Ripe Berries
Sea buckthorn berries are ripe in August/September. If you pick a yellow berry and taste it, you'll find it very sour and puckering. The darker, more orange berries are ripe. Sea buckthorn berries need frost before the birds eat them.
Sea buckthorn has a special strategy. The berries are meant to be eaten by birds so that winter and migratory birds can spread the seeds far and wide. Therefore, the tasty sea buckthorn berries become easier to pick only after the first frost.
Picking Sea Buckthorn
You can easily pick sea buckthorn from August/September. When picking the berries, grasp the berry's stem with your nail and pinch it off. Alternatively, you can use scissors to cut off a bunch. Sea buckthorn branches all end in thorny tips, so it's a good idea to wear long sleeves and perhaps gloves.
Health Benefits
Sea buckthorn is known as a superfood due to its extremely high content of vitamins, antioxidants, nutrients, and organic acids. It contains over 190 bioactive compounds that nourish the body both inside and out.
Sea buckthorn has been recognized as a superfood since ancient times, from Greece to China and Tibet. In fact, sea buckthorn juice was a national drink for China during the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
High Vitamin C Content
Sea buckthorn is packed with vitamin C. There is 15 times more vitamin C in a gram of sea buckthorn than in a gram of lemon.
Sea buckthorn also contains the highest concentration of the rare and very healthy omega-7 fatty acids among all plants. This makes sea buckthorn the best plant-based source of omega-7, a fatty acid normally found in fish and fish oil.
Additionally, sea buckthorn is rich in vitamin A and antioxidants, which are beneficial for eye health.
Sea Buckthorn Recipes
There are many excellent recipes for sea buckthorn jam, juice, energy drinks, or syrup available online. Try searching to find your favorite recipe.