Jellies, jams, preserves, pickles … You can buy them all, but why? Home-made preserves are tastier and retain more vitamins, because we prepare them from fresh fruit and vegetables, and we also decide on the taste and amount of spices added to pickles, marinades, preserves or jams.
Sugar, s alt, vinegar, high or low temperature - these are the methods of preservingpreserves . Find out which fruits and vegetables are best forsilage , what to do to keep marinades fresh longer, where to dry fruit and vegetables, and thicken jams and preserves .
Pickles
Marinated pears, plums or gherkins have little nutritional value. Acetic acid is irritating to the digestive tract and destroys red blood cells. That is why marinades can only be used as an addition to dishes. They are not given to children, convalescents, people who have problems with the digestive tract.
- Good quality wine vinegar is the best for marinades (it should be clear).
- Before marinating, green vegetables are usually blanched in s alted water (a tablespoon of s alt per liter of water), and fruit in acidified (3 tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice per liter of water).
- Pickles acquire their proper flavor only after 2-3 weeks of storage.
- Less acidic preparations stay fresh longer if they are pasteurized. After opening, marinades spoil quite quickly, so it's best to preserve them in small jars.
Frozen foods
Properly prepared, they retain the taste and almost all nutritional value of fresh products (vitamin C losses are only 10-15%, and beta-carotene 5-10% in fruit and 20-30% in vegetables). They contain mineral s alts, fiber, and organic acids. Small fruit (plums, cherries, seedless apricots) are best frozen whole with the skin on. Vegetables (peeled and chopped root vegetables) should be boiled beforehand for 3-5 minutes in a little water. In winter, frozen food can replace fresh fruit and vegetables in recipes. They are suitable for salads, soups, compotes, vegetables.
- Frozen food intended for cooking should not be defrosted beforehand - vitamin C loss may reach 50% during slow defrosting.
- Defrosted products must not be re-frozen, so it is best to pack them in portionsenough for one meal.
- Boil frozen fruit and vegetables briefly in a little water to reduce the loss of valuable ingredients.
Pickles
They are quite a good source of vitamin C, mineral s alts and fiber. During fermentation, lactic acid is formed, which regulates the bacterial flora in the intestines, stimulates digestion and appetite. Over time, valuable ingredients penetrate into the acid, which is why it is as valuable as the vegetables and fruits themselves. Silage contains a lot of s alt, which is harmful in excess, so eat it in moderation. People on a s alt-free diet should give up on them. The best for pickling are: cabbage, cucumbers, beets, cauliflowers, carrots, radishes, and onions. From fruit - apples, Hungarian plums, pears, also lemons and grapes. They should be ripe but not overripe. Cutting out the broken part does not protect the preservation from deterioration!
- Make sure the vegetables (fruit) are thoroughly covered with the juice - this prevents the growth of mold.
- Quick-eat silage after 3-5 days, move it to a cool place to stop fermentation. Preserves for the winter should be pasteurized - they will be milder in taste, but will stay fresh for a year.
Drought
Dried fruits and vegetables provide minerals, a lot of condensed fiber and sugar, but no vitamins. During drying, vitamin C decomposes under the influence of light or is lost at high temperature when drying with an oven or a special dryer. The nutritional value of the legume seeds rich in protein, which is not lost during drying, does not lose their nutritional value. Dried fruit improves the digestive tract, but is high in calories. They can be eaten in small amounts from time to time.
- Dry fruits and vegetables in a shady, airy place. Drying in an oven also has an advantage: it is a type of sterilization in which microbes are killed. Thanks to this, the drying is better stored afterwards.
- Drops are best kept in tin or plastic boxes or sealed jars.
Fruit, purees, pasteurized juices
They retain a lot of vitamin C, even though they are exposed to high temperatures. They are warmed up for a short time, and the processed fruit and vegetables are cooked in their own juice and covered. Such preserves are very he althy, as long as no sugar is added to them. Fill the prepared jars with raw fruit (vegetables), pour in the pickle, place tightly closed in a vessel with water and cook for about 20 minutes. Purees, fruit and vegetable juices made in a juicer are pasteurized in the same way.
- Preservesit is better not to cook fresh fruit and vegetables before eating, so as not to increase the loss of vitamin C and beta-carotene.
- Juices and purees from fresh fruit (vegetables) can not be pasteurized, but you need to add a lot of sugar. They retain more vitamin C, but are very caloric and unsuitable for long storage.
Jam, jams, jellies
They require long frying or cooking, so they generally lose all vitamin C completely. However, they retain their mineral s alts and fiber. Due to the high sugar content (jam 1-2 kg, jelly 60-70 grams, jams 40-60 grams of sugar per 1 kg of fruit) they are caloric.
- You can buy gelling preparations that thicken fruit preserves, shortening the frying time, so preserves retain more vitamin C than traditionally prepared. However, they contain preservatives, so it's better to give them up.
- Low-sugar preserves (10-25 grams of sugar per 1 kg of cleaned fruit) must be pasteurized.
- The most delicious are jams made of several types of fruit. It is also good to combine sweet and sour fruits, e.g. currants with apricots.
More: You know what you are eating
The article was published in the monthly "Zdrowie"
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