The soft taste of blueberries makes this berry one of the most beloved by children and adults. Ripe berries contain sugars, organic acids, carotene and ascorbic acid. Blueberries are not only tasty, but also very useful: strengthens vision and the immune system, heals gastrointestinal disorders.
Of course, it is best to eat fresh berries, since it is in a fresh product that all vitamins and nutrients are stored. But you can’t store the berry for a long time, so it is processed for the winter and stored in the form of jams, jam, jam, sauce, jelly, marmalade, compote. Blueberries can be dried and frozen. With minimal heat treatment, many useful substances can be saved in blueberry blanks.
Blueberry blanks - general cooking principles
Blueberries ripen by mid-summer, pick it until August. For winter harvesting, a fully ripe berry is used. It needs to be sorted out, freed from garbage, washed with cold water. After a simple preparation, you can start processing blueberries according to the recipes of the blanks.
Glass jars in which the prepared product will be stored must be sterilized over steam for 15-20 minutes (depending on the volume of the container). Metal lids need to be boiled. Corked cans cool in the same way as other blanks: upside down under a warm old blanket or rug.
Blueberry jam
Blueberries contain pectin, so it makes a wonderful thick jam. You can cook it very quickly, and you will need a minimum of ingredients. The taste of jam is natural, the texture is pleasant and quite dense.
Ingredients:
• two kilograms of ripe blueberries;
• kilogram of white sugar.
Cooking method:
Prepared clean blueberries in a saucepan for cooking. It’s good if she has a non-stick coating.
Pour sugar into the berry, mix gently.
Immediately put on the fire, without waiting for the moment when the berry starts juice.
You do not need to add water, otherwise the jam will turn out to be watery, liquid.
Heat the berry over medium heat. As soon as the bottom of the pan warms up, blueberry juice will stand out.
Make the fire minimal and boil blueberries for two hours. The consistency of jam should be very thick.
When the foam appears on the surface, it must be removed.
As soon as the mass has thickened, the jam is ready.
If desired, it can be mashed using a submersible blender to get a more uniform and thick mass.
Arrange the hot jam in clean, sterilized jars, seal and cool.
Mashed blueberries with sugar
Bilberry billets that do not require heat treatment are of great benefit. The simplest option is to simply grind the berry with sugar. From the specified number of ingredients, 3.5 liters of the finished mass will be obtained. Tasty and healthy!
Ingredients:
• three kilograms of ripe blueberries;
• two kilograms of white sugar.
Cooking method:
Put the washed berry in the bowl.
Puree blueberries in any way: grind in a blender, meat grinder or just crush with a rolling pin.
Pour sugar into the berry and mix.
Put containers with crushed blueberries for 6-8 hours (you can at night). Sugar must dissolve.
Arrange blueberries with sugar in clean, sterilized jars, cover with boiled lids and seal.
Store in the cold.
Blueberry Jelly for the Winter "Lemon Cinnamon"
Homemade blueberry recipes must include jelly - delicious, fragrant, beautiful, and extremely easy to make. It is not necessary to add spices to it if the aroma of cinnamon or nutmeg is not pleasant. But with them the finished product gets a very pleasant warm touch.
Ingredients:
• six glasses of ripe blueberries;
• four glasses of sugar;
• one lemon;
• half a teaspoon of nutmeg;
• a teaspoon of cinnamon.
Cooking method:
Put washed blueberries in a cooking pot. It’s good if the bottom of the dishes is thick.
Mash the berries with a mortar or the end of a rolling pin.
Pour the blueberries with sugar, mix.
Turn on medium heat, send pan to heat.
Bring the mass to a boil.
Squeeze juice out of lemon.
Remove the zest from the crusts using a fine grater.
Pour the juice and put the zest in the boiled syrup.
Simmer for about 20 minutes, waiting for the moment when the mass begins to thicken.
In the process of cooking, be sure to stir the future jelly, otherwise it will burn.
As soon as the mass is thickened, pour it into prepared jars, cork and send under the blanket - cool off.
Blueberry compote
Blueberry recipes necessarily include a very healthy and unusually tasty vitamin compote. The amount of ingredients is indicated on a three-liter jar.
Ingredients:
• three glasses of blueberries;
• one and a half glasses of sugar.
Cooking method:
Wash cans with soda and rinse thoroughly with water.
Boil the lids.
Sort blueberries, wash and pour into a jar.
Send water (three liters per can) to the fire until it boils. It is very convenient to boil water in a large kettle.
Boil blueberries with boiling water, cover with a lid and leave to warm for 15 minutes.
Drain and send to the fire again.
Pour sugar in a jar, cover with a lid.
When the water boils a second time, pour the berry and cork the jar.
Turn over and cool under the covers.
Keep the workpiece in the cold.
Canned Blueberries Without Sugar
For the winter you can make blueberry blanks without sugar. Here is a simple berry preservation option that preserves the natural taste of a natural product. The approximate number of berries is indicated. You can harvest as much as you need to preserve.
Ingredients:
• two kilograms of blueberries.
Cooking method:
Rinse berries without debris, twigs and leaves in several waters.
Banks to sterilize.
Arrange the berry in prepared hot jars, cover with metal lids.
Pour water into a wide pot, put an old kitchen towel on the bottom, bring the water to a boil.
Carefully draw jars of blueberries into boiling water so as to fill the workpiece to the neck.
Sterilize for 20 minutes.
Roll up banks, cool and store in the cold.
Seams of covers can be filled with molten wax or paraffin.
Blueberry and apple marmalade
A delicious aromatic marmalade will be a favorite useful treat for the whole family. For such a billet of blueberries, apples and some citric acid are needed.
Ingredients:
• a pound of blueberries;
• a pound of apples without a core and peel;
• seven hundred grams of granulated sugar;
• two grams of citric acid.
Cooking method:
Peel and peel the apples, cut into small slices.
Put apple slices in a pan, pour in a little water and simmer for 15 minutes.
Puree apples with a blender or mortar.
Rinse and crush blueberries with a rolling pin, a mortar or puree in a blender.
Put blueberry puree in a pan and cook for 15 minutes.
Combine apples and blueberries, put on a slow fire.
When the mass boils, boil it for five minutes.
Pour a quarter of sugar, mix, cook for another five minutes.
In portions, in three doses, introduce the remaining sugar.
Dissolve citric acid in a small amount of water.
Introduce citric acid with the last portion of sugar, mix thoroughly.
Arrange the mass in sterilized jars, roll up hot and cool.
Store in a cold place.
Five-minute blueberry jam
The classic recipe for billet blueberries is jam. To maintain the maximum amount of vitamins, it needs to be cooked for only five minutes.
Ingredients:
• one and a half kilograms of blueberries;
• kilogram of sugar.
Cooking method:
Rinse the berries and dry a little on a towel.
Put blueberries in a saucepan, if possible with a thick bottom.
Sprinkle the berries with sugar and leave for three to four hours to give juice.
Put the pot on a small fire.
Wait for boiling, stirring the syrup constantly.
To remove the appeared foam.
When the jam boils, pinpoint five minutes.
Pour hot jam into clean, sterilized jars and seal.
Store in the cold.
Blueberry blanks - tricks and tips
If the recipe needs mashed blueberries, it can be mashed with a mixer. In order not to splatter the kitchen, the berry must first be crushed a little with a rolling pin or spoon.
It is possible to use any metal covers, including screw ones, for winter preparation. They must be boiled, otherwise the product may become acidic.
A very good option for preserving the freshness and benefits of blueberries for the winter is freezing. The berry needs to be prepared in the same way as for hot harvesting. Be sure to dry on a paper or cloth towel. Put in a plastic container and send to the freezer.
Another option is to freeze clean dry blueberries on a large dish or wooden board, and then pour them into plastic bags and put in the freezer.
You can freeze blueberries with sugar or honey. To do this, put the berries in a plastic container, cover with sugar or pour liquid honey, cover with a lid and send to the freezer.
Another great method is drying. Blueberries can be dried in the sun or at home using an oven. The berry must be laid out on a leaf in a thin layer and dried with the oven door open at 50 degrees. From time to time, blueberries need to be shaken or mixed by hand. For storage, send dried berries to a linen bag and store it in a cool, dry room.
Compote, infusions, decoctions can be made from frozen or dried blueberries. Or just add to tea to taste.
