In early autumn, red barberry beads gleam in the sun with an amber shine along the mountain paths of the Small Balkhan Mountains. The fruits are ready to be harvested – it is time to store the vitamin tea collection. They taste sour, but they are of great value for maintaining appetite, they have immune-stimulating properties; according to pharmacists, they can lower blood pressure and improve the circulatory system. From these small berries one can make jam, compote, syrup, or tincture.

Barberries in the wild can grow everywhere within the middle mountains of the country, including the slopes of the Balkhan Mountains – Small and Great. Recently, they have been trying to grow it for landscaping purposes in a cultural form in irrigated plantations, including land plots of the Landscaping Directorate of the communal services of the administrative centre of the Balkan velayat. However, it is the mountain barberry that accumulates the most healing “powers for health” and, picked in natural conditions, is especially valuable.