The article offers you recipes for preparing blueberry blanks for the winter.
Blueberries are tasty and healthy taiga berries. Compared to others, it has a lot of advantages and an unusual taste: sweetness with slightly noticeable sourness. Blueberries are elastic berries, they easily hold their shape when preparing fillings for pies or dumplings.
You can also make different preparations for the winter from blueberries: jam, berries grated with sugar, compote, jelly and jam. Canned blueberries do not lose their useful qualities; they are perfect for morning toasts, fillings in muffins, pies, open pies, even cakes.
Before starting harvesting, it is important to know that blueberries should be sorted out before starting canning. During selection, fold back all spoiled berries:
- Beaten
- Leaked
- Dented
- Covered with mold
- Unripe (with a red tint)
IMPORTANT: If the berry is not sorted out and the spoiled berries are allowed in the jam, you risk spoiling not only the taste of the preparation, but also its shelf life.
Blueberries grated with sugar are the most useful and simple preparation that does not require a long cooking time, effort and heat treatment. All you need is a cooking sieve or blender, berries and sugar in whatever quantity you prefer.
In this case, sugar serves as a preservative, which allows you to preserve the berry. If you do not like very sweet preparations and add a little sugar, it is important to know that such blueberries cannot be stored for a very long time in the pantry. It should only be kept in the refrigerator.
You will need:
- Fresh blueberries - 1 kg. (selected)
- Sugar - 1 kg. (adjust the amount yourself, focusing on the preferred sweetness of the workpiece).
- Lemon acid - pinch
Preparation:
- It is important to rinse the blueberries with running water before starting work. It is convenient to do this in a large colander. Pay special attention to berries in the mud.
- Pour the sorted and washed berries on a towel, spreading it on the table. Spread the berry evenly and let it dry.
- After that, you should grind the berry through a sieve, but it is much easier to grind it with a modern blender into a homogeneous mass. In case of rubbing through a sieve, discard the cake.
- Pour the blueberry puree into a jar and add sugar, mix everything thoroughly, taste until the berry mass acquires the required sweetness.
- While adding sugar, add a pinch of citric acid. It stabilizes the acidity and also serves as a preservative that will not spoil the workpiece.
- Store sugar-grated blueberries in the refrigerator, cellar, or freeze in plastic bottles in the freezer.
IMPORTANT: Unlike blueberry jam or jam, which undergoes thermal processing, blueberries, grated with sugar, retain the maximum of their nutrients and absolutely all the vitamins that are present in a fresh berry. This is the advantage of this blank.
How to prepare grated blueberries with sugar? Raw blueberry jam without cooking: a recipe
"Raw" jam is something that does not process the berry with temperatures, allowing it to preserve the maximum amount of nutrients and nutrients, a beautiful elastic shape and fresh pristine taste. In addition, such a blank is easy to make and it does not take you much time, as well as effort.
Before starting the robots, it is important to carefully and very meticulously sort out all the berries, since you will not cook them and even one spoiled blueberry will ruin the whole taste and shelf life of the jam. After the berries are sorted out, rinse them thoroughly with running water and dry them on an outstretched towel.
You will need:
- Fresh blueberries - 700 g (approximately, you can add more or less, recipe for a liter jar).
- Water - 1 cup (purified or distilled, boiled)
- Sugar - 3 cups (you can reduce the amount of sugar, but no more than a glass, so the jam will turn out to be thinner and less sweet).
- Lemon acid - pinch
Preparation:
- While the berries are drying, you should prepare the sugar syrup.
- Put the saucepan on the stove and boil a glass of water, dissolve the sugar in it and stir until all the crystals melt, add citric acid.
- The preparation jar should be sterilized in the usual way (oven, steam, soda) and dried.
- Pour clean berries into a jar and fill them with ready-made hot syrup, roll up.
How to make delicious "raw" blueberry jam? How and how much to cook five-minute blueberry jam?
"Five Minute" is a universal recipe for making jam for any fruit, which allows you to prepare a berry deliciously, quickly and without loss of nutrients during prolonged boiling. "Five-minute" blueberry jam can become your favorite recipe for the winter, as as a result you get delicious jam with a delicate aroma, beautiful rich color.
- Fresh blueberries - 1 kg. (prepared)
- Sugar - 0.8-1 kg. (guided by your taste and add the required amount of sugar).
- Lemon acid - 1-2 pinches
- Cinnamon stick - to taste (you do not need to add it).
Cooking:
- The blueberries must be sorted out, removing all the spoiled berries and rinsing them with running water.
- Pour the blueberries into glass, enamel and plastic dishes (in iron ones, they will oxidize), add sugar and in this state you should leave the blueberries for at least 6 hours, and preferably overnight. So the berry will release the juice necessary for the correct "five-minute" jam.
- In the morning, put this dish on the fire (if this is not a saucepan or a basin, pour the berries into the required container).
- Make sure that the mass does not burn and therefore constantly stir it with a wooden spoon until it boils (you cannot use an iron one, all because of the same oxidation process).
- After boiling, cook the jam for no more than 5 minutes. At this time, do not forget to stir it, but very carefully so as not to damage the berries.
- Roll up blueberry "five-minute" jam only in sterile jars (sterilize in the usual way).
Delicious "five-minute" from blueberries How and how much to cook blueberry jam with blueberries?
Blueberry is another aromatic taiga berry that is very similar to blueberry. It differs in its small size (smaller than blueberries), darker color and brighter taste with sourness. Together with blueberries, it can be used to make delicious winter jams that will saturate you with plenty of nutrients and vitamins.
You will need (for 2 small jars):
- Fresh blueberries - 0.5 kg. (selected)
- Fresh blueberries - 0.5 kg. (selected)
- Lemon acid - pinch (1-2 to taste)
- Sugar - 0.5-1 kg. (taste and adjust sweetness yourself).
Cooking:
- The berries are moved from the spoiled and dented, washed with running water and poured into an enamel basin.
- There they should be covered with sugar in the preferred amount, depending on how sweet the jam you like. Add citric acid.
- Leave the pelvis for 7-8 hours. During this time, blueberries and blueberries will be juiced.
- After that, the bowl is put on fire and, stirring the mass, the jam should be brought to a boil.
- After boiling, the mass is kept on moderate heat for no more than 5 minutes.
- Let the jam cool completely (this will take about 3 hours).
- After that, boil it again, but do not keep it on fire, but immediately roll it up in the usual way.
Blueberry-blueberry "quick" jam for the winter Blueberry compote for the winter without sterilization: a recipe
Sterilization is the process of processing crockery for rolling preservation with high temperatures. That is why housewives boil jars in boiling water, keep them steamed or in the oven. At high temperatures, most bacteria die, as a result, the workpiece does not deteriorate and can be stored for a long time.
For compote for one 3-liter jar you will need:
- Fresh blueberries- 2 cups (approx. 400-500 g).
- Sugar- 1 glass (you can adjust the sweetness of the compote yourself).
- Slice of lemon- 1-2 pcs.
- Cinnamon stick(to taste, you may not add to the recipe).
Cooking:
- The berries should be sorted out before cooking, remove all spoiled or overripe berries (the fermentation process could have begun in them and this will spoil the taste of your compote, as well as its shelf life).
- Prepare a jar for compote, it should be washed with hot water and regular baking soda, it is she who will sterilize the jar and kill all pathogenic microbes.
- Pour the washed berries into the jar
- Boil the water (that's about 2.5 liters of water, you can boil more).
- Cover the berries with sugar and add a wedge of lemon
- Pour boiling water over the berries
- In this state, let the jar stand for 15-20 minutes, then drain the water without the fruit part and bring it to a boil again.
- Pour the compote over the berries and roll up the jar in the usual way.
How to make blueberry compote? Blueberry jam for the winter: a simple recipe
Blueberry jam is one of the most popular. It turns out to be very thick and aromatic, with a rich berry flavor. It is very convenient to spread this jam in a thick layer on toast or add to baked goods. You can supplement blueberries with any berries: blueberries, raspberries, currants, and so on.
You will need:
- Blueberries - 0.5 kg. (you can use fresh or frozen).
- Sugar - 700-800 g (to taste, more or less is possible).
- Lemon - several slices
- Gelatin - 1 pack (approx. 25-30 g.)
Cooking:
- If you use fresh blueberries, they should be sorted out and washed, and the spoiled ones should be discarded.
- If you use frozen berries, they should be frozen and the excess water drained (otherwise the jelly will be liquid).
- Pour gelatin in advance with cold water and let it swell, after half an hour of swelling, hold the gelatin over a steam bath and dissolve it, avoiding lumps.
- Sprinkle the blueberries with sugar, hold for 1-2 hours (more can be done, for example, overnight, if you cook with fresh berries).
- After the berries are juiced, you need to grind them in any way: blender, sieve, meat grinder.
- Put the berry mass on the fire and bring to a boil over low heat, do not forget to stir the jam so that it does not burn to the bottom.
- Pour the gelatin into the jam in a thin stream and mix everything, cook for another 15-20 minutes, so that the mass becomes thicker and boils down.
- Sterilize the jam jars in the usual way and roll up the hot jam.
Delicious blueberry jam Blueberry jelly for the winter without gelatin: a simple recipe
You can even make a thick jam or "jelly" from blueberries without the help of gelatin. To do this, you only need berries (preferably fresh) and a large amount of sugar, which will be the "astringent" substance and thickener.
You will need for 1 jar:
- Blueberry berries - 500 grams (fresh or melted ice cream)
- Sugar - 0.8-1 kg. (if there is little sugar, the jam will be liquid).
- Lemon acid - 1-2 pinches
Cooking:
- Blueberries should be washed and sorted
- The berries must be mashed in any of the ways.
- The berry mass should be mixed with citric acid and sugar, put on fire.
- After boiling the mass, reduce the heat and cook the jelly for 20-30 minutes, stirring regularly and avoiding burning.
- During this time, the mass will boil down and become thicker, roll the hot jelly into jars.
Blueberry jelly Blueberry jam for the winter: a recipe
Confiture is a blank, which in its structure is very similar to jam. Blueberry jam should be very smooth and should be sieved or chopped with a blender. In addition, the jam must have a stretching structure and therefore it is advisable to add agar-agar to the recipe.
You will need for 1 jar:
- Fresh blueberries - 2 glasses (with a slide)
- Sugar - several tablespoons taste
- Agar-agar - 1 tsp
Cooking:
- Wash and sort the berries thoroughly
- Selected and clean berries should be grated through a sieve into a homogeneous berry puree and discarded the cake (you can grind it with a blender).
- Put the berry mass on the fire, mix with sugar and start boiling.
- Add agar-agar powder and start cooking the jam
- After boiling the mass, the confiture should be cooked over moderate heat for 5 minutes.
- Roll up the hot blueberry jam in the usual way.
How to make blueberry jam? Blueberries: how to keep them fresh for the winter?
Blueberries are a berry full of useful vitamins, which are especially necessary for a person in winter and during colds. There are several ways to save the berry until winter:
- In the form of a blank: jam, jam, jelly, confiture
- Dry in the sun or in a special dryer for berries and fruits
- Grind with sugar (sugar will prevent the berry from spoiling)
- To freeze
Blueberries: how to freeze for the winter?
Freezing blueberries is easy, but it's important to get it right:
- Carefully sort out the berry, discarding all the spoiled ones.
- Rinse the berry thoroughly, preferably letting it dry on a towel.
- Place the berries in plastic bags or food containers.
- Send blueberries to the freezer, use within 1-1.5 years.
Video: "Blueberry compote for the winter"
Blueberry berries and juice from them are considered dietary products that enhance metabolic processes in the body, help lower blood sugar, strengthen blood vessels, and normalize the functioning of the heart and digestive organs. Blueberries are eaten raw and are prepared for the winter: preserves, compotes, jams, jellies, as well as wine. Often blended with berries of a more pronounced taste (lingonberry, cranberry).
You should choose dry, hard, unbroken berries with a uniform blue bloom. Blueberries must be clean, free from mold and damage. It is better to sort out the berries, rejecting unripe and rumpled fruits. For freezing, they are rinsed with cold water and dried on a flat surface.
What can you cook with blueberries for the winter?
There are a myriad of blueberry recipes for long-term storage. In addition to freezing, it is dried and boiled with sugar.
In order for the fruits to retain their beneficial properties, they can be dried by pouring them into trays in a thin layer. They are placed in the sun to dry up the berries, then in the shade until they are completely dry. During this time, the blueberries are turned over several times.
The fruits are also dried in the oven - they are laid out on baking sheets, turned on at 40 degrees and the door is slightly opened. The berries are stirred periodically. Leaves can be dried in the same way. Dried berries can be used to make a pie or brew it with tea.
Frozen blueberries
Prepared fresh berries are packed in bags and placed in the freezer.
You can first freeze blueberries in bulk on a tray, and then pour them into a bag and store in the refrigerator at sub-zero temperatures. Then the berries will not freeze in one lump, but will be crumbly.
You can freeze not only whole fruits, but also chopped in a blender with sugar (in equal parts).
Jam
So that not all vitamins are destroyed during cooking, it is better to cook the jam not for long - 5-10 minutes. It is best to do this in a copper or enamel bowl. Its shape allows you to quickly heat all the fruits. To improve the taste, some of the blueberries can be replaced with blueberries, sea buckthorn or strawberries can be added. For cooking you need to prepare:
- blueberries - 1 kg;
- granulated sugar - 800 g;
- cold water - 200 ml.
Sort the berries, rinse, drain the water. Then the syrup is boiled. Pour the boiling mixture over the berries and let stand for 30-40 minutes. Then put the basin on the fire and cook for 12-14 minutes. Pour hot ready-made jam into jars. Close with scalded lids and turn over until completely cooled.
Jam in 5 minutes
For this dessert take:
- blueberries - 1 kg;
- granulated sugar - 1 kg.
Cover the berries with sand and leave for several hours so that they let the juice flow, and the sugar is partially or completely dissolved. Then put on fire and cook for five minutes from the moment of boiling over medium heat. Then the basin is set aside for three hours and the mass is allowed to boil again. Hot poured into jars and closed with pre-scalded lids.
Blueberry jam with honey
For this recipe you need to take:
- blueberries - 1 kg;
- honey - 200 ml;
- rum - 30 ml.
The berries are heated over medium heat until they let out the juice. The honey is melted and added to the berry. Then bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Then add rum, stir and remove from heat. The jam is poured hot into jars, turned over and cooled.
Blueberry jam with raspberries
From the ingredients you will need:
- blueberries - 250 g;
- raspberries - 750 g;
- sugar - 1.2 kg.
First, a syrup is prepared from sugar and 0.5 liters of water. They are poured with a berry and wait until it cools completely. Then bring to a boil and cook for 5-7 minutes. The jam is laid out in jars, sterilized and hermetically sealed.
To prepare this dessert, take a liter jar of berries and the same amount of sand. When the blueberries let out the juice, they are periodically stirred until the sugar is completely dissolved. After a day, the mass is poured into pasteurized jars. Store in a cool place.
With this method, all vitamins are preserved, unlike jam.
Compote
Take for a three-liter jar:
- blueberries - 1 l;
- sugar - 250 g;
- water - 2 l.
Berries are poured into a jar, poured with hot syrup and rolled up. Turn it upside down, cool and put the workpiece in a refrigerator or cellar.
Blueberry compote with blackberries
Take for a three-liter jar:
- blueberries - 1 kg;
- blackberries - 0.5 kg;
- sugar - 1.5 tbsp.;
- citric acid - 10 g;
- water - until the jar is full.
Hot water is poured into a jar with fruits, then it is poured into a saucepan, sugar and citric acid are added, syrup is boiled. The berries are poured hot and pasteurized for 20 minutes. Roll up and store at room temperature.
Paste
Pastila can be cooked with or without sugar. For the last recipe, you only need to grind the berries with a blender or meat grinder, put the mass on a pallet covered with oiled paper, level the mass and expose it to the sun. When it grabs, you can turn it over. Dried pastille can be hung until completely dry.
If this is not possible, then the mass can be dried in the oven at 90 degrees and the door ajar. The finished marshmallow, while it is still warm, is rolled up into a tube, sprinkled with powdered sugar. If it sticks to the paper, then the latter is sprayed with water to make it easier to remove.
The finished marshmallow is stored in a jar with a lid in the refrigerator for no more than a month or frozen.
Pastila with sugar
To prepare such a marshmallow you will need:
- sugar - 200 g;
- blueberries - 1 kg.
The berries are mashed with a blender or meat grinder, sugar is added, mixed until it is completely dissolved and sent to dry.
Blueberry juice with pulp
Ripe blueberries are sorted out, washed, kneaded. The remaining pulp is squeezed out under pressure. The pomace is lightly poured with boiling water and squeezed again. The juices of both extracts are mixed, heated to 65-75 degrees. Then add the syrup:
- sugar (400 g);
- water (600 ml).
Heated the second time to 85 degrees and poured into dry clean bottles or jars. Pasteurized for 20 minutes. If you need juice without pulp, then it is filtered through a three-layer gauze.
According to another recipe, the berries are passed through a meat grinder or press, the juice is drained and boiled for 10 minutes, the syrup is added and the same amount is boiled. Then it is poured into bottles or cans, sterilized, closed and cooled. This juice can be stored at room temperature.
Liquor
For liquor you will need to take:
- sugar - 400 g;
- vodka - 500 g;
- berries - 500 g.
The berries crushed with a blender or meat grinder are placed in glassware and poured with vodka. After 4-5 days, it is filtered, sugar is added and heated without boiling until the sugar is completely dissolved. The blueberry liqueur is then bottled and corked.
Wine
Wine is prepared by natural fermentation. Unwashed berries are kneaded with sugar and left for 3-4 days to ferment at room temperature, stirring once a day. When foam and a sour smell appear, a water seal is inserted into the neck and left for another 30-35 days in a dark place. When the mass stops foaming, it is filtered, bottled and hermetically sealed. Kept in a cold place for another 3-6 months.
Another recipe consists of the following ingredients:
- blueberries - 5 kg;
- unwashed raisins - 100 g;
- citric acid - 20 g;
- sugar - 2 kg;
- water - 5 l.
Raisins are taken as a safety net if there is little "wild" yeast in blueberries, for example, washed away by rains. Citric acid promotes fermentation, maintaining the acidity of the wort and further storage.
Unwashed mashed berries are mixed with 500 g of sugar and the rest of the ingredients in a bowl with a wide neck. After 3-4 days, filter the liquid into a fermentation vessel so that at least a quarter of the volume remains free. The pomace is thrown away. Add 500 g of sugar, mix, put a water seal and leave at room temperature.
After 4-5 days, a glass of liquid is drained from the container, 500 g of sugar is dissolved in it and poured back. After another 4-5 days, the procedure is repeated. When the fermentation process is over (after 40-60 days) the wine becomes light, a sediment forms at the bottom. The liquid is drained using a tube without touching the sediment.
If after 60 days the wine is still fermenting, then it must be drained from the sediment and left under a water seal at the same temperature.
At this stage, the wine is tasted if sugar and alcohol are added. The wine is kept in the refrigerator (basement) for another 3-6 months. The finished wine turns out to be 5 liters, the strength is 10-12%.
Confiture
To prepare it you will need:
- frozen or fresh blueberries - 600 g;
- lemon - ½;
- sugar - 200 g;
- pectin - 20 g.
The berries are mixed with sugar, half a lemon is squeezed, pectin is added. After 30 minutes, stir and put in a bread maker for 1 hour in the appropriate mode. If this unit is not there, then the berries are boiled with a little water for 10 minutes. Then rubbed through a sieve.
Jelly
For jelly take:
- water - 1 l;
- sugar - 1 tbsp.;
- gelatin - 2 dec. l .;
- blueberry juice - 1 tbsp.
Gelatin is soaked in cold water. Then the syrup is boiled, juice and gelatin are added to it, poured into bowls and refrigerated for 4-5 hours.
For this recipe take:
- berries - 1 l;
- sugar - 1 l.
The berries are crushed with a blender or meat grinder, sugar is added, mixed and left for 2 hours, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. The mass is poured into clean dry jars and stored in the refrigerator.
Storage features
It is best to store jars with blanks in cellars or refrigerators. If the jam is acidic or mold has appeared, then it must be carefully collected, and the jam must be digested with the addition of sugar. If it fermented, then you can put it on wine.
The collected fruits are sorted out from debris, twigs and leaves. Transfer the berries to a colander and then dip it into a large pot of cool water. The water is changed, and the procedure is repeated 2-3 more times. The standard method of washing under the tap is not suitable in this case, as blueberries can fall apart under the pressure of water.
Clean berries are left for 15-20 minutes in a colander, allowing the remaining liquid to drain completely. If desired, blueberries can be laid out in one layer on a paper towel, but in our opinion, this is already superfluous.
Delicious Jam Recipes
The easiest and fastest option
The first step is to cook the syrup. To prepare it, take a glass of water and 7 glasses of sugar. The ingredients are mixed and cooked on the stove for 5-7 minutes. 5 glasses of blueberries are placed in the boiling solution. The berries are pre-washed, sorted and dried.
Cook the jam over medium heat for a quarter of an hour. The workpiece is constantly stirred so that the berries are boiled more evenly, and the foam is removed with a spoon.
While the stove is working, cans are prepared for twisting. They are first washed and then sterilized over steam. In addition to steam processing, cans can be sterilized in a microwave, oven or dishwasher. Read the details.
The jam is packaged immediately after the fire is turned off. Hot jam in jars is covered with lids, and after cooling, they are removed underground or in the refrigerator.
Five minutes
For this jam, you only need berries and sugar in equal proportions. Place the blueberries in a wide-bottomed bowl or pan (you can also use a skillet with high sides) and sprinkle with sugar. Shake the bowl lightly, cover it with a lid and put it in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours. During this time, the berry will give off a lot of juice, the sugar will partially dissolve, and the blueberry itself will be almost completely immersed in the sweet syrup.
Soaked in their own candied juice, blueberries require very little cooking time, literally 5 minutes after boiling. The five-minute jam, due to the rapid boiling of berries, retains the maximum amount of vitamins.
Thick jam
Blueberries (1 kilogram) are covered with 1.5 kilograms of sugar, and the berries are crushed with a potato crush. They are not very zealous, the main thing is that at least 1/3 of the berries have a broken integrity. The pan with the products is set aside for half an hour for juicing.
After that, they start cooking. To get a thick blueberry jam, no water is added to the berries, and cooking is carried out for 15-20 minutes at the minimum heating power of the burner.
Channel "India Ayurveda" will tell in detail about the preparation of jam-jam from forest or garden blueberries
"Live" jam
In order to preserve the beneficial substances in the berry, they completely refuse to boil blueberries on fire. It is ground with sugar in equal proportions, and frozen. To grind the fruit, use a blender, meat grinder or wooden crush. For freezing, you can use food grade plastic containers or special disposable freezer containers.
Frozen blueberry
If a lot of blueberries were collected, and some of them were stored in the freezer, then in winter, when there is more free time, you can cook jam from frozen berries.
Read about the methods and options for self-freezing blueberries.
When cooking jam, blueberries, without defrosting, are placed in boiling sugar syrup. It is cooked from 150 milliliters of water and 1.2 kilograms of sugar. Frozen berries will need 1 kilogram. Cooking time after boiling is 15 minutes.
With gelatin
This jam can be called jelly jam. It turns out to be very delicate in consistency. For cooking, you will need fresh blueberries - a pound, 25 grams of edible gelatin, 700 grams of sugar and the juice of half a lemon. Freshly squeezed lemon juice can be replaced with the ready-made Lemon Juice product sold in stores.
The blueberries are poured with water so that the fruits are completely immersed in the liquid, but do not float in it. Bring the blueberries to a boil over medium heat and cook for no more than 2 minutes. The melted berries, together with the broth, are thrown onto a sieve. The blueberries are rubbed through a wire rack, and the cake is left to be steeped in tea.
While the blueberry juice cools down, dilute gelatin powder in two tablespoons of cold boiled water. A gelatinous mass is introduced into slightly cooled berries, and everything is thoroughly mixed. Then add the juice of half a lemon or 2 tablespoons of the finished product. The mass is filtered again to make sure that there are no pieces of gelatin that have not dissolved or accidentally gotten lemon seeds.
At the final stage, the jam is packed in small clean jars, which can be pre-sterilized. In this recipe, the workpiece is completely sterilized in a water bath. The details of this process and the sterilization time for cans of different displacement are described.
How to diversify jam
You can combine blueberries in all the recipes presented with other berries. Wild strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries are best. They partially replace the original amount of blueberries.
Ground cinnamon, vanilla sugar, or ginger powder are used as spices. When cooking jam, cinnamon sticks are also put in a saucepan, but before packing in jars, the spice must be removed.
How to store the workpiece
There are no special secrets for storing blueberry jam. The thermally processed billet is stored underground or in the basement for no more than 1 year, and live jam is stored in the freezer. The term of realization of the frozen product is 8-10 months.
In addition to blueberry jam, they prepare delicious, tender and various varieties.
For the winter, you can cook both ready-made products from berries and semi-finished products. The second ones in the cold season are perfect for boiling or jelly, and will also be indispensable for homemade fruit drinks and as a filling for pies. First of all, let's consider such an option as blueberries in their own juice. The cooking process is not difficult, and from the ingredients you only need a pound of sugar per 1 kilogram of berries, which must first be sorted out and washed in a colander.
Blueberry pie filling
Separate the crumpled berries in a fifth of the total volume of blueberries and press into a gruel. We mix the resulting mass with the rest of the fruits, add sugar and mix thoroughly (for this it is best to use a wooden spoon or spatula). Next, put the container with berries in juice on the stove and light a small fire. Bringing to a boil and then simmering for up to 5 minutes, remove the pan from the gas and pour the contents into the jars. We put the filled container for sterilization in another pan or high basin, for liter containers we count half an hour, and for smaller or larger ones, we decrease or increase the blanching time by 10 minutes for every half liter.
If you have an abundance of blueberries, recipes for the winter can be done without boiling at all. In particular, fresh berries can be dried quickly and cost-effectively. To do this, wash them in running water and let it drain by placing the blueberries in a sieve, which we then put on a baking sheet in a preheated oven. We do not close the door, make the gas small, shake the berries from time to time so that the moisture from them evaporates evenly. You can save the resulting semi-finished product in a box or bag right in the kitchen cabinet, and to use it, just put the blueberries in water so that it swells slightly. Then you can use the fruits in compote or as a filling for dumplings and pies.
Blueberry berries
There are other recipes available at no cost, such as sugar-free berries. Apart from them, you do not need anything, not even water. To begin with, we take some of the fruits and squeeze juice from them, which should be at least a glass. The process is simple, but laborious: first, grind the blueberries through a strainer, and then put the resulting gruel without the peel into a gauze bag and squeeze it out. The cake can then be put in a compote or blueberry jelly, and the juice is poured into a saucepan, we put a kilogram of berries there and, boiling it, cook for 5 minutes. Then we pour the finished product into jars and close. Adding sugar to the open twist in winter, we get jam, and if we also dilute it with water, there will be compote.
The following recipes, by which you will learn how else you can cook and save blueberries for the winter, are offered to those who love products similar to it. Let's start with the most liquid option - jam. To cook this delicacy, for every 500 grams of blueberries, you will need a glass of sugar (with a slide), half a lemon and about 15 grams of pectin, preferably in powder. First, the washed berries are placed in a saucepan and sprinkled with sugar until all the raw materials are completely depleted.
Berry jam
Then, when the juice appears, squeeze half a lemon into the same container through cheesecloth and pour the pectin. We send the zest to the compote from the remnants of berries and fruits. Leave the resulting mixture for about half an hour to get more juice from the berries, and then put the pan on a low heat. Cooking time depends on how many blueberries you cook at a time and how juicy the berries are in the harvest. In any case, you need to cook until the mass thickens. All that remains is to pour the hot jam into sterilized jars and tighten with metal lids. Turn the container upside down and cover it with something warm for gradual cooling.
If you do not have the opportunity to buy pectin, you can get a product with a high content of it by boiling the pomace of berries and fruit cores, cooling the strained broth in the refrigerator and waiting for it to thicken.
Pectin for thickening
For jam, we take blueberries, sugar and water in equal proportions, that is, a kilogram of berries will require the same amount of sand and a liter of water. We put the sorted out, washed in running water and dried fruits in sugar syrup from a fifth of the sugar and the entire volume of water specified in the recipe. Since the sweet solution is already boiling, when we immerse the berries in it, we simply boil them for 10 minutes, and then pour out all the remaining sugar. The brew must be constantly stirred, while trying not to damage the berries. The jam is ready when it thickens, and the drop will not spread on the plate. If you add a pinch of citric acid, the product will last longer. Put the jam in jars and close tightly.
To make a marshmallow at home, you will need only 600 grams of granulated sugar per kilo of berries. After thoroughly rinsing and sorting, put the berries in a saucepan and heat in a water bath (so as not to burn) until they soften. Next, you need to crush the blueberries in a sieve, getting a gruel at the exit without peel and seeds. Add sugar and put on gas again, now without a water bath, cook until a very thick mass is obtained, stirring constantly. We put the pastila in containers with lids and put it in a cool cellar.
Many ways blueberries can be prepared have been described here, but the traditional spinning recipes for the winter have been left for last. Compote is not very popular today, so we will consider ordinary jam. For him we take a quarter of a liter of water and one kilo of berries and sugar each. The latter is sent to water heating on a fire and boil the syrup. We wash the berries and carefully sort them. The sugar solution should become thick enough, so stir occasionally so that it does not burn to the bottom and sides of the pan.
Blueberry jam
When the syrup is ready, remove the container from the stove and wait for the thick sweet mass to cool. Then we take the already dried berries and immerse them in a sugar solution, after which we put them on the fire again. When bubbles appear, we begin to stir regularly (it is best to use a wooden spoon or spatula), and so we cook for no more than half an hour so that the berries do not become sour. Then quickly pour into jars and close.
Making sugar syrup
Recipes of berries grated with sugar are no less popular. Next, we will tell you how blueberries are prepared for the winter with granulated sugar and completely without cooking. We take ripe washed fruits and the same amount of sugar by weight, that is, in a 1: 1 ratio. The classic option is to crush the berries and then grind them through a strainer. But you can cope with the task faster by chopping the blueberries in a blender, however, in this case, fragments of the skin and seeds will be mixed with the pulp. Regardless of the way the fruit is processed, they should be thoroughly mixed with sugar and left for 15-20 minutes to allow it to dissolve. We sterilize the cans and, while they are hot, put the finished mass inside, and immediately roll it up for the winter.
And finally, let's move on to a very interesting recipe and learn how to make homemade blueberry wine. We crush the berries with an ordinary wooden crush, which we need about 4 kilograms. Carefully put them in a large 10 liter bottle, pour 2 liters of water there and, tightening the neck with gauze, put them in a warm and dark place for 5 days. Then you need to strain the resulting tincture through several layers of gauze, discard the berries, and pour the liquid into a bottle. Pour 1.5 kilos of sugar and 300 grams of lime honey, dissolved in 1.5 liters of water, there.
Homemade blueberry wine
We plug our container with a rubber stopper with a tube from a dropper passed through it (through a pre-made small hole), the other end of which is inserted into the lid of a can of water, dropping to the bottom. In the same lid we make another hole for the air outlet. All this is necessary so that the wine does not resemble compote. We leave it for a month and a half in a dark place, then pour out the water from the jar and fill it with fresh water. We remove the bottle again, now in a cool place and for 2 months. After this period, it remains only to pour the wine into bottles and seal tightly.
I don’t know about you, dear hostesses, but I meet the berry harvest season fully armed. Some berries are already frozen and are waiting for winter. Jam and compotes are rolled up in jars. This is not a problem, because in the markets and from private traders you can buy a wide variety of berries. She is now the most ripe and I would like, of course, to stock up on both. Of course, you can't buy everything and prepare it for future use, but 2-3 small jars of different jams can be quite affordable.
Today we will cook blueberries for the winter, as they are very tasty and healthy.
Why is blueberry useful and harmful?
You should know that in folk medicine, fresh, dried berries are used as a mild diuretic, choleretic, anti-inflammatory agent.
Forest blueberry has a beneficial effect on digestion, is used in the treatment of pancreas, heart and stomach diseases. It is recommended to use it as a prophylaxis of atherosclerosis, in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. It has the ability to strengthen the walls of blood vessels, has a beneficial effect on the human nervous system.
Fresh wild berries are considered an effective antimicrobial agent, so they are used to fight many infectious diseases, such as dysentery.
However, the vitamins in its composition can cause irritation, itching of the skin and even a runny nose. It is dangerous for babies with diathesis, therefore it should not be eaten when feeding a baby.
In large quantities, the berry provokes a laxative effect, flatulence.
How to choose a berry suitable for harvesting?
Before you decide to buy a berry on the market, take a little advice:
Remember that the berries no longer ripen after harvest. This is not a ripe banana during transportation ... Therefore, do not take unripe, reddish ones. Blueberries should be ripe, blue in color, strong and not tainted. Don't buy wrinkled, watery, sapy, or moldy berries. They won't do much good.
Well, now, let's start harvesting berries for future use, and let's start, perhaps, with jam:
Blueberry jam for the winter
For cooking, we need 1 kg of fresh forest blueberries (you can, of course, use garden blueberries, just forest blueberries are healthier), 4 glasses of granulated sugar.
How to cook:
Sort out the berries, remove the leaves, stalks, spoiled, unripe berries. Put in a colander, rinse thoroughly with running water. While the remaining water is draining, prepare the syrup:
Pour 1 glass of clean water into an enamel bowl where you will cook the jam, add all the sugar, mix well, boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula. Remove the prepared syrup from the stove, wait until it cools.
Dip the prepared blueberries in the cooled syrup, place them on the stove and heat over low heat until they begin to simmer. Stirring constantly, cook the jam for about 20-30 minutes. Then, hot, pour into sterilized jars, roll up.
Blueberries in sugar
For this recipe, when the berry remains practically fresh, since it is not cooked for a long time, you will need: 1 kg of blueberries, 4 glasses of sugar.
How to cook:
Sort the berries, wash, dry, as in the previous recipe. Put them in an enamel bowl, slightly crush them with a wooden crush, so that only the integrity of the skin is broken. Now, with constant stirring, heat everything to a hot state (65-70 ° C), add sugar, stir gently, bring to a boil, but do not boil.
Transfer the hot berry mixture to sterilized jars, boil them for 15-20 minutes, roll up.
Berries with sugar (pureed)
For cooking you will need: 1 kg of berries, 4-5 glasses of sugar.
How to cook:
Grind the prepared, washed berries with a blender, put in a bowl, cover with sugar, mix. Leave it warm for a couple of hours to let the juice stand out. While the berries are "infused", wash and boil the jars. In still hot, spread the grated berry, roll up. Since the berries in the jars remain almost fresh after cooling, store them in the refrigerator (while it is warm outside), and when it gets cooler, you can store them in the cellar, basement or other cold place at home.
Freezing fresh blueberries for the winter
Many people consider this method of saving for future use to be the best. And indeed it is. Frozen berries retain all their beneficial properties inherent in fresh ones, just picked from the forest.
How to freeze blueberries:
It is unnecessary to wash them before freezing, otherwise the skin will turn out to be too tough. Then, when you want to defrost them, take out a portion and rinse with water.
And now just sort them out, remove the stale, "spread" ones. Put in an even layer in a plastic container, close it with a lid, place in the freezer.
How to dry fresh berries?
It couldn't be easier. In general, I consider this method of preparation for future use the most convenient. The product does not take up space in the refrigerator, dried blueberries can be stored in a cabinet by placing them in glass jars. The berries retain all the useful properties, and you can make them almost fresh by simply flooding them with water for a while to swell.
How to cook:
Sort the berries, put them on a large sieve, mark on a baking sheet, dry in the oven for 5-6 hours, at a temperature of 40-60 degrees. Shake them gently from time to time, try not to damage. Keep the oven door slightly ajar.
In winter, use dry blueberries for making pies, all kinds of fillings, and simply add to tea. Bon Appetit!