The forests of the USSR are rich in certain species of wild berries, which usually bear fruit abundantly. Moreover, most of them have not only nutritional and taste value, but also medicinal and dietary value and can be widely used for technical processing.
The berries of the north contain a significant amount of anti-scorbutic vitamin C and how food products are almost the only most affordable and reliable suppliers of ascorbic acid and other vitamins. Providing the working people of the north with vitamins can largely and primarily be achieved through the use of wild berry tracts, which our northern regions are very rich in. Black currants (an active carrier of vitamin C), sea buckthorn (a rich source of provitamin A), common and small-fruited cranberries (containing, along with other substances, a significant amount) grow here. citric acid), blueberries (which have great medicinal and dietary significance), raspberries and cloudberries ( good sources vitamin C - ascorbic acid), raspberries, blueberries, lingonberries, etc.
Berry plants of the north are extremely represented big amount varieties that produce fruits (berries) that differ in size, shape, color and taste. Many of them, due to their nutritional and taste qualities Not only are they not inferior to wild berries from other regions of the USSR, but sometimes they are significantly superior to them in basic indicators. Often the berries of the north have high degree sweetness and a harmonious relationship between acidity and sugar content. The variety of qualitative characteristics is associated with the conditions of their habitat, which, in turn, cannot but influence the chemical composition of the berries and their nutritional and taste benefits.
In the northern regions of the country, rowan, bird cherry, gooseberry, apple (Siberian) and apricot (Siberian) also grow wild. Interesting varieties wild gooseberries are found in Altai. In Western Siberia, edible forms of honeysuckle are widespread, almost completely unused.
Of the wild fruits and berries of the Far East, actinidia, lemongrass, Amur grapes and many others are of great importance for industrial development and use.
In more southern and southeastern areas Soviet Union Many berry plants grow wild and are also of significant interest for technical processing.
The collection and preparation of wild berries depends on a number of factors and, in particular, on labor productivity. R.Z. Mikhanovskaya provides the following data on this issue.
Possible berry picking by one person (regions of the Urals)
Labor productivity when picking berries with a “comb” increases greatly if the berry fields have good yields. Using this method, one person can collect up to 65 kg of autumn cranberries and up to 55 kg of lingonberries per day.
Depending on the purpose and transportation conditions, the berries are harvested at various stages of ripeness. It must be taken into account that most wild berries are not transportable and cannot withstand even short-term storage. The collection of berries should also be carried out taking into account their subsequent use for technical processing. When picking, avoid mechanical damage to the berries. Particular care must be taken when picking tender berries - wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, actinidia, blueberries, blueberries, etc.
When collecting berries, the stage of their ripeness should be taken into account and the time of collection should be linked to the further use of the berries.
The berries are collected daily or every other day, and sometimes every 2-3 days, depending on the climatic conditions of the area. Subsequent harvests are carried out after 4-5 days, which falls at the end of fruiting.
Depending on the direction of use of the berries, they are collected at the stage of full ripeness or slightly earlier.
When transporting berries remotely, it is necessary to collect them before the stage of full ripeness. Berries intended for local consumption in fresh or for processing at a nearby point, should be collected at full maturity when they have accumulated greatest number nutrients and flavors. Overripe berries have low quality and are completely untransportable.
Tender berries are picked by pinching off the stalk without touching the berry itself with your fingers (the berry falls on the palm of your hand).
To collect especially delicate berries, you can use small containers - popular print baskets, boxes, sieves with a capacity of 2-3 kg. Larger containers should not be used, since the berries located in the lower layers will be deformed (crumpled). The container can be tied to a belt, in which case the assembler will have free hands. When collecting, the container should not be filled too full.
When transporting, small containers in which fruits are collected can be placed in a box (slat) bigger size. Thus, during transportation, the berries will be delivered to the consumer in the same container (without transfer) in which they were collected.
Certain types of production require different requirements to the quality indicators of raw materials. For the preparation of fruit and berry juices, extracts, syrups, it is recommended to collect berries at the full stage of ripeness, when they produce the maximum amounts of nutrients, flavors and vitamins.
To prepare wines, you should also collect berries at the full stage of ripeness, with the greatest possible accumulation of sugars, aromatic (essential oils) and coloring substances, vitamins, etc., since the quality of wine is organically linked to the full development of the fruit. In this case, partial deformation of the fruit is acceptable; maintaining the shape is not necessary in this production.
In the brewing industry, depending on the final product desired, there are also different requirements for the quality of the berries. When making jam, the berries must retain their shape; for this purpose, they should be used at a time when they are almost ripe, but have sufficient density. Jam and marmalade can be prepared from fully ripe fruits, which have accumulated the maximum amount of nutrients and flavoring substances. For drying, it is desirable that the berries are also close to full ripeness. However, it should be taken into account that maintaining the shape of the berries is one of the important indicators of quality. Dried fruit quality and yield finished product are determined mainly by the content of dry substances in raw materials - sugars, acids and other organic substances.
After harvesting, the fruits are immediately packaged and sent to the consumer. For long-distance transportation, smaller containers - baskets, sieves and boxes can be packed in packs. In practice, packaging is carried out as follows: two sieves or four small baskets are placed on a frame and then covered with paper and a lid (wooden or plywood), after which the pack is tied.
Due to their biological features, organically connected with chemical composition, the vast majority of wild berries are not transportable and cannot keep well and quickly spoil (with the exception of cranberries, lingonberries and some others). Therefore, the timing of fresh berries consumption is very limited.
By canning and other preparation methods wild berries can be widely used in the non-alcoholic industry, fruit and berry winemaking, distillery and brewing industries, for sulfitation in the confectionery industry, for drying and preparing berry powders and tea-coffee surrogates, for soaking, pickling and for canning by freezing or in hermetically sealed containers (production of compotes, natural canned fruit and berries, etc.). Meanwhile, the use of wild berries for processing in our country is often limited to the gradual production of jam, marmalade, soaking and drying. Therefore, it is necessary to fully develop the production of berry juices, extracts, syrups, etc. Many berry juices, such as those from wild strawberries, currants, blueberries, sea buckthorn, raspberries and other berries, have high nutritional and outstanding taste qualities. They have not only nutritional and taste value, but also great therapeutic and dietary significance, being sources of vitamins and minerals. Juice from sea buckthorn, black currant and some other berries has multivitamin properties.
Fruit and berry juices may appear feedstock to obtain products that are rich in sugars, organic acids and many other substances.
In the north, berry extracts can be prepared without the use of elevated temperatures, which ensures a more efficient product. High Quality with maximum preservation of vitamin properties (vitamin C).
The production of extracts in Siberia, Yakutia, the Urals and some other areas can be organized using the freezing method (action low temperatures). Often, berries that have been crushed to precipitate pectin substances are first fermented.
It is also necessary to pay attention to the development of fruit and berry winemaking, which can be of great importance in the northern regions of the Soviet Union. Wines made from blueberries, wild strawberries, sea buckthorn, black currants and raspberries are characterized by high merits. In addition to jam and preserves, jams, candied fruits, dry preserves, marmalades, marshmallows and other products can be prepared from wild berries. In addition, they can be preserved in hermetically sealed containers (production of compotes) and by freezing. The latter method of canning is especially promising for the northern regions. The successful experiments carried out on long-term frozen storage of berries in the north need to be significantly expanded so that they are of an industrial nature. Biochemical processes when freezing berries are reduced to a minimum.
When preparing semi-finished products, it is necessary to pay attention to the canning of berries using antiseptics (sulfitation) in order to ensure long terms their storage.
In addition to the use of fresh berries that have a shelf life, canning methods based on removing moisture (drying berries) should be fully implemented.
When drying berries, the goal is to obtain a product rich in nutrients and flavors that can withstand long storage periods and long-distance transportation. Drying of berries should be organized using improved methods.
Pre-treating some berries with sulfur dioxide before drying (by fumigation) may result in a more robust product. best quality, preserve vitamin C and shorten the drying period.
Considering that the vast majority of berries are not storable and cannot be transported and are quickly subject to spoilage, it is necessary to organize their processing directly in remote areas, near the main tracts of wild berry fields.
Almost all parts are wild berry plants can be used in national economy. For example, a tea substitute can be prepared from the leaves of berry trees and young branches of black currants and raspberries. Especially high-quality tea is obtained from wild strawberries. In addition to tea, wild berries can also be a source of raw materials for the production of organic acids, vitamin preparations (concentrates of vitamin C and carotene - provitamin A), sugary substances, medicines, essential oils (or aromatics), fatty oils, dyes and many other products.
Thus, many wild berries can be widely used not only to obtain well-known food and flavor products, but also in many other industries.
Blueberry picking season is in full swing. Experienced berry growers boast: every summer they carry it out of the forest by the bucketful and make decent money selling it. Some pay off their loans with the proceeds from the berries, others go to the seaside, and still others manage to save money for their children to study at a university. The "R" correspondent left the comfortable office and went into the forest: she found out how many blueberries you can pick in a day, how much the berries cost these days, and how easy it is to get rich in such a business.
Berry to berry
Experienced butchers claim that they know the local forest like the back of their hand. And indeed: after just a couple of minutes we found a clearing rich in the coveted berry.
Photo by the author
In the forests of the Shchuchinsky region, as in Polesie, there are many “blueberry barons”. You go into the forest in the morning with the first roosters, and they are already dragging several buckets of berries on a bicycle. They rest and go back to battle. The locals teach me, a beginner, that I need to go for wild plants as early as possible, otherwise everything will be taken away - only twigs and leaves will be left.
The alarm clock rings at 4.30. We leave in half an hour, no later: it’s very difficult to work under the scorching sun. Lyudmila and Galina kindly agree to become my guides - experienced butchers assure that they know these places like the back of their hands. And indeed: after just a couple of minutes we found a clearing rich in the coveted berry. While I rejoice with joy, my colleagues are lamenting - the harvest is modest, but richer than last season:
In 2017, the blueberries froze, but this year the dry weather did not allow the berries to fill with enough juice - the forest is again not pampering. But there are still berries if you know the places.
And we find the necessary clearings easily: in a couple of hours I fill my three-liter can. The interlocutors are getting ahead - they already have 5 kg of blueberries! My interest in sports makes me work faster, but with prerequisite: Only pick berries by hand. There are several reasons: if you use a special harvester, you can get a serious fine, and a scoop for picking berries can destroy the bush - next season it will be bald and dry. However, neither one nor the other frightens the woman who comes our way. She continues the lightning-fast “harvest” of blueberries and explains:
While you are here carefully stacking berries to berries, I will clear the bush in five seconds!
We decide not to follow a bad example. At a normal pace, each of us collects approximately 1.5 kg of berries in 1 hour. We work with short breaks almost the whole day - each of us has 15 kg. Fatigue takes its toll. It’s decided: we’ll wind down.
There are a lot of blueberries on the seasonal markets right now. Sellers compete, but they are in no hurry to reduce prices. On average, black berries cost 6.5 rubles per liter.
More expensive near the highwayBlueberries appeared not only in forests, but also in markets. I’m going to do some reconnaissance: find out how much black berries are these days. At the counters, the mood improves: the price tags are normal, which means that the “hunchback” was not in vain. For 1 kg of wild plants, sellers ask on average 6.5 rubles. I strike up a conversation with an avid berry lover, who, in addition to buckets of blueberries, is given away by her burgundy fingers. Teresa, as she appears, often goes to the berry plantations:
First, I pick blueberries for myself: for jam, compotes and freezing for all family members. When I have replenished my supplies for the winter, I collect them for sale. My daughter and I usually take two 8 kg buckets. It’s more profitable to stand at the market, but you can sell the berries.
Sellers are divided: blueberries are accepted both by raipo stores, and by home harvesters and private traders. The purchasing price on average ranges from 3 to 4 rubles per 1 kg. It turns out that, theoretically, for 15 kg of berries I can earn 52 rubles or more. This is what we decide to do with my forest spoils - literally in 15 minutes I find my buyer. It was not difficult: during the berry picking season announcements rural areas are pasted on almost every post and fence. You choose a profitable cash offer and go there with buckets.
Lyudmila, with whom I dialed in a day equal amount berries, decides to sell them at the market. It didn't take long to get tested and book a place. But it required money: to check for radiation, I gave half a liter of berries and almost 3 rubles; a counter on a popular row cost 4 rubles.
Come and try it for free! - unexpectedly for me, a colleague shouted to the whole market. - Buy it, you won’t regret it! You will only remember with kind words!
In general, he sells skillfully - people stop at our counter and are interested in the price. Half-liter cups of blueberries for 3 rubles were snapped up the fastest. But by the end of the day they left and liter jars- Some were sold for 6, others for 7 rubles.
We didn’t get rich, but we made decent money, we conclude by calculating the profit. - If you subtract the costs of organizing a market place, the net cost is 90 rubles for 15 kg of berries.
“You haven’t earned much yet, newbies,” the salesman at the next counter grins. She sells raspberries, but she also knows all the ins and outs about blueberries. - I have a friend who earns up to 4 thousand rubles during the berry season. True, he is cunning: he picks berries with a combine, and in a day, in such a barbaric way, he collects from 20 kg.
During the experiment, I briefly felt like a businessman, but there was little joy from such income: I worked for ten hours, and now I just want to lie down and relax. Out of curiosity, I found out how much profit the woman who picked blueberries with a combine made that day. In just half a day, she collected 15 kg of berries and sold them near the highway - she received 120 rubles in profit.
To sell forest products at the market, you need to have a certificate of fluorography, submit blueberries for analysis (it does not take much time), after which you can rent a stall.
Mushroom themeDespite the complaints of many berry growers about the meager harvest, scientists are not so pessimistic. Tatyana Moiseeva, a researcher at the Forest Institute, comments on the situation with nature’s gifts National Academy Sciences:
There is no disaster this year. Last season, things were much worse: due to frost, the blueberries did not have time to bloom and set fruit. This spring has been warm. Then the drought gave way to heavy rains. In many areas of the Minsk and Grodno regions, the monthly norm of precipitation fell in the first half of July, and in the Brest region - almost two monthly norms. There are blueberries in our forests, but good harvest you won't find it everywhere. Large berries can be found in marshy areas; in pine forests the berries are smaller. Warm, rainy weather was observed in the country this week as well.
Tatyana Moiseeva notes: if it were not for the long-awaited downpours, the blueberry bushes would dry up.
And the cranberries could turn yellow and leave us without a harvest. But the weather was kind - there should be a lot of these berries. The same goes for lingonberries. True, in recent years you will find this berry more in the northern part of the country. There are very few lingonberries in the Gomel region.
Those who actively make money from the gifts of the forest do not have to worry about the mushroom harvest. It rained heavily and thoroughly soaked the soil. If this continues, mushroom pickers will rejoice in August and September. Tatyana Moiseeva is encouraging: porcini mushrooms, aspen mushrooms, boletus mushrooms, chanterelles, russula, and summer honey mushrooms are already found in the forests. According to forecasts, there will be a lot of mushrooms in the fall. This means that the market price will not go through the roof. By the way, today at the popular Minsk seasonal market, a kilogram of blueberries costs 6-7 rubles, wild blueberries - 8-9 rubles, a bucket of chanterelles and boletuses - 12 and 10 rubles, respectively.
The expanses of our Motherland are beautiful and vast. Its forests, steppes, fields, swamps and mountains conceal enormous natural plant wealth. Among the many plants that are useful and necessary for human life and activity, wild fruits, berries, mushrooms and medicinal plants are important.
They are found in various climatic zones of our country, from its western borders to the shores Pacific Ocean, their resources are significant, and collection can be carried out almost everywhere. Forest fruits, berries and mushrooms, due to their taste and high content of nutrients, are valuable food products and raw materials for the food industry. Medicinal plants are widely used in the medical industry to make medicines, which tend to be more effective medicinal properties than drugs made through chemical synthesis.
Since time immemorial, people have been eating wild fruits and berries, which have a unique, unique aroma and taste. They contain a significant amount of sugars, acids, aromatics and other valuable substances. And in terms of vitamin content, many of them are champions. For example, rose hips contain 10 times more vitamin C than lemons and oranges; rowan fruits contain 2 times more vitamin A than carrots. Cranberries, lingonberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, viburnum, and other fruits and berries are real storehouses of vitamins and other useful substances. Many wild berries and fruits have medicinal properties and are used as medicine.
Collection of wild fruits and berries
The exceptional diversity and wide distribution of wild fruits and berries allows them to be collected almost everywhere, especially in the forest zone.
Fruits and berries should be collected in dry weather, preferably in the morning, when the dew has disappeared, or in the evening, before it appears. Collected wet, they spoil faster: berries picked in hot weather, quickly wither as they contain less juice. You cannot pick unripe berries; it is better to leave them to ripen so that they fill with juice and gain the greatest amount of vitamins. Do not collect dry and rotten berries, as they do not contain valuable substances and can cause spoilage of all raw materials.
Berry picking must be done carefully and carefully, trying not to trample the berry bushes. When collecting fruits, trees should not be broken.
It is recommended to collect ripe fruits and berries without stalks. Berries should not be washed, as this shortens the shelf life.
Fresh fruits and berries are used to make juices, preserves, marshmallows, marmalade, jam, fruit drinks, drinks, etc.
Dried berries are used mainly as medicine. Samara hunters, unsubscribe who collects what and where Samara region and how they will apply it!
Berry picking begins in June, when the earliest berries ripen. Berry season lasts for six months and ends late autumn. To know the berry picking period, you need to have a berry calendar with a description of the berries, photos of wild and garden gifts. From the berry calendar you will learn when wild strawberries and lingonberries ripen in the forest, when to pick raspberries and currants in the garden, how Victoria differs from strawberries, the calendar indicates the ripening times of cranberries and blueberries, how to correctly pick cherries and gooseberries, when to pick wild strawberries.
Berries are grown in gardens, on summer cottages, wildlife lovers love to collect wild gifts in the forest. The safety of the fruit and the quality of freshly picked berries depend on the correct collection of berries. Properly done harvesting will not cause harm to the plant; caring human hands during careful harvesting will allow the berry bushes to quickly recover and bear fruit year after year, delighting a bountiful harvest, ripe and aromatic berries that are beneficial for the human body.
Wild and fresh garden berries play an important role in human nutrition. Berries are a natural source of vitamins, juicy, aromatic, brightly colored fruits have a positive effect on mood, treat depression, have a beneficial effect on mental thinking, increase immunity and performance due to the presence of a whole complex of vitamins, microelements and beneficial organic acids that make up the berries.
You should pick ripe berries; you should focus on the approximate time frame. To determine when to pick berries, you should focus on external signs berries indicating ripeness - color, aroma, taste - and also adhere to the time of the onset of the mass harvest period relative to the area where you live.
Remember! Picking too early is fraught with loss of taste; picking too late leads to a decrease in berry yield, so try to pick berries in a timely manner!
How to pick berries
When harvesting at home, in the forest closest to home, there are simple rules picking berries: following simple instructions, you will be able to preserve the natural quality and beneficial properties of berries picked for consumption, storage for future use, and transportation.
- To avoid harm to yourself and your family members, it is prohibited to pick berries near highways and large industrial enterprises. When eating crops harvested near a contaminated area, there is a risk of heavy metal poisoning.
- When picking berries, it is prohibited to use devices such as scoops and scrapers that harm the plants. Damage to berry bushes mechanical devices destroy plants and reduce the yield of berry gardens.
- Picked berries, unlike fruits, do not ripen after picking, so it is recommended to pick only ripe ones.
- The best time to pick berries is in the morning and evening; Harvesting, as a rule, is carried out every other day, but in dry, hot weather, the fruits are picked daily.
- Berries are collected from berry bushes and fruit-bearing trees from the bottom up, starting from the lowest branches and gradually rising to the top.
- The berries are picked with tassels (, white and). The second method of harvesting is with a stalk (, Victoria, sometimes raspberry).
- For delicate varieties of berries, buckets and baskets are used for collecting small size to keep the berries intact and not bruised.
- The collected berries should be put in a cool place, covered with grass from direct hit sun rays. Fruits left under the sun quickly begin to lose their beneficial properties and marketable appearance.
- When transporting and carrying, you cannot transfer freshly picked berries from one container to another to avoid damage to the crop. During transportation, be sure to cover the container from the sun.
Picking garden berries: rules
Honeysuckle is the very first fruit crop, bearing fruit in early summer. By popularity, fruits, raspberries, and rank place of honor among cultivated and wild fruit crops.
When do strawberries ripen? The wild berry – strawberry – ripens in June. When picking strawberries in the forest: the answer is simple - all summer, strawberry picking occurs in June-July-August.
Colds are treated with reserves in winter; the fruits of the plant act as a natural antipyretic for sore throats and during a flu epidemic. People try to eat fresh raspberries in the summer and prepare them for the winter for treatment during the cold season.
When to pick raspberries? Raspberries are harvested in mid-summer, starting in mid-July, in August, some varieties bear fruit as early as September. The difficulty in picking raspberries lies in the fact that the fruits do not ripen at the same time.
What's the best way to collect? A berry picked for immediate consumption must be ripe; if the harvest is to be transported and stored, raspberries should be chosen that are slightly unripe with the stalk.
Collected from mid-July following; to protect the ripe crop from birds, trees and berry bushes covered with a protective net.
It ripens in July-August, the berries are picked in whole bunches, and the currants are picked from the bunch before consumption or during processing for harvesting for the winter.
What is the difference between strawberry and Victoria, what is the difference between two similar appearance fruits? is considered a European berry, strawberries are most often grown in Europe, Victoria grows exclusively in Russia. But strawberries and victoria are berries of the same breed, belonging to the strawberry genus. Victoria has fruits larger than; start of collection for middle zone In Russia, Victoria, strawberries fall in the month of June, depending on the variety, it lasts throughout July and the strawberry harvest ends in August and September.
The basic rule for picking berries is to collect them efficiently, without leaving fruits affected by rot or scab on the plants, helping the plant to get rid of diseases that reduce the yield of fruit crops.
Forest berry harvesting calendar: timing of berry ripening in the forest
They love wild fruits for their aroma, sweet taste, the characteristic aroma inherent in forest gifts. Berries collected in the forest are valued for their biological active substances contained in fruit pulp. Buying wild berries at the market is easier than crawling through the forest in search of red, blue, and burgundy bright berries in order to pick at least one basket.
Do-it-yourself berries cannot be compared with those bought in a store in terms of taste, characteristic forest aroma inherent in the gifts of nature. Summer is the time to collect and benefit from natural gifts that have healing power, containing a storehouse of vitamins and useful substances for human life.
We suggest you study the berry calendar. With the help of the calendar, it will be easy for you to plan a trip to the forest, so as not to miss the period of ripening of forest berries. When to collect berries, collection by month:
- June – strawberries ripen in the forest;
- July is the time when you can pick wild strawberries, blueberries, stoneberries, cloudberries, and princeberries;
- August - strawberries, blueberries, stoneberries, blueberries, crowberries, blackberries, and princeberries are collected;
- September - cranberries, redberries, blueberries, blueberries, rowan are collected;
- October is the time when cranberries, lingonberries, etc. are harvested.
When to pick lingonberries and how lingonberries are beneficial for human health
The lingonberry harvest begins in August-September. Lingonberry is a tasty and healthy berry; the beneficial properties of lingonberries have been known since ancient times. The lingonberry harvest season begins in August, but the bitterness characteristic of sour fruits disappears when lingonberries are harvested after frost - in October.
Lingonberry is a valuable gift of nature; its healing power is due to its rich composition of vitamins, minerals, sugars, and organic acids. After harvesting, lingonberries are transported without damaging the harvest and are stored fresh for more than a month.
Lingonberry berry juice has medicinal properties; it is taken for hypertension; medicinal diuretic, antimicrobial, and antiviral infusions are prepared from the juice.
The beneficial properties of lingonberries have on human body preventive and therapeutic effects, therefore, if it is possible to collect lingonberries, we collect the baskets in the forest.
Note!
When to pick blueberries and the benefits of blueberries for human health
It is famous for its beneficial properties, its composition is unique, so many people want to know when to pick blueberries. Blueberries are harvested in July, August, September. Along with the complex of vitamins that make up blueberries, the berry has therapeutic effect per person.
Eating fresh blueberries, berry juice, fruit juice, and jam has a beneficial effect on various human organs. Fruit crop improves vision, is a natural antioxidant, heals the heart, slows down aging.
Eating blueberries every day helps strengthen blood vessels, reduce bad cholesterol in blood.
When to pick cranberries and the benefits of cranberries for human health
Cranberry - healing berry, it contains vitamins, minerals, acids. When does cranberry, one of the healthiest berries, ripen? Cranberries ripen in August. When to pick cranberries? The answer is simple, cranberries are harvested from August and throughout the fall, until winter cold The season for picking cranberries in the forest lasts.
The beneficial properties of cranberries are constantly being studied; cranberries are a folk healer, given to man by nature. The high content of vitamin C in cranberries allows the use of sour berries in the treatment of colds and viral infections.
Cranberry, which has a unique composition, is included in a huge number of traditional medicine recipes; with its help, traditional healers successfully treat varicose veins veins in patients, cleanse the blood, cranberries cleanse blood vessels from cholesterol plaques, and have a healing effect on the body as a whole.
When to pick wild strawberries and what benefits strawberries have for human health
Lesnaya ripens in June and July; strawberries are harvested until mid-to-late August, depending on the region in which the berries grow. Wild strawberries are tasty and healthy. The beneficial properties of strawberries lie in their high content folic acid, iron, vitamin E, calcium.
The benefits of strawberries are contained in the fruits, leaves, fiber, pectin, sugars, microelements, essential oils, a rich vitamin complex.
The wild strawberry is considered the most valuable. It normalizes digestion, metabolism, increases appetite, restores strength after severe physical activity, has choleretic and diuretic properties.
When to pick wild strawberries - when the picking season comes, it’s better not to put off going to the forest. When the slightest opportunity arises, you can pick strawberries after mass ripening. Strawberries are ideal for preparing for the winter; they make fragrant jam from it, make compotes, dry the berries and leaves for brewing tea, freeze them, and eat them fresh.
Forestry Magazine No. 12 of 2008
A. Yu. Grigoriev (expert of the Russian
representative office of the International
Union for Nature Conservation)
It is hardly possible to meet a Russian citizen who has not gone to the forest to pick mushrooms or berries at least once in his life. White and chanterelles, cranberries and blueberries, wild strawberries and raspberries are part of our culture, lifestyle, habitat.
For residents of forest and rural villages, mushrooms and berries, nuts and much more that grow in the forest are an integral part of traditional food products, but also often a very important source additional income.
Of the 149 households surveyed in the spring of 2008 on the territory of one of the Russian national parks in the Northwestern Federal District, 18% have an average monthly income of 3 thousand rubles per person or less. Two-thirds of those surveyed live on a modest 3-5 thousand rubles a month. And only 15% of survey respondents’ monthly earnings exceed 5 thousand rubles.
88% of surveyed households collect mushrooms and berries for their own consumption, and 31% sell some of them. Moreover, in the group with low incomes (less than 3 thousand rubles per capita), 52% of respondents collect berries and mushrooms for sale, and 29% with average and high incomes.
60% of surveyed households are ready to collect wild berries for sale if their purchase were better organized. Moreover, among low-income households this figure is even higher - 74%. 56% of surveyed households are also ready to collect mushrooms for sale.
A survey conducted in 2007 by specialists from the VTsIOM research center public opinion(carried out on behalf of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN-GOZHG)) showed that information about the location of forest areas rich in mushrooms and berries is of great interest to all Russian residents. This study involved 1,600 people from 153 settlements located on the territory of 46 regions Russian Federation.
Information about the location of forest areas where you can pick mushrooms and berries throughout the country was of interest to 51% of respondents. This is the highest figure public interest among issues related to the country's forestry (locations of logging and fires, transfer of forests for lease, addresses of forest management and nature conservation authorities, etc.).
In the Central, Northwestern and Far Eastern Federal Districts, more than 60% of respondents were interested in this information. It is noteworthy that the most keen interest in places where one could pick mushrooms and berries is shown by residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Here, 71% of respondents would like to know the location of forest areas suitable for collecting non-timber food resources!
Of course, fresh, frozen or canned mushrooms, wild berries and jam from them can be bought in a store or at the market. But, apparently, for residents of big cities, mushrooms and berries collected on their own look much more attractive. So, research shows that non-timber food resources growing in Russian forests are attractive to residents of the country not only as necessary food products, but also as a source of additional income. It is known that the reforms taking place in recent decades have also affected this very important sphere of life for us. Particularly serious changes in the field of regulation of the use of food and other non-timber forest resources are associated with the radical reform of the country's forest management system that has taken place in recent years, as well as the adoption of the new Forest Code in 2006. For the first time, at the legislative level, the regulation of the collection of mushrooms, nuts, berries and other forest products is presented in such detail. And the implementation of new requirements in practice raises many questions.
“FOR OWN NEEDS” - HOW MUCH IS THIS?
Article 35 of the new Forest Code, which regulates the procurement and collection of food forest resources by citizens medicinal plants for its own needs mainly contains references to other articles of law or regulatory documents:
"1. Harvesting food forest resources and collecting medicinal plants for their own needs is carried out by citizens in accordance with Article 11 of this Code.
2. Restrictions on the procurement of food forest resources by citizens and their collection of medicinal plants for their own needs may be established in accordance with Article 27 of this Code.
3. Parts 1, 3 and 4 of Article 34 of this Code do not apply to the procurement of food forest resources by citizens and their collection of medicinal plants for their own needs.
4. The procedure for the procurement of food forest resources by citizens and their collection of medicinal plants for their own needs is established by the law of the subject of the Russian Federation."
From this article it will be very difficult for citizens to understand what is still possible? Familiarity with Article 11 of the Forest Code, which regulates the stay of citizens in forests, can bring some certainty:
1. Citizens have the right to freely and freely stay in forests and for their own needs to harvest and collect wild fruits, berries, mushrooms, and other forest resources suitable for consumption (food
forest resources), as well as non-timber forest resources...
2. Citizens are required to follow the rules fire safety in forests, rules of sanitary safety in forests, rules of reforestation and rules of forest care.
Citizens are prohibited from procuring and collecting mushrooms and wild plants, the species of which are listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, the Red Books of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as mushrooms and wild plants that are recognized as narcotic drugs in accordance with Federal Law of January 8, 1998 No. 3- Federal Law “On Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances”.
Sections 4, 5 and 6 of Article 11 state that the presence of citizens in forests may be limited or prohibited on defense lands, specially protected natural areas or in accordance with other federal laws. The presence of citizens in the forest may also be limited for the purposes of fire or sanitary safety in forests or to ensure their safety when performing work. But an additional prohibition or restriction of the stay of citizens in forests on grounds not provided for in Art. 11 of the Forest Code is not allowed.
It is clear that most citizens have some idea of what fire safety rules in forests are (“do not leave an unextinguished fire in the forest”, “do not throw unextinguished cigarette butts”, etc.). It is somewhat doubtful that they are widely familiar with the rules of sanitary safety (what is this?) or forest care, which, it turns out, must also be observed.
If citizens need mushrooms or berries for their own needs, they can take a basket or bucket and boldly go into the forest. And this right of Russian citizens can be limited in a very small number of cases, which are quite clearly defined by federal laws. With those who go to the forest to pick mushrooms and berries to diversify their table with forest delicacies (and these are mainly city residents), there seem to be no special problems.
The situation with residents of forest and rural villages is much less clear. Indeed, in addition to supplementing their own nutrition, many of them sometimes collect quite a significant amount of mushrooms and berries, so that they can later sell them and get an “extra” to their, as a rule, more than modest income.
And here the question arises again. The Forest Code does not define what “own needs” are and largely transfers the regulation of these issues to the level of regional legislation. Of the about 30 regional legislative acts that we reviewed that regulate the use of food forest resources by citizens, in most cases also do not contain any clear instructions in this regard.
However, in a number of cases, for example, in the legislation of the Primorsky and Krasnoyarsk territories, regional and local legislators have established upper limits on the volume of harvesting berries and mushrooms and other forest food products at the level of 20~40 kg per person per year according to certain species berries and mushrooms. This is probably quite enough to diversify the table of a city dweller, but too little for residents of remote rural and forest villages to replenish their budget through the sale of edible wealth.
The population of the Krasnoyarsk and Primorsky Territories, if they wish to legally increase their earnings by collecting and selling berries, mushrooms, ferns or pine nuts, must comply with the requirements of Article 34 of the Forest Code “Procurement of food forest resources and collection of medicinal plants.” As we remember, the concept of “own” Article 34 of the Forest Code transfers the harvesting of food forest resources to a completely different legal regime. It reads:
1. Harvesting food forest resources and collecting medicinal plants are entrepreneurial activity related to the seizure, storage and export of
ky forest resources from the forest.
2. Food forest resources, harvested in accordance with this Code, include wild fruits, berries, nuts, mushrooms, seeds,
birch sap and similar forest resources.
3. Citizens, legal entities carry out food procurement
forest resources and collection of medicinal plants on the basis of forest lease agreements...".
All this means that a resident of a forest village, often many tens or even hundreds of kilometers away from the regional center, usually elderly, with very modest incomes, when deciding to harvest forest food resources for sale, will be required to: register as an entrepreneur ;
achieve and win a competition in order to lease a forest plot; conduct cadastral registration of this site;
develop a forest development project in accordance with the forest plan of the subject of the Federation, as well as forestry regulations of forest districts;
carry out its examination; submit an annual forest declaration;
despite the fact that the main period for collecting mushrooms, nuts and berries is limited to the third annual quarter (July - September), the citizen is obliged to provide regular quarterly reports on the use of forest resources, as well as a report on business activities, throughout the year;
not only carry out harvesting, but also carry out sanitary and health measures (cutting down dead and damaged forest plantations, clearing forests of litter, pollution and other negative impacts).
It is clear that the time and money required to fulfill all these requirements of the new Forest Code many times exceeds the possible income from the sale of several hundred kilograms of mushrooms, berries, and nuts that one person can collect in a season. What intentions the developers of this part of the Forest Code had in mind is an open question. But it is obvious that the attempt to impose on all rural residents who replenished their family budget Due to the collection of mushrooms and berries, the status of “entrepreneurs” will result in their total withdrawal into the shadow economy. After all, to expect that such “commercial” picking of mushrooms and berries immediately stopped with the advent of new forest legislation is at least naive. This “entrepreneurial” radicalism of the new Forest Code is in marked contrast to other Russian laws.
Article 2 of the Civil Code states that “...entrepreneurial activity is an independent activity carried out at one’s own risk, aimed at systematically obtaining profit from the use of property, sale of goods, performance of work or provision of services by persons registered in this capacity in the manner prescribed by law "
It is unlikely that picking mushrooms and berries, which can generally be done only 3~4 months a year and the yield of which varies greatly from year to year, can be considered as “systematic profit making.”
Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation defines income that is not subject to taxation (exempt from taxation). It also demonstrates the understanding that people who choose similar method increase in income, are at a low standard of living. Part 15 of this article specifies “income received from the sale of prepared individuals wild fruits, berries, nuts, mushrooms and other forest resources suitable for consumption (edible forest resources), non-timber forest resources for own needs.”
Interestingly, some of the developers of the Forest Code also seem to understand this. In the Commentary to Art. 35 of the Forest Code they recognize that:
“The sale by citizens of the forest resources they extracted does not mean that they used the forests unrelated to their own needs. The legislator believed that citizens have the right to dispose of extracted forest resources in the same way as citizens with private farming dispose of the received products. (Forest Code of the Russian Federation. Comments: 2nd edition, additional / Under the general editorship of N.V. Komarova, V.P. Roshchupkin. - M.: VNIILM, 2007. - 856 p.). The only alarming thing is that such explanations are contained in documents that do not have legal force comments to the law, but not in the text of the Forest Code itself.
Legal uncertainty in this matter at the level of the Forest Code must be resolved. As possible option To solve this problem, one can consider the presentation of Art. 35 Forest Code Part 1 as follows:
“Procurement of food forest resources and collection of medicinal plants for their own needs are carried out by citizens in accordance with Article 11 of this Code. The sale by citizens of food resources and medicinal plants, if they are collected by them personally or by members of their families and households, does not mean that they are using forests that are not related to their own needs.”
Similar changes should be made to Art. 33, which regulates the use by citizens of non-timber forest resources for their own needs.
LEGAL BERRY-NUT-MUSHROOM BUSINESS OR “WALKING IN TORMENT”?
The need to save hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens who receive Additional income through the collection and sale of mushrooms, berries, nuts and other similar forest resources, from forced enrollment as “entrepreneurs” is quite obvious.
Unfortunately, the amount of additional bureaucratic burden created by the Forest Code can become an insurmountable administrative barrier for small businesses that could develop in the field of legal collection and use of food and other non-timber forest resources. In some inexplicable way, all this coexists with the repeatedly expressed intentions of the country’s leadership to provide
support and promote the development of small businesses. Perhaps the time has come to move from words to action. To develop legal small forestry businesses in the area of using food and other non-timber forest resources, radical changes in the legislative and regulatory framework are necessary.
The future is not obvious and even that small number is enough large companies who work in this area. Indeed, in addition to the extensive volume of documents that, in accordance with the new Forest Code, entrepreneurs intending to legally use non-timber forest resources will now need to prepare, they will also have to decide important problem like relations with the local population.
Leasing a forest plot for collecting berries, mushrooms or nuts does not at all deprive the local population of the right to freely stay in these areas and collect these forest resources “for their own needs.” The new Forest Code actually laid the foundation for inevitable conflicts between tenants and the local population.
The situation is complicated by the global financial crisis and economic recession, which will inevitably affect Russia. In these circumstances, it would be advisable to consider the possibility of delaying the entry into force of Art. 32 and 34 Forest Code
sa, which regulate the procurement and collection of non-timber and food resources for at least two to three years. This will allow the sector of non-timber and food forest resources to survive the peak of the global financial and economic crisis, as well as the completion of the process of organizational and regulatory reform of the Russian forest sector.
Unfortunately, many positive mechanisms of the previously existing Russian forest management system have already been destroyed. Nevertheless, there is hope that the functionality of some of its components, at least for such short-term purposes as saving the berry, nut and mushroom business, can still be restored.
Otherwise, already in 2009 we can expect very serious problems for legal businesses related to the use of non-timber and food forest resources. Poorly prepared and too radical legislative, regulatory and organizational reforms, coinciding with the global financial crisis, can lead to the collapse of this business and force entrepreneurs to go into the shadow economy in an attempt to survive.
There is very little time left to solve this acute problem, which will affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in forest and rural villages.