Wild garlic, bear's onion, chenzeli, levurda, samardala, all these names refer to one plant - cheremsha, which with the arrival of spring appears as the first vitamin green in shady forests or along rivers and reservoirs.

Cheremsha is available not only in wild form (it is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine), but also as a cultivated plant, which is grown in a cultural and even industrial way.

In Ukraine, you can legally buy pine trees only in the form of seeds.

But it can be grown in the garden or in the country.

It is quite simple to do, because the plant is unpretentious and takes root in almost any soil, the main thing is to plant it in the shade. 

Cheremsha is eaten not only as a product that stimulates the appetite, but also as a medicinal agent due to its rich structural formula.

Useful properties of pine

Cheremsha is rich in vegetable protein, useful amino acids, and various vitamins important for the body of both men and women.

  • Cheremsha should be consumed by people suffering from spring vitamin deficiency and poor appetite. 

  • 100 g of the plant contains about 100 mg of vitamin C. Due to this and the content of phytoncides (natural antibiotics), cherry is considered the number one antiviral plant.

  • The plant contains B vitamins and provitamin A (beta-carotene), which is also called the elixir of youth.

  • Cherry contains a lot of calcium, potassium, iron, iodine, copper, fluorine, boron and sulfur, mineral salts that support acid-alkaline balance in the body, normalize water-salt exchange, are useful for the endocrine, nervous, and digestive systems.

    The plant is also high in fiber.

  • Cheremsha has been used since ancient times as a folk remedy that "cleanses the blood".

    Bear onion is able to clean the walls of blood vessels, dissolving cholesterol plaques, thereby normalizing blood pressure and preventing the risk of strokes.

    Bear's onion, as The Guardian writes, is also super useful for heart diseases, has a positive effect on the work of the cardiovascular system in general. 

  • The feathers of the plant improve intestinal function, and the leaves have anti-inflammatory properties.

Who can not eat cheremsha

Cheremsha is better not to use during pregnancy, people suffering from gastritis, epilepsy, stomach and duodenal ulcers.

With excessive consumption, it can cause insomnia, headaches and upset stomach. 

The pine tree is blooming

Cheremsha is a real spring "superfood".

Proponents of a healthy lifestyle call Cheremsha a superfood." Cheremsha is treated, eaten fresh, baked, pickled and dried. For 


food, Cheremsha is used in various salads, soups and vegetable dishes. Cheremsha is an excellent preservative, in dried form or ground with salt. sprinkled on meat so that it can be stored longer. Cheremsha smells of delicate garlic, so it is ideal as an additive to salads, soups. When fried, it loses most of its sharpness, but its aroma only intensifies.

Unusual recipes with pine nuts

Very quickly pickled cheremsha

Ingredients: two bunches of cherry trees, 2–3 tablespoons of oil, juice, half a lemon, 2 tbsp.

spoons of mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon of honey, salt.

Cut the cheremsha, salt and slightly crush it.

Mix honey, oil, lemon peel and pulp, mustard, pour over the cherry and leave in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. 

Lard with pine nuts

Grind a bunch of pine nuts, 350 g of lard, add spices, mix, put in boxes and freeze.

Scrambled eggs with cherry and cheese 

Ingredients: 300 g of cherries, 15–20 g of butter, 1 egg, hard salty cheese, salt to taste. 

Pick fresh pine nuts, wash them, put them in boiling salted water and cook for 5 minutes.

Fry with butter, pour beaten eggs, sprinkle with grated salty cheese at the end.

Cherry and tofu salad

Ingredients: bunch of cherry trees, 3 fresh cucumbers, 200 g of mayonnaise, 200 g of tofu, fennel greens.

Dice cucumbers and tofu, cut greens.

Season with mayonnaise and mix. 

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