May is the time to harvest and dry valuable medicinal raw materials — currant leaf. It is at this time that young blackcurrant leaves contain the maximum amount of vitamin C and are the most useful for our body.
However, many summer residents use them not so much for medicinal purposes as for pleasure, because tea with such an additive turns out to be very tasty and fragrant. But can everyone drink it? And what ailments does the currant leaf cure? Let’s find out.
What useful properties does the currant leaf have
Black currant leaves, in addition to vitamin C, contain tannins and phytoncides; they also contain a high content of flavonoids, and their strong aroma is due to essential oil.
Tea made from young fresh leaves is a good vitamin, tonic, restorative, immunostimulating agent, especially necessary in spring when we experience seasonal vitamin deficiency.
The presence of tannins allows you to use a decoction of currant leaves for intestinal disorders (diarrhea). The antimicrobial effect of phytoncides is due to the use of currant leaf infusions for various skin rashes and exudative diathesis (externally), as well as for colds and flu. Flavonoids and ascorbic acid help strengthen capillaries, have an anti-inflammatory effect and help reduce cholesterol levels in the blood.
The diuretic and diaphoretic effects of currant leaf preparations, their ability to remove uric and oxalic acid from the body are also known. Decoctions and infusions based on this vegetable raw material are used by folk medicine in the treatment of urolithiasis, cystitis, chronic pyelonephritis, gout, rheumatism, for the prevention of atherosclerosis.
What are the contraindications of the currant leaf
Strange as it may seem, none. An exception may be, perhaps, individual intolerance to any substances in the composition of blackcurrant leaves – but if this happens, it is extremely rare.
Otherwise, these vegetable raw materials and medicinal preparations prepared from them do not cause proven side effects and have no contraindications to use. The restrictions listed in many Internet sources relate to the use of black currant berries and juice from them. This list is not applicable to a currant leaf that has a different composition of active substances from berries.
How to properly harvest and consume currant leaves
An absolute rule: only healthy, undamaged and untreated leaves can be harvested in territories remote from industrial enterprises, roads and railways, and other similar objects. Both wild blackcurrant bushes and garden bushes are suitable for harvesting raw materials.
The leaves are harvested before the fruit ripens (the optimal time is at the time of flowering of plants). Dry in the shade (under a canopy) or in a well-ventilated room. In season, it is good to use fresh raw materials. For year-round use, young leaves can be fermented in brine.
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