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Sweet clover (Guryan, Burkun). How to flavor tobacco at home yourself

Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall. - Clover officinalis. Russian name: Sweet clover; Ukrainian: Burkun Likarsky, Burkun Zhovtiy.

A biennial herbaceous plant with a branched, woody bottom, erect or ascending stem, 60-150 cm high. With trifoliate-pinnate leaves on the petiole. The leaves are bluish-green above, paler below, finely serrated. The lower leaves have obovate leaflets, the upper leaves are oblong. The flowers are yellow, small, collected in elongated, multi-flowered, spike-shaped axillary racemes, fragrant (smell of coumarin). Blooms from June to October.
It grows along roads, in fields, weedy places, slopes, in forested areas, in fallow fields and fallow lands, on borders, among grain crops and over clover. Weed. Distributed everywhere.

Collecting. The leafy tops and side shoots of sweet clover are harvested during flowering from July to September. WITH therapeutic purpose use grass, flowers, and sweet clover leaves. The grass is laid out in a thin layer or tied into bunches, hung from the ceiling, or on the walls in a draft. After drying, thresh and sift through a sieve.

CONSUMPTION. Sweet clover preparations have an analgesic, sedative, anticonvulsant, carminative, and wound-healing effect. Sweet clover is included in breast, emollient and laxative preparations.
The plant can be used only as prescribed by a doctor in compliance with the rules of administration, the indicated doses and duration of treatment. An overdose may cause headaches, nausea, and vomiting. In such cases, you should stop taking medications from sweet clover and immediately consult a doctor.
Infusion of sweet clover herb: infuse 15-20 g of herb in 250 ml chilled boiled water 4 hours in a closed jar. Take 100 ml 3 times a day for insomnia, headache, chronic bronchitis, hypertension, nervous disorders. heavy menstruation.
Or: infuse 30-40 g of herb in 200 ml of boiling water in a warm place for 30 minutes. Use for compresses, lotions, baths for rheumatism, pustular skin lesions, furunculosis.
Decoction of sweet clover herb: boil 10 g of herb in 200 ml of water for 30 minutes, then strain. Take 1 tablespoon 3 times a day for bronchitis, acute respiratory diseases, kidney disease, liver disease, insomnia.
Ointment from fresh sweet clover flowers: carefully grind 50-60 g of fresh flowers with three tablespoons of fresh butter. Lubricate boils and carbuncles to speed up their maturation.
Apply crushed leaves to festering wounds and ulcers that take a long time to heal.

Tea from napara flowers of sweet clover 30.0 g. Per 1 liter. Boiling water is drunk at chest diseases a glass of wine (50.0 g) every hour. Sweet clover flowers in small doses are included in various breast mixtures of medicinal plants. Sweet clover flowers steamed in boiling water are applied as a poultice to “chilled” abscesses, slowly forming boils, etc.
From young women in Rivne, I heard that sweet clover flowers, mixed equally with centauria grass (centaury) and coltsfoot flowers, cure diseased ovaries. Take 1/3 cup of napara (from 1 tablespoon of the mixture to 1 glass of water) 6 times a day for 3-4 weeks. In this case, complete abstinence from sexual activity is recommended for the period of treatment.
In villages, dry crushed sweet clover flowers are added to tobacco for flavor.

Yellow sweet clover differs from white sweet clover, apparently, not only in color, but also in chemical composition. In any case, the medicinal sweet clover, that is, the yellow one, unlike its brother, has been more studied and is much more widely used in folk medicine many countries.
Preparations of sweet clover are prescribed for hypertension and coronary disease, atherosclerosis, thrombophlebitis, increased blood clotting, as an anticoagulant direct action. Traditional medicine recommends infusion and decoction of sweet clover for the treatment of bronchitis, bronchial asthma, pain in the heart area, inflammation of the ovaries, scanty and painful menstruation, edema, cystitis, insomnia, migraine, flatulence, kidney pain and bladder. It is curious that sweet clover herb extract accelerates the regeneration of the liver of rats after its partial removal (established experimentally). In Bulgarian folk medicine, sweet clover infusion is drunk for herpes, boils and fissures. anus. Externally, sweet clover grass is applied to soften and dissolve various seals and boils, for mastitis, cracked nipples, hidradenitis, and inflammation of the eyelids.
AMENorrhea (abnormal cessation of menstruation in women). Mix sweet clover, centaury and coltsfoot flowers in equal proportions. Pour 1 tablespoon of the collection with 1 glass of boiling water, leave for 2 hours, strain. Take one third of a glass 6 times a day for a month (which means you will need 2 glasses of infusion per day).
HYPERTENSION. Pour 1 teaspoon of herb into a glass of boiled water at room temperature. Leave for 2 hours, strain. Drink half a glass 2-3 times a day. (At high rates leukocytes is contraindicated.)
CHRONIC BRONCHITIS. Pour 2 teaspoons of herbs into 2 cups of cold boiled water, leave for 2 hours. Take 1/2 cup 2-3 times a day.
HERPES, ANAL CRACKS, FURUN KULY. Pour 1 tablespoon of herb into 300 ml of boiling water and leave for 2 hours. Drink half a glass warm 3 times a day.
INFLAMMATION OF THE OVARIES. Mix equal parts of the herb of sweet clover, centaury, oregano and coltsfoot flowers. Pour 1 tablespoon of the mixture into 250 ml of boiling water, leave for 2-3 hours, strain. Take 1/3 cup 5-6 times a day for 3-4 weeks. In this case, complete abstinence from sexual activity is recommended.
HEADACHE. Put 1 teaspoon of sweet clover herb and hop cones in 250 ml of boiling water, boil for 5 minutes, leave for 1 hour, strain. Take 1/4 cup 3 times a day before meals.
DECREASE IN THE LEVEL OF LEUKOCYTES IN THE BLOOD. In cancer patients, after radiation or chemotherapy, the number of leukocytes in the blood drops sharply. As additional means to lift them, I prescribe to some patients an infusion of sweet clover herb - from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of herb per glass of cold boiled water, leave for 4 hours, drink a third of a glass 2-3 times a day in between meals. Briefly until the desired result is obtained.

* * *

Sweet clover must be treated with extreme caution, especially if it is purchased on the market or from unscrupulous herbalists. The fact is that if it is not dried properly in damp weather, even with a slight appearance of mold, the amount of the anticoagulant dicoumarin in it increases sharply, the valuable medicine turns into poison, and this threateningly reduces blood clotting, leading to hemophilia. Liver damage occurs, bleeding from the kidneys begins, and hemorrhages may occur. In general, sweet clover in case of overdose, in large quantities, causes liver damage, even paralysis of the central nervous system.
Contraindications to the use of sweet clover include hypotension, pregnancy, decreased blood clotting, and kidney disease with hematuria. Overdose and long-term use will call headache, vomiting, restless sleep and even paralysis.

Storage. Dried raw materials strong odor, salty-bitter taste. Store in paper, tin, tightly closed jars, boxes or glass containers. The herb has a shelf life of up to 2 years.

Much depends on what kind of tobacco is grown. There are many varieties, and they can be completely different from each other, not only in aroma, but also in other characteristics.

Country tobacco is the name given to ordinary shag. It grows only up to 120 cm and contains half as much nicotine as Virginia varieties. Grows well in the Middle Zone and the South. Plants grow from the beginning of warm days until late autumn. Varieties - Holly 316, Samsun 85, Turkish, Datura.

Virginia tobacco is often called real tobacco. Its taste is considered strong. But it is very heat-loving and therefore is most often grown in the South. Requires watering and high temperature. Varieties: Yubileiny new 142, Trepezond 92, Trepezond Kubanets and Pekhlets.

Whether you should grow tobacco depends on preference. Thus, one smoker consumes 8 kg of tobacco per year, and from each hundred square meters you can get up to 40 kg of raw tobacco. But when planted in the ground, the seeds of the plant give a small harvest. We need to grow them through seedlings. The sowing depth is no more than 0.5 cm. As the plant grows, the soil is added up to the cotyledon leaves. Otherwise, the seedlings may die. Otherwise, growing it is no more difficult than tomato seedlings.

After planting it in the garden, the soil must be loosened after each watering or rain, since tobacco roots are very sensitive to oxygen.

Tobacco is a tall plant, so the planting scheme should be appropriate:

  • 70x100 cm for Virginia varieties, as they grow vigorously and produce very powerful bushes;
  • 50x30 cm for shag varieties, since they are determinant and this feeding area is quite enough for them.

Seedlings are planted in the ground when three to four true leaves appear on the plants, that is, usually 40-45 days after sowing. Thin tobacco leaves are obtained if the plants are transplanted into the ground at the age of 30 days. This is done in some areas of America. This tobacco will also have a special aroma.

You can greatly influence the taste and aroma by removing diseased and dying leaves and removing flowers. That is, the stepsons and buds must be removed so that all the juices go to the growth of tobacco leaves. The tobacco ripens from the lower leaves. Therefore, up to five cuttings are usually taken to harvest the entire crop in the optimal time.

At each stage, tobacco needs an optimal temperature:

  • seedlings should take root after transplantation at +20...+22° C;
  • the development of large leaves begins at +25...+28° C;
  • Harvesting ends when the temperature drops to +15...+18° C.

In Cuba and America, the soil for planting seedlings is never cultivated with tractors, because they compact the soil too much. Where tobacco is grown, fertilization, watering and harvesting are done only by hand for the same reason. At the dacha, you can repeat the same conditions by creating wide rows so as not to trample the soil near the plants while moving around the garden.

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An indispensable attribute of the Zaporozhye Cossack, in addition to the “shablyuk” (saber) and “ratyshcha” (pikes), was also the “cradle” (pipe). Folk "parsuns" (portraits) of Cossacks always depict them with a pipe: on a horse or on a campaign, or sitting with a kobza - and the cradle is always in their teeth. In the famous Ukrainian folk song “Oh, on the mountain women will reap,” the following words are even attributed to Hetman Petro Sagaidachny:

“I don’t bother with a woman,
And that tyutyun is a cradle
The Cossack needs to get older..."

All the contemporaries and historians of Zaporizhian Kosh note a special love for the pipe and tobacco potion of the Sich people. Here, for example, is how Yavornitsky describes it:

“In their free time from campaigns, the Zaporozhye Cossacks loved to lie on their stomachs, joke around, listen to the stories of others, while holding short cradleboards in their teeth, the so-called “nosogryki” or cradle-burunki, and puffing smoke from them. A cradle for a Cossack is the first thing: The Cossack will bring Easter from the church on Great Day, put it on the table, and quickly pick up his pipe: “Come on, little boys, take hold of the cradles, let the paska stand, but don’t take the piglets,” they say jokingly about their Zaporozhye Cossacks descendants. Cradle for the Cossack - sister, dear friend him: as if he sat on a horse, he immediately set fire to the cradle and so on for six miles, or even more, he burned and burned everything and did not let it out of his mouth...” (see Yavornitsky D.I. History of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, K. - 1990, vol.1, p.237).

The short Cossack cradle - "burulka" or, more correctly, "burunka" (from the Tatar word burun - nose), which, in fact, is the same as "nosogreyka" - is not an easy thing. Many of them have been preserved in museums and private collections of Zaporozhye antiquities, which makes it possible to restore their historical appearance. Any avid smoker will tell you that the bouquet of tobacco varies significantly depending on what type of pipe the pipe is cut from. Ukrainian villagers have long carved cradles for themselves only from special types of trees - primarily from cherry, but also from pear, linden and heather. By folk beliefs, in no case was it possible to cut cradles from aspen - the cursed tree on which Judas hanged himself. It was forbidden to cut pipes from oak - a tree sacred to all Slavs. Almost no pipes were cut from coniferous trees - pine and spruce, since their resinous smell completely drowned out the aroma of the tobacco itself. However, the Zaporozhye cradle, as can be seen from the surviving specimens, in the old days was not at all solid wood - but was quite complex design, significantly different from modern souvenir samples.

The “cup” of the pipe was most often molded from clay and fired over a fire, but many examples of “cups” carved from volcanic tuff or other, mostly soft, have survived rocks. Sacred patterns were often applied along the outer rim of the “cup” - the so-called. “carbs”, which also took place on kobza-banduras, canes-notches and staves-bonfires. And only a “bushing” carved from wood (cherry, linden or pear) was inserted into the bowl of the pipe itself. "Chubuk" was also often made of wood, from maple. But more often than not, the material for the chibouk was the hollow inside “ocheret” (reed), with which the Dnieper flood plains grew over hundreds of miles. Such pipes were almost never cleaned - and when resins accumulated in the pipe, they simply threw it away, replacing it with a new one, since the material for it was always at hand.

Here's what researchers write about smoking pipes from another region of Ukraine:

"Pipes as an object folk art are still preserved in the Hutsul region, where they are made from mosyazhny and cupronickel silver plaques, and occasionally cast cradles are also found. An interesting example is the “Putilovka” pipe, which is made in the village of Putili, Chernovets district. The junction of the cap and the tube is sometimes decorated with a flat ridge or rim. The corollas usually end in the head of a bird or conic. Pipe lids also come with decorations made from a narrow belt of a badge with “curls” made very skillfully...” (see O. Voropai. Customs of our people: Ethnographic essay (Ukrainian). - K. - 2005, p. 489).

In addition to the cradle itself, the Sich people also had special feelings about other pipe attributes - the so-called. "prichindalyam". These, first of all, included “kapshuk” pouches for storing tobacco, often skillfully embroidered by the mothers or betrotheds of the Cossacks, as well as steel “armchairs” for making fire, often forged in the shape of stylized animals - wolves, horses, birds and snakes. And the Cossacks, only with their inherent sense of humor, gave some “prichindals” very colorful names - “gag” (to stuff tobacco into a pipe) and “poke” (to clean it); they were made of metal, and in the old days of bone or horn, and were also richly decorated with ornaments. The Zaporozhian most often wore the cradle and its accompanying “accoutrements” either in his wide belt, using it instead of pockets, or in an overhead bag called “gaman”, which was also attached to the belt, or hidden behind the lapel of his famous smushkovo hat “tag”.

In addition to the pipe as a personal item, the Cossacks also knew pipes as a ritual object, used for collective actions:

“Besides the Cossacks, each Cossack had a cradle, and then there was also a “combed” cradle, very large in size, lined with monists, expensive stones, various plaques, sometimes covered with inscriptions like “Cossack cradle - good thought”; and with A whole society or assembly would sip on such a cradle when they were contemplating some enterprise or plotting a campaign against someone...” (see Yavornitsky, ibid.).

Mentioned by the historian large sizes The “obcheskaya” cradle refers primarily not so much to the bowl of the pipe, but to the length of the pipe itself - such pipes with long pipes were still in use among the Black Sea people, where they were depicted already in the 19th century. in photographs and drawings by researchers of Kuban Cossack antiquity.

Smoking a pipe in Ukraine among the Cossacks began to be considered almost a symbol of youth, and the “good cradle” was put on a par with the “clear zbroya” - “white”, or, as they say now, cold steel. The famous Gogol Taras Bulba died only because he did not want his cradle to go to the enemy. However, along with pipe smoking, snuff was also used:

“The cradles, however, did not exclude the use of snuff horns: the sniffers were mostly old grandfathers who, avoiding spending too much time near the cradle, preferred a horn with tobacco to it: “Until you put it on, until you burn it, until you get wet.” , heretical soul, otherwise it’s a smikgyorg! Wipe your nose and you’re ready!..” And some used both: “The cradle delights the soul, and the face cleanses the brain...” (see Yavornitsky, ibid.).

The “curias” and the “sniffers” sometimes often mocked each other good-naturedly. The main reason for ridicule of the "sniffers" was the latter's untidiness - residues were often visible on their clothes. snuff. However, the “sniffers,” for example, of Starobelsky district cheerfully answered that whoever sniffs and does not wipe himself off does not sin at all: people laugh at him and condemn him, and thereby take his sin upon themselves. And in the Belgorod district they told a legend that she gave her blessing for snuffing tobacco Holy Mother of God who got rid of headaches with the help of snuff.

We find the most complete collection of legends and traditions about the origin of tobacco and smoking from the famous Ukrainian ethnographer of the late 19th century. Georgy Bulashev. According to these folk legends, the Ukrainian people saw smoking as the machinations of demonism, as, for example, the villagers of the Chernigov district said:

"... when God became angry with the devils and began to throw them out of the sky, one devil flew and flew and ran into... a withered oak tree. The devil hung on it until the dust began to fall from it. The dust began to fall to the ground, and tobacco seedlings began to grow from that dust. People began to take it there, smoke and sniff it, and then planted it in their gardens" (see Myths of Ukraine. Based on the book by Georgy Bulashev "The Ukrainian people in their legends, religious views and beliefs" ( Ukrainian). - K. - 2003, p. 286).

Other legends also talk about the “unclean” origin of tobacco - for example, in the Aleksandrovsky district it was believed that the beginning of smoking was associated with the beginning of drinking vodka and came from the hermit who was tempted by a demon; in other places it was believed that the devils lured a villager going to church into the forest, gave him a pipe and taught him to smoke. There was also an opinion that tobacco grew from the body of the harlot who took off the Forerunner’s head.

And the legend from Chigirinsky district tells how the devils, in order to distract the monk from prayer, began to tempt him by setting fire to an oak tree growing nearby. The monk caught and immobilized the devil in the oak tree with prayer - the oak grew and grew and crushed the devil: it was from this demonic blood that spilled on the ground that tobacco grew (see Myths of Ukraine, pp. 286-291).

Tobacco in Ukraine has long been called the word "tyutyun", borrowed directly from Turkish language(tutun - tobacco). From the Turks, apparently, the Cossacks borrowed the very custom of smoking pipes, since the Turks controlled all Mediterranean trade in the 16th-17th centuries. - the Ottomans themselves, most likely, very quickly adopted the habit of smoking a pipe directly from the Spaniards; Moreover, the very smoking of various herbs, including narcotic herbs, to obtain “keif” (i.e., pleasure), has been inherent in Muslim peoples since ancient times - and instead of hashish, flavored tobacco appeared in the hookah, which led to the habit of smoking the tubes themselves.

However, the most interesting point in smoking tobacco is the process of its aromatization - to fight off the unpleasant smell of tobacco, which, according to apt expression Ukrainian villagers "... it hurts their throats." There are two main methods for this - fermentation of tobacco, which is now used everywhere as the main method, and adding mixtures of flavored herbs to tobacco, such as in a hookah. An undeservedly forgotten researcher of Zaporozhye Cossack antiquity, Anatoly Pasternak, a great expert in Ukrainian folk medicine, came to interesting conclusions in his works. It turns out that in the process of fermentation of collected tobacco leaves, that same shag, sharp taste of tobacco is destroyed, which leads to improvement taste qualities tobacco and tobacco mixtures. However, as a result of this process, substances beneficial to health are also destroyed - but the concentration of nicotine will increase tenfold:

“We sowed tobacco that grew in our climatic conditions, and these were mainly shag varieties. We used the simplest preparation technology - we dried the leaves... And these are malic, citric, oxalic acids, various essential oils, of which as much as one and a half percent are in shag leaves. Among them are kaempferol, quercetin. Experts know: all these substances are not only not harmful, they are beneficial for the body! For example, kaempferol and quercetin strengthen the heart muscles...” (see Pasternak A. And the cradle.../f. “Science and society" (Ukrainian), 1991, No. 11, p. 76).

Of the most famous shag varieties of “samosad” in Ukraine, the ones most often sown were “Samson” and “Dubek”. It was in them that, in order to fight off the stench of shag, they added various fragrant herbs, turning to experience traditional healers, herbal healers. Among other herbs, parsnip distinguishes the following:

Motherwort (or oregano) - it contains thymol and carvacol, which soothe nervous system, as well as terpenes that counteract stomach diseases;
- lovage - his “young lady” (a girl of marriageable age) mixed it into tobacco in order to “...tie the Cossack to herself,” and also to save him on the way; it contains furocoumarin, psoralen, bergapten, which have antiseptic and antitumor effects;
- mint - it was added not only to the smoking mixture, but also to the mixture for snuffing tobacco; mint contains substances that have a positive effect on tone, vigor, prudence, calmness, and have a beneficial effect on brain function;
- tirlich (or yellow gentian) - as the old people said: “...so that your arms and legs don’t get twisted,” i.e. from rheumatic joint pain;
- holly - prevents throat diseases, sore throat, gum inflammation, strengthens tooth enamel (see Pasternak, p. 77, and also: Ivanishin D.S., Katina Z.F., Rybachuk I.Z., Ivanov V.S. , Butenko L.T. Medicinal plants Ukraine. - K. - 1974, p. 101, 12.

In addition to the above-mentioned plants, which have a purely medicinal effect, among the people, herbs that have questionable properties were also added to smoking mixtures. practical medicine meaning, but had great value for the Cossacks themselves, according to popular beliefs, in connection with their specific activities. It was believed, for example, that:

To cleanse the blood after injury, you need to smoke thorn leaves and its dried flowers;
- in order to drive away “black thoughts”, they smoked dried wormwood with tobacco;
- the Cossacks-“grave-keepers”, who carried vigilant “varta” (guard) on the steppe burial mounds, smoked dried tyrsa to improve vision, i.e. feather grass.

One of the most interesting herbs used in smoking mixtures was burkun (or yellow sweet clover), which was smoked by old fishermen who were, by virtue of their trade, for a long time almost waist-deep in water. Dried tops with leaves and flowers of Burkun (clover) contain large quantities coumarin, a substance that has anticonvulsant effects. However, the same substance, coumarin, depresses the nervous system and also has a narcotic, or rather hallucinogenic, effect (see Gubergrits A.Ya., Solomchenko N.I. Medicinal plants of Donbass. - Donetsk - 1968, p.71). Zaporozhye Cossacks, knowing this side effect, smoked tobacco mixed with Burkun after the battle, if the Sich “...could not forget the sight of a dying enemy or a dying brother-in-arms” (see Pasternak, p. 77). We find interesting confirmation of this on the pages of Sholokhov's novel " Quiet Don"When the Don Cossack Grigory Melekhov, main character narration, in order to dispel the melancholy, he smoked: “... a handful of the mixture: dry sweet clover and the roots of unripe samosada - “dubek” (see Sholokhov M.A. Quiet Don. - M. - 1980, vol. 2, p. 153).

Ukrainian folk beliefs also brought to us legends about a certain “chaklun-grass” - i.e. "sorcerer-herb", the powder from which the Cossacks use to treat chopped, chopped and cut wounds(see Pasternak, pp. 77-7). In the healing practice of the "characterniks", these Zaporozhye sorcerers, according to folk legends and various "Herbalists" and "Zeleiniki" of the 16th-18th centuries, other fabulous plants were used - for example, "break-grass", unlocking any locks and shackles, "overcome -grass”, which helps to defeat any enemy, “the color of the fern”, with the help of which they look for treasures left in large quantities by the Sich in their Zaporozhye lands. Folk legends silently mention the root of that very “overcome herb”, but it is unknown exactly how it was used. But about “chaklun-grass” there is a mention that it was smoked “... so that the saber would not take” (see Pasternak, p. 77). Considering many archaic elements that survived in the Zaporozhye environment, and have survived almost to the present day since the times of Indo-European military alliances (for example, the cult of the werewolf), it can be assumed that smoking (or, more precisely, smoking) various herbs containing hallucinogenic or stimulants were also included in the ritual practice of the Sich, as before this was the case among the Scandinavian “berserkers”, as well as in the ritual practice of other peoples. Moreover, such a practice of preparing for battle could have taken place among the Cossacks also due to constant interaction with the Muslim world, which for centuries used psychotropic substances (for example, opium and hashish) as doping for their warriors, for example, similar references exist about the Ottoman janissary. However, what kind of secret potion of the Cossacks it was - history is silent. Isn’t this where one of the answers to the mysteries of the Zaporozhye “characteristics” is rooted, which, according to legends, “…neither a bullet nor a saber could take them”?

Be that as it may, the preparation recipe and the very proportions of herbs added to smoking mixtures have practically not survived to this day. The only exceptions are the recipes of “evil tyutyun” (a quarter of wormwood to three-quarters of tobacco) and “mishankas”, i.e. mixtures in equal parts of Samson variety, mint and lovage, or in equal parts of tobacco and sweet clover. But whether it is a sin to smoke or not - that is, the following Ukrainian legend: “...Whoever smokes but does not spit at the same time does not commit a sin, but whoever smokes and spits will not escape “hell” (hell) - because the earth is for everyone mother to us: we are all from the earth, we live by the earth and we will go to the earth again, and the earth will not accept him who spits on it..."


Description of the sweet clover plant

Sweet clover - Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall, is a biennial herbaceous plant from the legume family (Fabaceae, or Leguminosae) with a tap root and an erect branched stem 30 to 150 cm high. The leaves are alternate, trifoliate, with serrated or sharply toothed leaflets at the edges. lanceolate or round shape. In the first year, the plant develops not only a rosette of leaves, like many biennials, but also a fully formed above-ground shoot (without inflorescences). However, in winter, the stem of this shoot dies, and the regrowth of the plant begins from the buds that remain on the root collar. Numerous drooping flowers are collected in clusters of inflorescences, which are located in the axils of the upper leaves on long peduncles. The racemes are multi-flowered, each with from 30 to 70 flowers. The flowers are small, 5 - 7 mm long, with a 5-toothed green calyx, a yellow moth-type corolla of 5 petals of different sizes, 9 fused stamens and 1 free one and a pistil with a long bent style and an upper ovary. The fruits are small ovoid, transversely wrinkled beans of brown or dark gray color, 3-4 mm long. Each bean contains 1, rarely 2, dull greenish-yellow seeds.

The whole plant smells of coumarin. This smell intensifies significantly as it dries. Blooms from late May to autumn. The fruits ripen in July - October. One plant can produce up to 17,000 viable seeds, requiring stratification and high soil moisture for germination. This explains the weak development of sweet clover in years with a dry, hot spring. Seeds are able to remain viable when stored dry in favorable conditions up to 70 years old.

Sweet clover is a Eurasian plant introduced into North America. It is found in almost all regions of the European part of Russia and southern Siberia. Rubble and sandy wastelands are common habitats for sweet clover. It also grows along forest edges, in meadows, in the steppe, in thickets of bushes, along roads, and often forms thickets on railway embankments, sandy banks of reservoirs, young fallow lands, and in all sorts of disturbed places in populated areas and near them. Sometimes it is sown in fields as a honey and fodder plant.

WITH medicinal purposes They also use raw materials from another widespread species in Russia - white sweet clover (Melilotus albus Medik.), which differs from sweet clover in a number of characteristics, of which the most obvious is white flowers.

Economic use

Sweet clover is a medicinal, melliferous and fodder plant. During flowering, its thickets are fragrant with honey, because the flowers are rich in nectar. This plant is also useful because it is a pioneer in the overgrowth of areas that, for some reason, have lost their soil cover. Thanks to the nitrogen-fixing microorganisms that settle on its roots, it is able to live on the most infertile soils and substrates, including sand and gravel. The whole plant is very aromatic due to the coumarin it contains.

The coumarin odor intensifies when the above-ground parts of the plant are dried. Raw clover ground into a fine powder is mixed with smoking and snuff tobacco to flavor them. Thus, in Ukraine there was a widespread custom of mixing dry sweet clover flowers, which they call “burkun”, into shag. It is believed that the smell of sweet clover drives away moths, so its herb is placed in closets in which woolen products are stored. In some places, sweet clover is used as a spice. Fresh leaves and the powder of crushed dry leaves and flowers is used to season soups and okroshkas, and added to salads. As an aromatic substance, sweet clover is used in the alcoholic beverage, tobacco and perfume industries.

Chemical composition

The herb of sweet clover contains melilitic and coumaric acids, flavonoids, coumarins, essential oil, melitoside, melilotin, mucus, dicumarol, choline, vitamins E and C, tannins and resins.

Between June and August, bees are busy collecting honey from the flowers of sweet clover. This miracle honey tones the human body and adds energy for the whole day. Sweet clover honey is used internally and externally. It has an analgesic, antispasmodic and diuretic effect. Used honey for inflammation respiratory tract, relieves inflammation and relieves pain. People suffering from heart disease or hypertension only need to consume honey a few times a week and their condition will improve.

This miracle medicine will restore a person who has suffered a severe and serious illness, relieving headaches, shortness of breath and dizziness.
Sweet clover honey is useful for nursing mothers, as it stimulates increased lactation.
Thanks to its unique beneficial properties This honey is used for various diseases. Besides the fact that this medicine not only smells good, but also tastes very good. And experts say that even a healthy person will benefit from using such a delicacy regularly.

Application in medicine

It has been experimentally established that sweet clover has an expectorant effect.
Due to the presence of dicoumarin, sweet clover prevents blood clotting and is indicated for use in thrombophlebitis.
Coumarin contained in sweet clover has an antispasmodic effect, helps increase the number of leukocytes, mainly granulocytes, and improves blood circulation, especially in the vessels of the brain.

Sweet clover is used as an external emollient for boils and bruises; melilot plaster is prepared from it.
Traditional medicine in France uses sweet clover as an astringent and antispasmodic.
In Bulgaria, the infusion is used internally for chronic bronchitis, for pain in the bladder, migraines, hypertension, menopause, and also externally as an infusion for compresses, rinses, in the form of a patch, as an emollient and analgesic for boils, boils, and rheumatism , at purulent wounds, for inflammation of the nipples in nursing women, for inflammation of the middle ear (use the effect of herbal vapor - by boiling it).
In Indian medicine, sweet clover is used as a hemostatic, emollient, aromatic and carminative.

In China, sweet clover is included in the complex of remedies for the treatment of epidemic encephalitis.
In Poland, sweet clover infusion is prescribed for headaches, pain in the heart, insomnia, hemorrhoids, etc.
In Austria, sweet clover herb is called “honey clover” and is prescribed as an infusion for stomach diseases, bronchitis, and as an external remedy in the form of poultices.
In Germany, the flowering tops of the plant are used. In the video the product is used in treatment chronic bronchitis, as well as in the form of patches and ointments for skin diseases.
When taking sweet clover preparations orally, you must be careful, since high doses cause headache, nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, and very high doses can cause liver damage and hemorrhage.
Sweet clover is used in homeopathy.

Sweet clover grass. Photo

Sweet clover grass. Photo: Matt Lavin

Sweet clover officinalis. Photo: anemoneprojectors (getting through the backlog)

People consider sweet clover to be an expectorant and carminative.
In domestic and foreign folk medicine, sweet clover was used internally as an expectorant and emollient, for flatulence, diarrhea, hypertension, insomnia, neurasthenia, as a lactogenic, and for hemorrhoids.
Externally, sweet clover is used for furunculosis, otitis, inflammation of the mammary glands, rheumatism, as a wound-healing agent, in the form of baths - for inflammation of the ovaries, rheumatoid arthritis.

Steamed sweet clover herb or an infusion of the herb is used externally in the form of baths, compresses, poultices, for rheumatic tumors, gouty joints, colds of the feet, inflammation and hardening of the mammary glands.
Traditional medicine uses infusion and decoction of clover officinalis in the treatment of bronchitis, bronchial asthma, pain in the heart, inflammation of the ovaries, scanty and painful menstruation, with a decrease in the amount of milk in the mammary glands of nursing mothers, edema, cystitis, and also as a sedative for insomnia, migraine, flatulence.



Many beginning tobacco growers and others sooner or later begin to flavor their tobacco. This is inevitable, because the tobacco starts to get boring. Flavoring tobacco at home essentially introduces a change in the taste of smoking.

Flavoring tobacco at home recipes

  • 1. The simplest thing is to add cherry leaf to the tobacco. As before, it was added to shag to reduce its specific smell and taste. The leaf is collected, dried and mixed with tobacco.
  • 2. You can add yellow sweet clover flowers. We select the bag experimentally to suit your taste. You can also make an alcohol extract (40%) from sweet clover and use it to flavor tobacco. To do this, we spray the fermented, rested leaf or slice and leave it in a warm place for a week for impregnation.
  • 3. Take two tablespoons of honey and dissolve it in 200 g. cognac Add 80 ml. vinegar 9% and 1 ml. glycerin and add to 1 liter with distilled water. We moisten a tobacco leaf with this mixture from a spray bottle, pack it hermetically and send it to a warm place of 40-50 C (maybe to the radiator if it’s winter). Once every 10-12 days, we open the tobacco if it’s in a jar and repackage it if it’s in a bag. After a couple of months, we take it out, air it out and let it rest for a couple of weeks. You can also dry it in the oven and take a sample.
  • 4. You can use vanilla, only natural vanilla beans. Vanilla is ground with chopped moistened tobacco. Place it in a jar, seal it tightly and keep it warm for a couple of days.
  • 5. Try experimenting with flavored teas. Place a tea bag in a half-liter jar of moistened tobacco and close it. Let it sit for 3-4 days and try. You can try mixes by putting different teas into the jar at the same time.
  • 6. Flavoring tobacco at home using nicotine-free hookah tobacco “Leyla” from the Pogar factory. To do this, fill one briquette with 150-200 ml. boiled water and let it brew for 5 hours. Then drain the resulting liquid and treat the tobacco with it by spraying. Place the processed tobacco in the jar and close the lid. After a couple of days we take it out, dry it to the desired humidity and try it. When purchasing hookah tobacco, we choose the flavors to suit our preferences.
  • 7. Another very simple way. We buy a pouch of tobacco (I respect Mak Baren zvar shag) at your discretion and mix it with your tobacco in a ratio of 1 to 15. Mix thoroughly and seal tightly. After a week you can smoke.
  • 8. The easiest option is to buy already flavored cartridges.
  • 9. You can try flavorings for electronic cigarettes. Dilute with water 1 to 10 and apply with a spray bottle. In this case, the smell will come more from the tobacco itself than from smoking.
Flavoring tobacco leaves black rowan

Saucing tobacco at home

To do this, take berries (whatever you like), fill them with water and put them on the fire. The water is evaporated to the consistency of a slightly thick concentrate. Next, honey and alcohol-containing drinks are added to this sauce. Everything is to your taste. Take a bowl, put preferably fermented tobacco leaves into it and fill it with our decoction. We put the whole thing under pressure and put it in a warm place for a couple of days.
After 24 hours, it is advisable to place our tobacco under a press or clamp it in a clamp and heat it at a temperature of 60-70 C for 5 hours. The next stage is cutting, drying in the oven and taking a sample.

In general, it is better to experiment with bags of different varieties than with flavoring tobacco. Well, here, as they say, curiosity and interest in trying something unusual takes over.

How to soften tobacco

P.S. Do not experiment with large batches of tobacco, as you may like the result, or you may be very disappointed. If you like something, then go for the larger batch.