• treatment of arthritis and gout;
• normalization of sleep and nervous system;
• increase in overall tone;
• removal of toxins and toxins;
• increased metabolism;
• prevention of anemia;
• memory improvement.

Such a rich list indicates the uniqueness of the product. But some diseases and the use of jam in their treatment should be addressed in more detail.

For women

Dandelion honey will be very beneficial for women. As you know, the weaker sex is more often prone to depression and stress, and jam can restore harmony and calm the nervous system, restoring peace and eliminating sleep problems. In addition, this product is also able to maintain healthy skin and improve its appearance, slowing down aging. In addition to the general beneficial effect, the product is able to normalize the menstrual cycle and solve problems with ovulation. Therefore, women can and should eat this sweet and healthy medicine!

For men

An amazing product will help men increase endurance, normalize hormonal levels, eliminate bone tissue problems, and increase potency, which is a very important aspect for the stronger sex. Thus, jam is able to cope with problems of a purely masculine nature.

During pregnancy

Pregnancy is the expectation of a miracle. Each expectant mother is very responsible for her health and the health of her child. Unique jam will be a good helper during the period of waiting for the baby. It will eliminate the skin problems that often occur in pregnant women, such as hyperpigmentation. It will also cleanse the body of harmful substances, establish digestion, remove excess fluid, eliminate swelling, cope with insomnia, anemia and improve mood. Doctors recommend eating 2-3 teaspoons of this dish per day, and then the harm will be eliminated, and the body of the mother and baby will be saturated with useful vitamins and minerals.

When breastfeeding

It will also be useful for nursing mothers to use dandelion honey, but not in the first month after the birth of the baby. Jam remarkably increases lactation. At the same time, it should be introduced into the diet gradually, starting with very small doses, in order to avoid allergic reactions and problems with the intestines in the child. The norm is 1 or 2 tablespoons per day. The treat will saturate the mother and the child with all the useful substances that nature sorceress has so generously awarded him.

For kids

Children, unfortunately, it is undesirable to use honey from dandelions. Doctors do not recommend introducing a product into the menu for babies under the age of five in general, as he is able to cause a severe allergy specifically to the flowers of the plant. In addition, until the age of 18, treating a child with jam should be extremely careful and very rare, because it is up to this age that the skeleton is formed, and jam can interfere with its proper formation. In any case, before taking it, you must consult with your pediatrician to determine all the possible risks for the child.

When losing weight

When dieting, people are forced to give up their favorite foods and sweets. As a result, there are breakdowns in nutrition, and nervous breakdowns, as well as a lack of nutrients in the body. Dandelion jam can replenish micronutrients that are missing from the body, improve digestion, increase metabolic rate, remove excess fluid, get rid of toxins and toxins, normalize the nervous system, improve overall tone, and help maintain healthy skin condition. In addition, jam will perfectly replace sweets and eliminate cravings for them. But nevertheless, one should not attack the healing product and eat it by banks. Enough 1 tablespoon thirty minutes before eating, and the figure with health will be in perfect order.

Dandelion jam (honey) in medicine

With diabetes

Dandelion honey is really useful in most diseases, but the benefit of it for patients with diabetes is a rather controversial issue. The fact is that the plant itself can lower the level of glucose, but in the process of preparing dandelion honey, it is sugar that is dangerous for patients with this diagnosis. However, doctors do not exclude the use of the product, but recommend replacing sugar with fructose. At the same time, the daily norm should not exceed 2–4 teaspoons of goodies. In any case, before consuming jam, you should consult a specialist and do not establish restrictions and indulgences yourself!

With gastritis

Gastritis is a serious obstacle to the use of familiar and favorite foods. Traditional medicine has provided many sweets that can be eaten by patients without much harm to health. But dandelion jam during the period of exacerbation is prohibited. Patients in the stage of deep remission with high acidity of the stomach can use jam no more than 3 times a week, 2 tablespoons per day.

For the liver

Separately, it is worth noting the benefits of dandelion honey for such a vital organ of the human body as the liver. The fact is that dandelion itself is considered a natural hepatoprotector. Its properties are similar to the properties of drugs that are on the shelves of pharmacy chains. In the process of making jam, this miraculous effect does not disappear anywhere, so jam also has invaluable benefits for liver health. In addition, it is able to stop the development of some serious diseases of this human organ. Its effect is as follows:

1. Liver repair at the cellular level. Thanks to this property, jam prevents the appearance and development of such a dangerous disease as cirrhosis.
2. Honey from dandelion flowers cleanses the liver of toxins, toxins and radionuclides. In this regard, the work of the body improves, and unpleasant symptoms disappear.
3. Daily intake of jam as a medicine improves metabolism, increases the rate of metabolic processes and naturally makes up for the lack of useful trace elements in the human body.

Use the product should not be more than five times a day for 1 teaspoon. Honey should be dissolved in a glass of green tea or milk thistle, which, together with dandelion, have excellent anti-inflammatory, choleretic and tonic effects.

But experts remind that jam is not a panacea. Therefore, even using a magical tool, you can not abandon the methods of traditional medicine, you must definitely take medications prescribed by a doctor. Only their joint “jam” with jam is able to rid a person of liver diseases and maintain health.

Harm and contraindications

Despite an extensive list of vitamins and minerals that contribute to maintaining health, as well as beneficial effects on the body as a whole, dandelion jam can do some harm, so you should know the contraindications to the use of this product in order to eliminate all possible unpleasant consequences.

Contraindications are as follows:

• sensitivity to iodine;
• an allergic reaction to honey;
• exacerbation of gastritis;
• cholelithiasis;
• diarrhea and nausea;
• diabetes;
• gastric and duodenal ulcer;
• children under 5 years old.

It is also worth noting that in any case, jam should be consumed with caution, and not eat it with spoons for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

When and how to collect dandelions for jam

In order for dandelion jam to bring the greatest healing effect and show all its positive properties, you need to familiarize yourself with the rules for collecting raw materials, as well as know the time and place of its extraction.

1. So, the most important rule is the collection of flowers in places remote from settlements and highways.The fact is that a dandelion, like a sponge, absorbs all the harmful substances that exist in its surrounding atmosphere. When making jam, all these microbes will fall into the finished product, and then the body will definitely not benefit from it!
2. Next, you should determine the size of the plant. For jam, those who have reached the age of two are suitable, because their composition is more saturated with microelements than in young representatives. Those that grow more than two years are usually larger in size.
3. Inflorescences should be opened at the time of collection and not have browning and insects. In addition, the leaves of the plant should be straightened and not have any damage or twisting. It is from these flowers that the famous honey or dandelion jam is made.
4. Next, you should cut or tear off the flower hat under the head itself.
5. It should also be noted that the composition of the finished dish should include 98% of inflorescences, and 2% can be left on the stems and leaves. Their presence will only enrich the jam with useful ingredients.
6. It is best to pick flowers in late April or May on a dry day at lunch time. It is at this moment that the flowers gain a large amount of nectar and stand with their heads wide open.

Knowing these simple subtleties of collecting a plant, you can prepare real healing honey that can cope with many ailments.

How to make dandelion jam: recipes

There are many recipes for making amber jam. Everyone makes it depending on their taste preferences. Here are just a few of them:

Classical

Ingredients:

• Dandelion Flowers - 400 g.
• Boiled water - 2 glasses.
• Sugar - 7 glasses.

Cooking:

1. Inflorescences pour boiling water and put cook on fire.
2. After the water boils, boil for another two minutes and remove from the stove.
3. Then filter the liquid through a gauze layer, add granulated sugar to the broth and put it back on the stove.
4. After boiling, cook jam for 7-8 minutes.

Popular with lemon

Ingredients:

• Dandelion inflorescences - 400 g.
• Sugar - 1.5 kg.
• Water - 2 glasses.
• Lemon - 1 pc.

Cooking:

1. Pour the flowers with water and put on fire. After boiling, cook for 10 minutes.
2. Then add lemon sliced ​​along with peels. Boil for another 5 minutes and remove from stove.
3. After that, wrap the pan with a warm blanket and remove it to a warm place for one day.
4. At the end of the specified time, strain the broth with gauze, add granulated sugar and boil for 5 minutes. Repeat this process until the liquid acquires a characteristic viscosity. This is usually two or three times.

Flower with orange

Ingredients:

• 100 pieces. inflorescences of dandelion.
• 320 g of granulated sugar.
• 1 cup of water.
• Half a lemon.
• Half an orange.
• In this recipe, the volume of a glass is 250 g.

Cooking:

1. Soak the flowers of the plant overnight in water.
2. Strain and disassemble the inflorescences, i.e. separate the petals themselves from the calyx.
3. Pour the resulting petals with a glass of water and set to boil. After the water boils, continue cooking for 10 minutes.
4. Remove from the stove, filter and squeeze with gauze.
5. Wash and cut the orange and lemon into small slices. Add to the filtered liquid from dandelions.
6. Add sugar.
7. Cook the mixture for 20 minutes from the moment of boiling. In this case, jam should be mixed to avoid burning.
8. Pour the finished product into sterile dishes and store in a cool place.

Jam without cooking

Ingredients:

• Dandelion Flowers - 400 g.
• Sugar - 800 g.

Cooking:

1. Prepare a clean jar, where the flowers of the plant are laid to the bottom.
2. Next, take sugar and pour it on top. The ratio of inflorescences and sugar should be 1: 2. Repeat until the vessel is completely filled with ingredients. The last layer is granulated sugar.
3. After that, tightly close the jar with a lid and put it in a sunny place, where it will stand for two weeks.
4. At the end of the period, remove the jam in the refrigerator.

Dandelion honey with rhubarb

Ingredients:

• 180 g of dandelion flowers.
• 950 ml of water.
• 400 g of sugar.
• 300 g of rhubarb.
• One lemon.
• 70 g of cherry leaves.

Cooking:

1. Rinse rhubarb and dandelions thoroughly.
2. Peel the rhubarb and cut into small cubes.
3. Add sugar to the water and cook until the latter dissolves.
4. In the resulting syrup, put rhubarb, dandelions and cherry leaves.
5. Boil the mass over low heat for 20 minutes.
6. Strain the resulting product with gauze.
7. Select pieces of rhubarb and put them in a pan with filtered liquid.
8. Put the dishes on the fire and continue the cooking process for one hour.
9. Arrange the resulting jam in the prepared dishes and close the lids.

Dandelion jam with mint, lemon and tangerine

Ingredients:

• Dandelion - 450 g
• Mandarin - 3 pcs.
• Lemon - 1 pc.
• Sugar - 250 kg.
• Mint - 50 g.
• Boiled water - 2 l.

Cooking:

1. Squeeze the juice from the tangerines.
2. Combine all components except granulated sugar and put to cook for 20 minutes from the moment of boiling of the product.
3. Strain with gauze or fine sieve and add sugar and put back on the stove.
4. Cook the jam over low heat for two hours, stirring regularly.

The finished product is stored in a cold place in rolled up jars.

Dandelion jam with melon

Ingredients:

• Dandelion - 400 g.
• Melon pulp - 150 g.
• Sugar - 2.5 kg.
• Water - 2 l.

Cooking:

1. Place chopped dandelion inflorescences in a pan and pour them with water. Leave the mixture for one day.
2. Then strain the settled product and add to it all remaining ingredients.
3. Put on low heat and cook until a characteristic density appears.
4. Pour the finished product into prepared dishes and roll up.

How to Use Dandelion Jam

In order to achieve the most useful result from dandelion jam, it is necessary to use it correctly, depending on the diagnosis and general condition of the person. You should also take into account the individual characteristics of the body.

1. A healthy person who wants to maintain his state of health should eat jam no more than five times a week, while the daily intake is not more than 2 tablespoons.
2. For liver diseases, it is recommended to take it in exactly the same way as a healthy person, i.e. 2 tablespoons per day not more than five times a week. It doesn’t matter either before or after a meal.
3. For the prevention and treatment of joint diseases, the product is eaten in the morning on an empty stomach. The daily rate is 1 tablespoon. The course of treatment must be carried out for one month.
4. For diseases of the cardiovascular system, a treat should be consumed 1 teaspoon two hours before the first meal. The treatment lasts for two weeks.
5. With severe coughing and lung problems, jam should be eaten every two or three hours. At the same time, they eat 1 dessert spoon, and then drink tea or milk. The tool can be used until the symptoms disappear completely.
6. To relieve inflammation and increase the tone of the human body, jam is combined with a solution of milk thistle and 1 tablespoon is added to green tea. You can also mix honey from dandelions with boiled water in the same volume and use it in the morning on an empty stomach.
7. If you drink a couple of teaspoons with warm herbal tea or milk, then you can calm the nervous system and avoid the consequences of nervous breakdowns.
8. Jam can help people who have frequent constipation. To get rid of such an unpleasant situation, you should combine 50 g of dandelion sweets with half a glass of turnip juice and drink in the morning on an empty stomach. If there is no turnip, then you can dilute 15 g of dandelion honey with 250 ml of milk and drink before bedtime. The milk should be warm, but not hot.
9. People with a diagnosis of hepatitis can be treated with the following remedy from jam, beets, horseradish, carrots and vodka.It is necessary to mix one glass of vegetable juice with one glass of jam and 30 ml of vodka, and also add lemon juice squeezed from 2 fruits.
10. To normalize the gastrointestinal tract, it is recommended to use 2 teaspoons before each meal.

What is better to combine dandelion jam

It is not necessary to eat jam as a standalone product. It can be combined with other components, each time feeling an amazing taste and benefit. For example, it can be spread on a bakery product or toast, and also added to pastries, making the treat sweet and healthy. In addition, it can be added to tea and milk and enjoy the drink. Jam is also mixed with certain foods and healthy herbs to enhance its healing power:

1. With lemon and honey - against colds and various viral infections.
2. With mint, chamomile, lemon balm or bergamot - for a calming effect.
3. With milk thistle - to enhance choleretic and anti-inflammatory properties.

Well, if a person prefers to drink green tea, then dandelion sweetness will shade the bright taste of the drink and give an unforgettable taste experience.

Interesting facts about dandelions

1. In the root of the dandelion is rubber, and for some time it was mined from there. Then the rubber tree replaced, and the technology for collecting this component from plants was forgotten, but today, rubber production from dandelion root is starting to revive again.
2. Dandelion juice can reduce pain from a bee sting.
3. One flower head contains approximately 200 seeds, and from the bush their number reaches seven thousand.
4. These amazing flowers could serve as hours, because they only with a small difference open their inflorescences at about six in the morning, and close at three in the afternoon.
5. Dandelions are not always called flowers. For example, in China they are referred to as vegetables and used in the preparation of many treats.
6. An amazing variety of this plant grows in the Caucasus Mountains. The dandelion petals in that area are purple.
7. There is also a holiday dedicated to dandelion. They celebrate it in the US state of Ohio on the first Saturday of May and decorate with clothes objects, dwellings and prepare refreshments using this plant.
8. One of the varieties, specifically “Beloyazychkovy dandelion” grows only on the Kola Peninsula and nowhere else. That is why this variety is listed in the Red Book.
9. In World War II, German soldiers found a rather unusual use for the plant. They made coffee from dandelion roots, which were previously fried. Its taste is similar to a traditional drink.
10. Dandelion seeds, before taking root in the ground, can cover more than one hundred kilometers.
11. In Belgium, dandelion is very kind: they are used not only in medicine and cosmetology, but they also brew beer from it.

So, a small and fragile dandelion is not so powerless. He is endowed with tremendous healing power and is able to cope with even the most serious diseases. That is why jam from its inflorescences is also considered a magic "potion" that helps in the treatment of many diseases and strengthens the immune system. Amber-looking, with honey notes, it will remind you of the sunny days of spring and will present the rays of the summer sun that are preserved in yourself. Do not deny yourself the pleasure to definitely try this wonderful product that can enhance health and prolong youth!

Photo of dandelion jam