Nature’s Candies – What to Do with a Handful of Berries?

Welcome back! As everyone returned to work or school after a summer holiday, autumn is pampering us with fantastic, sunny weather and natural, delicious goods. We step into the fall with bags full of mushrooms, vegetables bigger than they usually are, fruits that make us drool, and – of course – berries, which we just cannot get enough of! It is so fun to pick wild strawberries and put them on a bent, eat blueberries with natural milk, put raspberries on your fingers while pretending that you are Amelie from Montmartre. For many people – and members of our team – various berries symbolize late summer and early autumn when we can eat a handful of them for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Still, we would not have tasted all the flavours at that time! However, all the fun disappears when there are too many berries... We do not know what to do with them so that we may enjoy incredible tastes and vitamins all year round, and not just while the berries are still ripening?

Berries – a Source of Well-being

Before we start talking about berry preservation, it is necessary to mention at least a bit of why we need to eat berries all year round and not just when we can freshly pick them ourselves. Here we will not talk about buying berries in your local supermarket in the middle of winter. Although you can buy a variety of fresh products whenever you want them, it is healthier for our body to eat berries picked during their ripening season or the ones that are preserved to keep their nutrients. 

During their ripening season, the berries are the juiciest and have the most beneficial nutritional substances. Strawberries are a natural source of Vitamin C, while blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries have one of the highest percentages of antioxidants; they have similar amounts of antioxidants as pomegranate. Medical studies have also shown that blueberries help fight heart disease and lower blood cholesterol. Scientists have also found that certain berries can help fight cancer. For some experimental participants, eating a certain number of freeze-dried raspberries every day, their cancer numbers improved over time. 

In general, all berries are low in calories and high in fibre, so they are suitable for people with dietary restrictions or who just want to eat healthier and tastier. Berries can also make our skin glow! There are certain substances in berries that help fight enzymes that break down collagen. This protein is responsible for the elasticity of our skin. If we put all the pros in one place, we really would not find a reason to stay away from eating berries!

How to Preserve Berries’ Nutritional Value?

Suppose you ask your mom or grandma, as well as browse some internet blogs. In that case, you will easily find many tips and recipes that will allow you to preserve the nutritional value of berries all year round. One of the best ways is to freeze-dry berries, also known as lyophilization. Research has shown that freeze-dried berries have close to 90% of their fresh nutritional value, making them equivalent to eating freshly picked berries. 

Raspberries or sliced strawberries are especially popular in this way. Still, the process requires a particular freezing machine, which can be quite an investment. Lyophilization is usually done by certain companies. You can bring fresh berries and, after a few days, take back the little freeze-dried delicacies. Freeze-dried berries will be a great snack for those who want something sweet and healthy, as well as an excellent condiment for cakes or pastries. 

A slightly more straightforward and lovely way to preserve the nutritional value of berries is freezing, which does not require any special equipment apart from your freezer. Although the nutritional properties of this method have long been debated, it has been shown that frozen berries retain their nutritional value and are as healthy as fresh ones. 

Frozen berries are quite easy to use in various recipes, whether baking cakes, brewing tea, or making compotes. However, the most popular way is, without a doubt – the preparation of smoothies and cocktails! This way is also our favourite, but we don’t forget to add a little CBD Oil Drops – then we can enjoy both the taste of the berries and the benefits from CBD! The best part of this berry preservation method is that it is suitable for all berries – strawberries, raspberries, currants, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, wild strawberries or whatever you want!

Our team love natural fruit teas – it is an excellent source of vitamins, and the tea also warms us up on dark, long, autumn or winter evenings. However, in such weather, no one really does want to go to the store and buy fresh berries, so in such cases, it is handy to have some homemade berry jams in your pantry. When there are more berries than you can eat, you can always cook natural jams, which, when tightly closed, can be stored up until the next berry ripening season. 

In a large pot, put berries together with sugar, which allows the jams to harden and get that jelly texture, wait for the mix to come to a boil, and pour it into nice little jars. We should warn you that such recipes can contain a lot of sugar, so look for other recipes if you are the opposite of a sweet tooth. Whereas sugar enhances the sweetness of berries, the lack of it reduces the shelf life of the jams. It turns out that sugar is added to jams also because it absorbs moisture and prevents the spread of bacteria. Therefore, before eating the jam, which is less sweet, be sure to check the jar for the mould!

Berries are called the nature's candies for a reason – it is a source of natural sugar that can be eaten with no shame regardless of the time of the day. However, there is a way to turn berries into real-life sweets, but we warn you in advance that this recipe will require a lot of sugar. Be sure to skip this part of the blog if you have enough sweetness in your life already! Candied berries are made by bringing a sugar and water mix to a boil, which turns into a syrup. Then berries are dipped into it one by one and later sprinkled with some powdered sugar. It's true – candied berries are a sugar lover's dream. Still, different sources have different opinions on how long can candied berries be stored. Before eating them, be sure to inspect candied berries for mould, and always keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

As we are finished with this blog, we can guarantee you will be in a rush to preserve all the berries by freezing, boiling, or drying them. On the other hand, we put the berries in our newest product – CBD Blueberry Gummies Full Spectrum! Natural gummies are perfect for the beginning of the fall and all year round! From now on, you can purchase these deliciously healthy gummies in even more convenient packaging.

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Too long, didn’t read? Berries are nature’s candies, but they all have one problem – short ripening season. We today introduced you to four different ways to preserve berries’ nutritional value up until the following season. Choose freeze-dried, frozen, candied berries, or start making natural homemade jams right away!

Love is All You Need! or is it Food?

Here at Biomedicanna, we devote our every day to ensure healthier tomorrow for everyone struggling to find themselves, listen to their inner voice, and try hard to maintain the balance in life. We dedicated the entire February to encourage everyone to love themselves and others in every way possible. Today we invite you to rethink your eating habits and allow yourselves to go on a journey finding new tasty experiences. Stay safe and healthy!

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It has long been said that the most direct path to a man’s heart is through his stomach; therefore, your cooking must make them fall in love without any doubt. What can be more stereotypical?! Food does have a significant impact on our lives and general well-being, but it’s not all about conquering other people’s heart with eccentric high-end recipes you find online. In reality, we are what we eat, and we depend on food to get the energy our organs need for smooth functioning, but here is the moment when things get tricky. Food is much more than that, and today we will explain how different dishes can change your life and make you fall in love with yourself and home cooking.

Which Comes First – Food or Emotions?

Food is an integral part of any celebration: we eat together with the family around the table both on Christmas and birthdays, we go to restaurants on dates. At the same time, food accompanies us in the sadness, – just think how many people in the movies cry holding a bucket of ice cream? Food is there with us through all of the emotions, but little did you know that certain foods can boost our mood and increase happiness. What surprises the most is that you can find such ‘happy’ foods almost in each food group, so there is no one to judge if you decide to have happiness for breakfast, lunch and dinner! 

We encourage you to start the rainy and gloomy day with a nice bowl of oats and sprinkle some frozen berries on top. The first one is a great iron source, which helps fighting fatigue, and the latter is rich in antioxidants which reduces stress levels. Many of us are already starting their day by drinking coffee! This magical drink helps us ‘wake up,’ and is linked with releasing dopamine, which goes hand in hand with motivation and pleasure. For a quick middle-of-a-day snack we suggest you have a banana, – the yellow fruit ensures stable sugar levels in our blood and are full of vitamin B6, which ‘helps synthesize feel-good neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin.’ 

There is no better food for healthy and ‘happy’ lunch than fatty fish with yoghurt sauce and fresh vegetables on the side. For example, regular portions of salmon or tuna can help you fight depression, and fermented foods, such as yoghurt, are a great probiotics source, which may increase serotonin levels. Let’s not forget usual 5-a-day, beans and lentils are full of B group vitamins responsible for regulating your mood. At the same time, various nuts and seeds are a great addition to any salad as they support healthy brain and lower risk of depression. 

Finally, dark chocolate is one of the best foods for increasing your mood for various reasons. Sugar found in chocolate fuels our brain, and chocolate releases certain feel-good compounds, one of which – N-acylethanolamine – is similar to cannabinoids. Despite high caloric count, chocolate’s smell, taste, and texture all scream happiness, so in sad situations, calories do not count. *wink*

Tell us how many of these foods are already in your fridge or pantry? We would not be surprised if you have it all, but there are more sides to food than just an emotional value. Eating healthy and cooking healthy means loving yourself not only in psychological terms but in physical terms also. Let's look more closely at healthy methods to prepare the meals.

Cooking – the Slower the Better the Healthier?

We hear everyday doctors and nutritionist say that fast food is terrible for our health: it contains too much fat, too many additives and sweeteners, so lastly, we did not even know what we put in our stomachs. Nevertheless, fast food is delicious and mouth-watering, but the same rules apply to the healthy food we can prepare ourselves in the home kitchen. 

Slow food. Despite what you are actually cooking in your home tonight or tomorrow, you are already one step ahead of everyone who decides to eat-out (or order-in, considering the current situation) and do not miss specific fast-food deals. Regular fast-food eating is not beneficial for several reasons. Firstly, such meals are ‘high in sodium, saturated fat, and cholesterol,’ therefore, it directly negatively affects our body and contributes to increasing fatigue and health problems. Secondly, we are subconsciously encouraged to eat more than we should be eating by being exposed to specific colours, smells, and sounds. For example, the red and yellow duo are often seen in fast food logos or interior design as these colours trigger appetite and happiness. 

Unprocessed food. Big food-making companies offer us a great variety of pre-cooked, frozen, canned, and ready-to-eat food to meet our busy lifestyles. It is convenient, but in reality, we get to eat lower nutritional value food. Despite eating such meals, we do not get the nutrients we need, and our organisms send us ‘messages’ to eat more to fit their energy requirements. We then fall into a rabbit hole as we continue to eat the same dishes without actually looking at what is written on the back of the packaging and filling up our bodies with unhealthy nutrients, such as saturated fats, sugars, and simple carbohydrates. We agree that labels and nutritional tables seem quite confusing but always look for fibre, essential fats, and complex carbohydrates. Besides, shop in a local farmers’ market, where you know you’ll find ecological vegetables, fruits, and meats which you will later turn into healthy meals.

Balanced diet. Cheat days are our greatest enemies, which quickly throw us all off the right track. One of the most common reasons cheat days are so exciting, and worth the sin (or not), is healthy food’s taste, which is often considered too bland to love and eat every day. However, the actual problem lies in a handful of our everyday habits, making us have a rocky relationship with healthy eating. Firstly, impulsive shopping and eating; it means we do not plan what we will be eating throughout a week or at least a couple of days—impulsivity results in frequent journeys to a shopping centre and more unhealthy items in our bags. Next, we have portion sizes, which makes our brain think we need to eat more even though we are full. We advise you to buy a kitchen scale during your next visit to the shop and get rid of unrealistically big food plates and other dishes. The last piece of advice will make the brains think we eat more as you will put less food on a plate to make it look full. The previous advice will allow you to measure exact portions of food and count its nutritional value to fight food waste and provide the body with the necessary nutrients. Smarter eating and shopping habits will make you fall in love with healthy foods and meals.

To summarise everything, it is necessary to eat healthy as food is a massive part of our lives. Achieving wellness and inner harmony, we should shop locally, eat ecologically, read what label says, measure portion sizes, and have some dedication by cooking it all ourselves. However, we all sometimes want a delicious and healthy meal, but we do not want to spend much time preparing it. Here creativity becomes your best friend stating that the combination of deliciousness, healthiness, and quick preparing time is possible – just try pancakes! 

Biomedicanna’s friends and fans were kind enough to share their favourite pancake recipes with all of us. As today is Shrove Tuesday, pancakes are kind of necessary, so why not try new quick, healthy and delicious pancake recipes to show love for yourself and others around!

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Migle's Banana Pancake Recipe

I love this recipe as it helps me use overripe bananas without throwing away food. Also, it’s super simple to make! You can be lying in your bed one minute and eat the pancakes straight from the pan another. This recipe does not require you to go to five or more different shops to gather all the ingredients you may need – after returning, your hunger for pancakes is over, and your hand is already reaching for a phone to order something rather than cook it. 

Every time I have overripe bananas on hand, I go for these pancakes. If I have more patience that day, I use the same recipe to make a loaf of banana bread – everything is the same, the difference is in a longer baking time.

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas, preferably overripe ones with brown dots on the skin

• 5 tablespoons of flour (sometimes I use only wheat flour, but feel free to mix in a tablespoon of almond or rice flour just for fun)

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

• 1 teaspoon of baking soda

• 1 tablespoon of oil (0,5 tablespoon if you use coconut oil which is quite hard)

• a pinch of cinnamon

• a pinch of salt

Cooking instructions:

• mash the bananas with a blender (you can achieve the same result with just a fork);

• mix in everything else – if the pancake mix is too thick, pour a little bit of vegetable milk; if the mixture is too runny, put a little bit of flour;

• cook as you would typically cook any other pancakes – the recipe is also suitable for making very fluffy waffles;

• eat – without limiting the imagination, throw in some dried or fresh blueberries, chocolate chips or chia seeds, apples.

That’s Too Sweet! or How Bad is Bad Sugar?

Each of us is sometimes visited by the desire to taste something delicious. Even though the understanding of deliciousness may differ from person to person, most of the time this feeling involves chocolate, ice cream, candy or lollypops – anything that’s sweet! However, we must control ourselves when eating sweet and sugary products as they are harmful to our bodies. Trust us – it is not a myth created by cheeky parents to steal sweets from their kids and eat them alone while the little ones are fast asleep. As we believe you have tons of sweets left in your pantry after Halloween that wait their moment to be eaten, be careful about the sugar you are likely to consume in no time… You understood correctly – we dedicated this blog to draw the line between bad and good sugar!

Sugar Does Not Grow on Trees, or Does It?

Sugar nowadays has become a somewhat usual ingredient in every meal or snack that we eat. However, we do not use the same sugar throughout all of the dishes or drinks. As the sugar name may differ, the methods of their production process are different as well, but as white sugar is the most popular, we invite you to get to know its production from a much closer perspective. White refined sugar gets extracted from two types of plants – sugarcanes and sugar beets.

The first of two is grown in mostly warm climate zones as sugarcane plants cannot survive the frost. Besides, large amounts of water are necessary to grow as much sugarcanes as would produce enough sugar to meet the demand. Once sugarcane crops are harvested, the plants are chopped and milled to extract their juices, which are later heated to produce thick syrup. Despite the already lengthy process, the manufacturers still need to evaporate the excess water from the syrup to achieve sugar crystals. However, the sugar journey does not end here as brown-coloured sugar crystals still need to be bleached with chemical compounds to produce a well-known white product.

Regarding the sugar extraction from sugar beets, this process is less complicated than the previously explained one. Sugar beets are usually harvested in autumn and then transported to the sugar production factories. After sugar beet's roots are washed (they are grown in fertile soil, so this step is not to be missed) and sliced, they are mixed with several chemical solutions and go through the process of evaporation, which creates white sugar crystals – no further refining process is needed.

How We Consume Sugar?

The sugar we consume every day mostly is what is called added sugar; however, the real difference lies in where this sugar is added to and by whom. It is quite clear how much sugar we consume by adding it to our morning coffee or tea, but things get more trickier when we drink soft drinks or store-bought sweets and snacks. If we decide to look closely at the food labels, we will see sugar listed as carbohydrates. It is a correct statement; however, we are much more likely to consume high fructose corn syrup, which is made from corn starch and not the usual sugar. This sugar-like sweetener is one of the most popular ingredients that manufacturers use even though it is not far from being banned in the EU and other countries. As for today, high fructose corn syrup’s production is subject to strict quotas and restriction documents, but it does not change the fact that we are still consuming it without really knowing when exactly.

How Harmful Sugar Really Is?

Excessive sugar intake can result in poor skin health and high blood pressure. However, as we tend not to know when we consume it, we often attribute these features to other life issues and not our diets. The scale of the problem gets revealed when we look more closely at food portion sizes, their nutritional value, and take into account the opinion of professionals. Medical researchers and dietitians agree that adults should have no more than 30 grams of sugar a day – same as seven sugar cubes; for kids and toddlers, these numbers must be several times smaller to maintain healthy life. Despite the righteousness of medical suggestions, they are very hard to live by as almost every store-bought product is packed to the brim with bad sugar. Bad sugar has no nutritional value, causes tiredness and constant hungriness, weight gain, and excess belly fat, which could turn into severe obesity. Besides, limitless sugar consumption is the straightest way to diabetes and heart diseases, and sadly these sicknesses are increasingly diagnosed with younger people and kids.

Are We Doomed, or Are There Any Alternatives to Bad Sugar?

The question above is quite silly as the very name ‘bad sugar’ suggests that there is another side of a coin – good or natural sugars. There are a bunch of natural sweeteners, which are far from processed and can sometimes be obtained straight from the plant. Natural sugars come in the shape of vegetables, fruits, and dairy products, but what they have in common is providing essential nutrients, which keep us healthy and strong. Stevia is one of the best-known plant-based sweeteners, which, despite being sweet, is also linked to lowering blood pressure and insulin levels; however, one still has to refine it to turn it into a more usable form.

Besides stevia, there are several other natural sweeteners used worldwide, which are less harmful to our organisms when compared to actual white refined sugar. Molasses are made from the same sugarcane plants and sugar beets as regular sugar but are not refined and has a syrup-like thick consistency. Maple syrup is also one of nature’s best natural sweeteners. Even if this product is quite expensive in stores, one can easily make it at home as the process of making it is simple – one has to boil the sap of maple trees until it thickens. Next comes coconut sugar, which is very similar to regular white sugar everyone usually uses as it is high in calories.

Now it’s time for the best natural sweetener of all times – good old honey! Even though it is still sugar, organic honey is far safer and healthier to use than table sugar. Full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, honey is also that one product that is completely safe to use after its expiration date. The only thing that helps people separate natural honey from the fake one is its consistency, which crystalises after some time, but does not lose any healthy features.

Recipes with Natural Sugars

Keeping only natural sugars in your pantry does not mean you cannot pamper yourself with some casual yet super healthy sweets. However, most of the time, such natural sweets require to prepare in advance. Pick them, mix them, bake them, cut them, and only after that EAT THEM – we can guarantee that these recipes will be as sweet and healthy as they can be! Besides, we decided to turn the healthiness of our favourite treats up by a few notches and share only vegan-friendly recipe ideas. You can thank us later!

Granola. Mix oats, nuts, and seeds with some coconut oil and honey or maple syrup, and add your favourite dried fruits. Pour the mixture into a large cooking pan and spread evenly, bake until golden. Let the granola cool completely and cut into pieces and enjoy!

Green cocktails. Grab every vegetable and fruit that you can find nearby and put everything into a food processor. Add in some honey or maple syrup, add few drops of CBD Oil for that extra healthiness and let it mix!

Nature’s candy. Pick your favourite berries or cut fruits into bite-size pieces, place them evenly into a food dehydrator machine or onto a cooking pan, and use it accordingly. Dried fruits and berries are a great alternative to bad sugars themselves!

Ice Cream. Mix coconut milk, maple syrup, and tahini – sesame paste – in a food processor, blend them well and pour the mixture into an ice cream maker or spread evenly on a freezer-safe dish. Don’t forget to put some berries or fruits as toppings!

Gummy Candies. Blend apple juice, a little bit of agave or maple syrup and Agar-agar powder together, strain the mixture and bring it to simmer in a small saucepan. Let it cool for a bit, add few drops of CBD oil for that extra healthy kick and pour into gummy moulds. Freeze it, remove it and enjoy!

Here at Biomedicanna believe that we should live as healthy as possible, and this journey starts with cutting bad sugars out of our diets. Natural sugars and recipes are a great alternative to regular chocolate, candies, and other sugary bombs that we consume without even knowing that. Trust us - it is not that hard to feel energetic, strong, and healthy without using refined and processed sugar every day – you will not miss it!

If You have any question, contact us!