Hot Viburnum Drink
Viburnum is bitter — that is a fact to work with rather than against. The simplest answer is to pick the berries after the first frosts, when some of the glycosides have already broken down. The second is not to boil them: boiling pulls bitterness out of the seeds, so the berries are crushed and covered with hot, not boiling, water.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Rest
- 15 min
- Total
- 35 min
- Servings
- 4
- Level
- Easy
- Per serving
- 70 kcal
Ingredients
Makes: 1 l, 4 mugs
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
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Step 1: Pick over and crush
Strip the berries off the stems and crush them with a wooden pestle in a glass or ceramic bowl. A metal bowl with acidic berries leaves a metallic taste.
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Step 2: Cool the water
Boil it and leave it 7–8 minutes to reach about 80 °C. Hotter and the seeds and skins give up bitterness; cooler and the berries never open.
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Step 3: Steep covered
Pour the water over the crushed berries, add the cinnamon, cover and leave 15 minutes. The colour should deepen to ruby.
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Step 4: Strain
Strain through a sieve, pressing the berries with a spoon to take all the juice. Do not crush the seeds — they are the bitterest part.
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Step 5: Add honey
Stir the honey into the warm drink and add lemon. Honey in a hot liquid loses both aroma and benefit, so let it cool a little first.
Tips & variations
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Tip
Viburnum picked after a frost is noticeably less bitter. If yours was picked earlier, a night in the freezer does the same job.
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Tip
Viburnum lowers blood pressure: drink it sparingly if yours runs low or you are pregnant. Not a reason to avoid it, but worth knowing.
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Variation
Half viburnum, half sea buckthorn softens the acidity and brightens the colour. With ginger it becomes a warming drink.
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Storage
Two days in the fridge. Berries mashed with honey 1:1 keep in a jar in the cold all winter — a spoon per mug of hot water.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 4 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 70 kcal | 280 kcal |
| Protein | 0 g | 0 g |
| Fat | 0 g | 0 g |
| Carbohydrates | 18 g | 72 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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