Jam, jams, pickles, juices and any other homemade preserves are unrivaled! They taste much better than the ones from the store. You can also be sure that there is no chemicals in the products prepared at home.
How to enjoyjamwild strawberry flavor, but no wild strawberries, orraspberry juiceraspberry without a trace of this fruit, but with a huge amount of sugar?
Superiority of home-made preserves over industrially produced preserves
Making homemadepreserves , we decide on the taste and amount of sugar. Our own preserves are superior to industrial ones in one more respect - we make them from fresh fruit and vegetables, right after harvesting. On an industrial scale, this is not the norm - in the season, processing plants process fresh fruit into pulp, which will later be used as jam or preserves. Juices, on the other hand, are not squeezed from the fruit, but are usually obtained from a concentrate - concentrated fruit juice, which is sweetened and diluted with water. On the other hand, for our own needs, we are able to pack vegetables and fruit into jars straight from the orchard or garden. In this way, we provide ourselves a portion of vitamin C (currants, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, gooseberries, peppers, tomatoes) and beta-carotene (yellow-orange and green vegetables and fruits) all year round. In addition, all fruits and vegetables are alkaline-forming - they neutralize excess acids in the body - and are an excellent source of fiber that swells, giving a feeling of satiety, which promotes maintaining a he althy weight, stimulates intestinal peristalsis, and prevents many civilization diseases (atherosclerosis, gastrointestinal cancer). What should you remember to ensure that the preserves in perfect condition survive until the next fruit and vegetable season?
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Careful selection of raw materials for preserves
We choose first-class fruit and vegetables for our preserves. They must be fresh, he althy and ripe. We reject all of them, even slightly spoiled and crumpled. It is not worth risking a trace of mold spoiling the entire jar! For the preserves to be durable, a strict hygienic regime is necessary when preparing them. Prepared and selected products are carefully washed in cold water, and then thoroughly drained.
Preparation of preserving jars
Twist jars are best, they can be recycled or freshly bought. Ifpreserves are supposed to be a gift, it is worth packing them in a decorative old-style jar - with an elastic band and a spring. If you have used jars, you need to check if they are not chipped, you should also check the condition of the lids - they may be crooked and then they will not close. Old or new - all jars need to be thoroughly washed and then boiled just before applying preserves. To do this, put them in a pot of cold water, slowly bring to the boil and keep it there for 5 minutes. Oven sterilization is more convenient - put the jars placed on a baking tray in an oven preheated to 100 ° C. You also need to sterilize the lids. The volume of the jar is also important, because it must be remembered that after opening it quickly loses its vitamins, so the best are small jars that can be used within 1-2 days.
What can you preserve preserves?
» SUGAR - this is the most popular method of preserving fruit. Just sprinkle it over the raw fruit - this way it will keep the most vitamins. It is worth preserving in sugar those with the most vitamin C (currants, wild strawberries, raspberries and strawberries). But if we want to store the preserves longer, they still need to be boiled. The most sugar is in preserves - fried slowly, even for several days. The fruit in the preserves should be glassy, but whole and evenly distributed in a thick syrup. Jams have less sugar - they are made from one or more types of fruit. Some fruit in a good jam is to remain whole. Completely overcooked and mashed fruits are marmalade - usually made from mixed fruits. Jellies are made from juices squeezed from fruits, which have a lot of pectin (currants, blackberries, quince, little ripe gooseberries and apples). They are often combined with pectin-poor fruits.» SALT - pickling or pickling is the cheapest method of preserving vegetables (cabbage, beetroot, cucumbers). During fermentation, under the influence of lactic acid bacteria, the sugar contained in vegetables is converted into lactic acid, which is a great preservative. Warning! Lactic bacteria are anaerobic, i.e. they do not tolerate air access. The silage will be successful if you remove oxygen from the product you are fermenting by kneading and churning - and s alt it heavily. The silages mature for about 4 weeks, they can be stored for up to six months, but if, for example, sauerkraut is put into smaller jars and pasteurized, it can be stored for up to a year.» OCTEM - this way we get pickles. Depending on the concentration of vinegar, marinades are either spicy or - much he althier - sweet and sour. This method involves cooking vegetables or fruits in vinegar diluted with water with the addition of s alt, sugar, spices.You can marinate all vegetables, stone fruit and berries. Pickles also include pickles - a kind of vegetable salad.» HIGH TEMPERATURE - pasteurization, i.e. heating in a jar placed in a vessel with water, is the simplest method fruit and vegetable processing. Air is escaping from the pan during cooking. High temperature destroys spoilage microbes, and the tight closing of the jar prevents them from accessing the outside. Fill the jars, leaving 1-2 cm of free space (do not tighten the lids completely), place them in a wide saucepan on a protective layer (paper, cloth) so that they do not touch each other. Pour warm water into the saucepan to a height of 1 cm below the lids. Bring to a boil and heat it up so that the water only "blinks". The pasteurization time given in the recipe is counted from the boiling point. Finally, take the jars out of the water, tighten them, and when they cool down, move them to a dark and cool place.
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