Sea buckthorn is widely used in cooking, landscape design, medicine and cosmetology. Sea buckthorn oil is used to treat and prevent many health problems. This product can be purchased at the pharmacy or prepared at home yourself. For tips on how to do this, see the article.
Useful properties of sea buckthorn oil
Sea buckthorn oil extract is a component of some medications, is part of lotions, ointments, and is also widely used in folk medicine. It is a thick orange-red liquid with a specific smell and taste.
The benefits of this product are due to its rich chemical composition. It contains carotenoids, tocopherols, sterols, phospholipids, vitamin K, organic acids.
- It is proved that sea buckthorn oil has the following beneficial effects on the human body:
- anti-inflammatory;
- antibacterial;
- painkiller;
- wound healing;
- emollient;
- restorative.
It is able to restore soft tissue cells, increase the protein content in the liver, and regulate metabolism.
Did you know? The Latin name for Hippophae sea buckthorn comes from two Greek words translated as “horse” and “shine”. In ancient Greece, the plant was actively used for treatment not only people, but also horses, feeding them with leaves, so that the fur of the horses was shiny and healthy.
What is used for
The unique properties of the sea buckthorn oil extract are used in medicine, in traditional and folk, as well as in cosmetology. They are advised to treat skin diseases: eczema, pressure sores, burns. This remedy helps well with stomach ulcers, gastritis, duodenitis. They lubricate the gums with inflammation. The tool is instilled into the nose and mouth with sinusitis and tonsillitis. Gynecologists advise him to heal cervical erosion, injuries of the vaginal mucosa, and cracks in the nipples.
For preventive purposes, the product is used to prevent the development of vitamin deficiency, atherosclerosis, seasonal viral diseases, hair loss
Oil is part of such cosmetic products as face, hands and body creams, balms, hair masks. It helps whiten and tighten the skin, cope with acne, smooth small wrinkles.
Important! Sea buckthorn oil is an allergenic product. Before applying it, it is necessary to perform a test by applying a small amount to the elbow bend and carefully following the reaction.
Collection and preparation of raw materials
Berries are harvested at the time of full maturity. The ripening of sea buckthorn fruits occurs in August - October. You can find out if the berries have ripened by the intensity of the color of their skin. Ripe fruits should be dense and easily separated from the petioles. To get the highest quality product with the maximum number of useful elements, it is necessary that they still sag on the branches for 1.5–2 weeks.
Fruit picking must be done in cloudy weather.. They need to be carefully separated from the branches, or cut off. One of the fastest methods is collecting using a special comb. You need to clean the berries in an apron and gloves.
After harvesting, the fruits must be well sorted out, removing spoiled and rotten, then washed in several waters. A product is considered suitable for cooking if the water that drains from it is clear. The final stage of preparation is drying. Fruits should be thrown into a colander, allowing the liquid to completely drain, then spread on a sieve or tray and put in a well-ventilated room or under a canopy.
Did you know? Sea buckthorn along with the root of the white cinquefoil was used to treat victims of the Chernobyl disaster.
Cooking methods
The process of making oil is quite simple. There are four ways to prepare this product at home. Each of them uses different raw materials. The product can be pressed from berries. It is also isolated from oilcake, berry juice and seeds.
From raw berries
Oil made from fresh fruits is of the highest quality.. To get it, you need 1 kg of berries. First you need to squeeze the juice using a press. Then it is required to defend it in a room with a cool temperature or to filter. Oil should float to the surface. It must be removed with a spoon and placed in a container of dark glass.
The juice that remains can be subjected to a preservation process. It is mixed with sugar in a ratio of 1 to 1.5.
From cake
The product obtained from such raw materials is inferior in quality and number of properties to oil made from berries. You can distinguish it by a lighter color.
Prepare the product as follows:
- Oilcake obtained after squeezing the juice in an amount of 100 g is mixed with 0.5 l of unrefined sunflower oil.
- The mixture is insisted for a week, periodically shaking or stirring.
- To filter and spin.
- Pour into a container of dark glass.
Storage of such a product should be carried out in the refrigerator.
Video: Cooking sea buckthorn oil from oilcake
Oil can also be prepared from dried meal. To do this, squeeze the juice from 200 g of berries. The pulp must be dried and chopped, for example, using a coffee grinder. Then the raw material should be combined with 400 ml of olive or corn oil, heated to a temperature of + 40 ° C. Infuse the product for two to three weeks. Periodically, it is worth shaking. After the specified period, the liquid must be passed through the filter and pour into a dark container.
From juice
To make butter from juice is not difficult. Berries must be squeezed using a juicer. Then the juice must be placed for sedimentation. A few days later, an oil film forms on its surface. It should be carefully removed and placed in a dark glass container.
To get a more enriched product, the process should be complicated. The technology for producing an oil product is as follows:
- After the oil is removed from the surface of the juice, the liquid, not separating from the pulp, must be placed in the oven, heated to a temperature of + 60 ° C, for dehydration.
- Then the product is passed through a meat grinder.
- After this, part of the pulp is placed in a dish covered with enamel, and poured with sunflower oil. For 5 kg of cake, 1 liter is required.
- The mixture is kept in the oven at a temperature of + 60 ° C for 1-1.5 hours.
- Pass through a juicer.
- The pulp obtained after pressing is placed in an enameled bowl, poured with sunflower oil and put in the oven for 1-1.5 hours.
- Then pour the oil extract obtained in paragraph 5.
Berry seed
To get the oil extract from the seeds, they must be ground in a coffee grinder to a powder state. The resulting flour must be poured with olive oil. Liquids are taken so that it slightly covers the powder. Such a product should stand in a dark place for two weeks. Before use, it must be passed through cheesecloth.
The product obtained in this way has less benefit than that made from fresh berries. Since there is no orange pigment in the bones, the juice will be transparent.
How to do in industry
In industrial conditions, the described product is obtained from juice with pulp by three times extraction of fat-soluble vitamins with sunflower oil, separation of the liquid by pressing, and then drying of the raw material at a temperature of + 60 ° С. Such a production technology has been preserved since the 17th century.
Important! Sea buckthorn oil, prepared in any way, should be stored at a temperature not exceeding + 10 ° C in a closed container made of dark glass.
So, natural sea buckthorn oil is a useful product that is recommended to be used to eliminate various health problems. It can be purchased in the pharmacy network or made according to recipes yourself at home from berries, oilcake, berry seeds. Before using products with sea buckthorn oil, you should make sure that there are no contraindications.