Pine cone jam: benefits and harms

Over the thousand-year history of its existence, mankind has come up with a huge number of diverse recipes for cooking. Their number is so large that it is unlikely to go even in the largest cookbook. But not all recipes were created to satisfy hunger. Many dishes based on them can not only saturate, but also bring great benefits to human health. Some look pretty weird: just soaked apples and salted watermelons are worth it! Jam made from pine cones also belongs to such original dishes. This recipe is unique not only because the raw materials for making a sweet product are not at all like fruit or berries, but also because the delicacy can heal the human body and maintain health. This is a very healthy and delicious dessert, the popularity of which is growing every year.

In order to determine the useful properties of jam, you need to clarify the benefits of the cones themselves, which are the main component.

Cones are shoots of the evergreen tree known in the northern latitudes - pines, which ripen in the second year of life of the plant. The benefit lies precisely in young cones, which are most rich in nutrients. They include:

• essential oils;
• vitamins C, K, P;
• carotene.

Shoots are used to make not only jam or honey, but also various medicinal tinctures and decoctions.

Jam is most popular among those who love sweets and at the same time take care of their well-being.

Composition and calorie content

Pine honey is a wonderful delicacy, the taste of which has its own unique zest. In addition, jam has unique properties and copes with many human diseases thanks to useful substances that the pine generously endowed with. In the composition of the dessert you can find:

1. Vitamin A. Its amount is 3.3% of the daily requirement. This substance is a natural antioxidant that reduces the negative effects of free radicals, strengthens the body's immune system, and also prevents the development of eye diseases that impair human vision.
2. Vitamin C. Its content is low - only 2.3%. This is due to the feature of the element, which is able to collapse at high temperatures.
3. Vitamins of group B. Contained in an amount of 3% of the norm of consumption per day. They are able to restore the central nervous system, affect the activity of brain activity, maintain the health of the cardiovascular system, as well as strengthen hair, nails and improve the appearance of the skin.
4. Vitamin E is represented by 2%. It also acts on the cardiovascular system, strengthens the walls of blood vessels and inhibits the aging process of the body.

Jam also contains:

• calcium;
• potassium;
• magnesium;
• phosphorus;
• copper;
• zinc;
• iron;
• iodine;
• chromium;
• aluminum;
• essential oils;
• organic acids;
• tannins.

Phytoncides are biological substances that can eliminate and inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria and microorganisms.

Calorie content of the product can vary from 180 to 280 kcal per 100 g of product. Proteins and fats are not represented, but carbohydrates - 70 g. This composition makes jam a very dubious product for weight loss, but useful substances nevertheless speak of its invaluable effect on human health.

Useful properties of jam from pine cones

General benefit

The rich composition of micro and macro elements can saturate the human body with the necessary and most important nutrients. Jam is able to support the basic functions of the human body. The benefits of dessert are as follows:

1. Treatment and prevention of respiratory diseases. This property is based on the ability of the astringent oils that make up the jam. They have antibacterial and expectorant effects, so they ease coughing and help remove sputum from the lungs. In addition, jam can cope with diseases such as asthma and tuberculosis. In this case, the whole responsibility "lies" with volatile, vitamins B and C, which reduce inflammation, cleanse the blood of pathogenic bacteria and toxins and restore the body as a whole.
2. Treatment of diseases of the nasopharynx and reduction of sore throat. This ability has appeared thanks to all the same essential oils that minimize pain symptoms and reduce swelling, thereby contributing to a speedy recovery.
3. Activation of the immune system. At the same time, the effectiveness of the sweet “medicine” is much higher in comparison with immunostimulating drugs of chemical production.
4. Normalization of the intestines, which depends on the beneficial microflora and the "purity" of the body. Jam with the help of dietary fiber gently cleanses the intestines and supports the healthy microflora of the latter. Thus, all metabolic processes in the body are normalized.
5. Maintaining healthy pancreas. It is also included in the list of useful properties of an amazing dessert with choleretic action. In this regard, all digestion is normalized.
6. Removal of excess fluid, which creates an additional burden on the human body. This delicacy also copes well. It has a diuretic effect, thereby reducing the load and reducing swelling.
7. Prevention and treatment of anemia. Iron, which is part of the product, raises hemoglobin, so jam prevents the onset and development of anemia.
8. Prevention of diseases of the oral cavity, namely caries and periodontal disease. As a rule, these diseases are caused by pathogenic bacteria and weakening of tooth enamel. Jam from pine cones helps strengthen tooth enamel, strengthen gums and improve the general condition of the oral cavity.
9. Cancer Prevention. This is quite possible, because antioxidants are present in the jam, which fight free radicals, thereby preventing the appearance and development of malignant neoplasms.
10. Strengthening and normalization of the cardiovascular system. This “function” of jam is due to tannin, which strengthens blood vessels and prevents the development of dangerous diseases such as stroke and heart attack.
11. Analgesic effect. Jam can reduce and eliminate headache or toothache, as well as relieve discomfort in the muscles and joints.
12. Increased body tone. One has only to inhale the aroma of jam, or rather the cones from which it is cooked, as the general tone of the body rises. The fact is that the smell of pine shoots perfectly tones up, gives vigor and increases physical endurance.
13. Increasing the body's resistance to colds. The product helps the body cope with viruses faster.
14. Increased appetite. Jam from pine cones, in contrast to the usual jam, which "interrupts" the appetite, can excite it. The whole secret is in beneficial microelements that affect the intestines, improving its motility, and also positively affect the work of the stomach.
15. Favorable effect on the digestive tract. Thanks to the rich list of nutrients, jam has an extremely beneficial effect on the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. It is not only prevention, but also a treatment for ulcers.

All these properties and qualities of a useful product are aimed at maintaining the health of the human body, which needs, first of all, natural protection. Jam is able to help everyone, without exception, both women and men, and small children.

For women

Women are fragile creatures, so they need additional protection. Such protection to the fair sex can give magic jam. It can calm the nervous system during depression and breakdowns, as well as give energy and eliminate the breakdown. In addition, during menstruation, jam can relieve unpleasant pain symptoms, as possesses anesthetic property. Also, female beauty with regular use of the product will last even longer. Trace elements of jam, or rather pine shoots, help maintain healthy skin and inhibit the aging process. Hair and nails will become much stronger and stronger from the dessert.

The urogenital and reproductive systems of women will also receive serious support. In addition, the use of jam helps prevent cancer of the uterus and mammary glands. That is why women just need to use precious jam that can support their health and beauty.

For men

It is also important for men to maintain their health. Pine honey will perfectly cope with such disorders of the male body as stress, fatigue. It will give energy and increase physical stamina, as well as restore the body after a difficult day. It will be useful for those representatives of the stronger sex who are afraid of colds to take a spoonful of jam in the morning to increase the body's resistance to infections. Also, the treat will restore and support the reproductive functions of the male body and protect against the development of prostate cancer. In addition, dessert is an excellent prevention against strokes and heart attacks.

Based on such beneficial properties of jam, experts confirm its benefit for men and recommend using it daily.

During pregnancy

Unfortunately, pregnant women are not recommended to use pine jam due to the high content of active elements that can harm an unborn baby. But in some situations, doctors still allow the reception of sweets. So, during the period of respiratory viral diseases, expectant mothers need additional protection against infections. Jam will protect a woman's body from viral bacteria and increase immunity. In addition, it can relieve headaches, often arising during the expectation of a child, and will help lower the temperature if signs of the disease suddenly appear. In such cases, the doctor will prescribe a dose that should be strictly observed without exceeding it. This is usually 1 teaspoon of pine dessert per day.

In any case, you should not independently decide on the use of this medication. Be sure to seek the advice of a specialist.

When breastfeeding

During lactation, as during pregnancy, a woman should refuse to use delicious jam. The fact is that it is quite capable of causing an allergy in the baby. But if it becomes necessary to take a healing elixir for medicinal purposes or as a prophylaxis, then do not use more than 1 teaspoon per day. It is also necessary to consult with a specialist about the possibility of taking jam and identifying risks.

For kids

Most parents try to protect their child from viral infections and increase the resistance of childhood immunity to colds. But adults are looking for means of natural origin, so as not to harm the growing body from medications produced using chemical components. Jam from pine cones is an excellent immunostimulant of natural origin. It will increase immunity, performance and overall body tone, strengthen the bone skeleton, help cope with coughing attacks and bronchitis. But at the same time, doctors do not recommend eating dessert before 5 years. According to experts, the best age for exploring jam is 7 years. From this period, it will be enough for children to take 2 teaspoons twice a day.

But if it becomes necessary to treat a younger child with jam, then at the age of seven years should not be given more than 1 teaspoon per day. At the same time, jam should be introduced gradually to minimize the risk of harmful negative consequences for the child's body. Such protection will help the correct and healthy growing up of a small person.

When losing weight

It would seem that the excellent composition of nutrients that can saturate the body during the diet with all useful substances, calm the nervous system, increase working capacity and physical endurance, is suitable for those who are struggling with excess weight and lack of vitamins and minerals. But this is not so. The reasons for gaining excess weight is, as a rule, a large amount of fast carbohydrates consumed. Pine honey consists only of such elements, so it is not recommended to use this tasty, healthy, but too carbohydrate product on a diet.

Harm and contraindications

Jam is as unique as the shoots themselves. It is able to work miracles and heal the human body. But, like any product, fruit or vegetable, it also has its contraindications. Pine dessert can be harmful, so its use is not recommended in the following cases:

• pregnancy and lactation;
• age category of citizens over 60 years old;
• children under 3 years old;
• the presence of hepatitis during an exacerbation;
• individual intolerance;
• allergic reactions;
• renal failure.

But nevertheless, in rare cases, the use of goodies is possible, but only after the permission of the attending physician who knows the characteristics of the patient’s body and is able to establish all possible risks from such consumption.

When and how to collect cones for jam

Jam from cones is really useful, but in order for the product to reveal all its true capabilities, the raw materials must be correctly collected. Experts studying and making desserts advise you to use some simple tips for collecting pine cones to make the jam tasty and healthy.

1. To collect raw materials, you should go to a pine forest and go deeper at least a kilometer from the roadway. Pines should be away from motorways and various enterprises, because all harmful substances can be absorbed by young shoots and migrate to the jar with a treat, causing the body continuous harm, and not benefit.
2. The time of shoot collection depends on the climatic zone. So, in the southern regions it is possible to go for cones in May, and in the central lane the collection of raw materials should be postponed until the twentieth of June.
3. It is not necessary to collect pine shoots all in a row, but only those that are green in color and fairly sticky and tarry. Such bumps are quite soft. They can easily be pierced with a nail or needle. It is these shoots that are needed for pine honey.
4. Next, you should inspect the tree on which cones grow. It should be without damage, not have traces of rot and mold. Only a healthy plant can produce fruits suitable for further processing and their use in food with benefit, but not health apprehension.
5. After a healthy plant is found, you can start collecting. In addition, each cone must be inspected for signs of damage. It should be smooth, without dents or any darkening. The color of the shoot is usually pale green, and the size should ideally be about four centimeters.

It is these shoots that are most useful and will be able to generously share their healing power with a person.

How to cook jam from pine cones: recipes

Before you begin the process of making jam, you should prepare the cones themselves. To do this, cut the remaining branches with scissors. You also need to rinse them.Although experts are divided into two camps about washing shoots: some are for thorough washing of the product, while others advise against this. Specialists from the second camp explain this by the fact that the resin, which is covered with young shoots, is very valuable and bears all the benefits, and when washed, most useful substances disappear. Therefore, to wash or not is a personal matter for every cook who has decided to make jam.

There are many recipes for making healthy goodies. All of them are original and have their own zest.

"Solar" (without cooking)

Ingredients:

• Young pine cones.
• Granulated sugar.

The amount of ingredients depends on the volume of the vessel in which it will be prepared and stored.

Cooking method:

1. Before starting the process, thoroughly rinse young shoots under running water and cut into small pieces, each of which roll in sugar.
2. After that, put the pieces in a jar in a small layer and sprinkle it with sugar. Repeat this procedure until the bank is full.
3. Then cover the vessel with gauze or a thin cloth and place it in a place accessible to direct sunlight. Throughout the process of insisting, shake the contents of the jar daily.
4. When the sugar has dissolved, the jam is considered ready to eat. Store such a product in a closed container in the dark and cool.

"Honey" (without cooking)

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of pine cones.
• 1 kg of honey.

Cooking method:

1. Rinse the cones and cut into two halves. Next, put everything in a jar and pour liquid honey.
2. After that, close the jar with a lid and wrap it with a dark cellophane film or a dark bag (this is done to avoid contact with direct sunlight) and put it on a windowsill in a sunny place.
3. For two weeks, turn the vessel over and shake lightly so that the contents are evenly distributed. Store jam in a dark and cool place.

"Cedar-pine benefit"

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of pine cones.
• 350–450 g of pine nuts.
• 1 kg of granulated sugar (if desired, can be replaced with the same amount of honey).
• 500 ml of water.

Cooking method:

1. Washed and prepared cones put in a pan and cover with granulated sugar or pour honey and add water.
2. Next, put the pan on the fire and cook until it boils, after which continue the process for one and a half hours, stirring and removing the emerging foam.
3. At the same time, take pine nuts and fry without adding oil. The color of the nuts should be gold.
4. After that, add nuts to it at the very end of the jam preparation procedure, wait for it to boil, and put it in jars. Jam should be kept in a cool place.

"Vitamin"

Ingredients:

• 200 g of pine shoots.
• 300 g of granulated sugar.
• 300 ml of water.
• 1 lemon.

Cooking method:

1. Cut the lemon into slices, and cones into halves and put everything in a pan.
2. Add water and put on fire.
3. After boiling, add sugar, adding it gradually and continuously stirring the jam.
4. The process of cooking after boiling continue for one hour. The color of the mass should turn pinkish brown.
5. After that, put the product into sterilized jars and tighten the lids.

These simple recipes will help to prepare real pine honey, which will help maintain the health of the whole family.

How to take pine cone jam

A useful treat from pine shoots is, first of all, an excellent means of prevention from many diseases, as well as maintaining the functioning of all the vital systems of the body. To exclude the negative effect of jam, you should know in what doses and who should take it:

1. For an adult who does not have contraindications, it will be enough to eat no more than 2 tablespoons of the “drug” per day to maintain health and strengthen immunity.
2. Babies, from the age of three years, in individual cases are allowed to take 1 teaspoon once a day. For children from seven years old, the daily norm should be 1 teaspoon.
3. Experts also advise using a pine product on an empty stomach and drinking or combining a magic elixir with water and drink healing fluid.

These rules apply to healthy people, and for patients with various diseases and ailments, there is a scheme that depends on the course of the disease and diagnosis:

1. To eliminate sputum from the respiratory tract and thin it, you should take a sweet medicine 1 teaspoon per day for 14 days.
2. Angina with its symptoms - fever and sore throat - can recede much faster if you take 1 tablespoon daily with warm tea. You can not immediately add the entire dose to the drink, but divide it into two or three times.
3. People who suffer from helminths are also advised to take 1 tablespoon per day. Hateful parasites will disappear within 14 days (this is how long the course lasts). But it is worth noting that for the entire period of treatment from the daily menu it is necessary to exclude all sugar-containing products.
4. With bronchitis, a healthy dessert should be taken three times a day. One dose should be equal to 1 teaspoon. Such a remedy is taken with warm water or tea. This will help stop coughing and eliminate phlegm.
5. Asthmatics should eat 2 tablespoons of a healing potion per day. But it is not recommended to consume everything at once, but to divide the intake into four or five parts and take it five minutes before eating.

Do not forget that most of the diagnoses are made by a doctor, and only he can prescribe the right medicine that can cure the disease. Therefore, before you start using pine jam for medicinal purposes, you must always consult with a specialist who will establish the feasibility of such a non-standard method of treatment, depending on the characteristics of the disease.

Is it possible to eat pine jam cones

A product that consists only of cones, I want to try because of the originality and unusualness. But the shoots themselves even more attract attention. They want to bite them first of all, because in the mind, a lump is something solid and completely inedible. Fortunately, cones are possible and even necessary. It is they that saturate the delicacy with all the useful properties that they managed to absorb in themselves for their short life in the natural environment. Their taste is very original, but for those who enjoy the jam itself, the shoots should also be to their taste.

Contraindications to use are the same as the product itself. And do not throw on an unusual component and eat it several at a time. First, you can try one small piece and look at the reaction of the body. If this does not cause any negative consequences, then a few small pieces can be eaten per day. Then the benefits of amazing jam will be more.

Interesting Cones Facts

1. Cones of pine trees in a mature state are able to measure humidity, because at high humidity they are in a compressed state. When the humidity decreases, the cones open.
2. African Cycas are lumps, whose west can reach 50 kilograms.
3. Within one day, the protein can consume the seeds of 150 cones. Usually this figure is the daily norm for a wild animal.
4. The word "bump" became the basis for the formation of the word "cone". In Greek, a pine cone sounds like a “cone”.
5. In ancient Greece, a lump was considered one of the symbols of fertility. So the god Dionysus on ornaments was depicted in the company of servants with tiers, which were hung with cones.

The delicacy, for the preparation of which pine cones are used, is a very useful and unusual product that can heal from many diseases and maintain health and youth. But still, do not forget that this sweetness is not at all a panacea for serious ailments. Do not treat yourself with dessert alone, neglecting medications. Jam, of course, will benefit and enhance immunity, but still a doctor’s consultation is necessary.If there are no contraindications to use, and the specialist sees only the benefits of such a treat, then you definitely need to try a miraculous treat not only for prevention and treatment, but just for fun. After all, the cones warmed up by the spring sun will remind you of this wonderful time of the year, the pine forest and the wonderful aroma of spring, giving revival and health to everything on this planet!

Photo of pine cone jam