At its core, nectarine is one of the subspecies of all your favorite peaches. Unlike the older furry brother, the skin of nectarine is smooth, and the taste is more saturated. Useful properties, it is also not deprived. For example, in its pulp contains vitamins A, B and C, as well as such useful trace elements, as calcium, iron, sodium and pectin. Together, they work for the benefit of the body, speeding up metabolic processes and strengthening the immune system.
However, all of us are well aware of the lack of fruit, and any - juicy and delicious they are only in the summer. And how long do warm money last for our harsh homeland? Perhaps, we will leave this question unanswered. To go to hot countries in search of ripe nectarines is not an option for the average citizen. However, there is a way out for those who like to eat nectarines in the winter. This option, though budgetary, but energy-intensive. We are talking about blanks.
Contents:
- Methods for harvesting nectarines for the winter
- Important cooking details
- Prescriptions for the billets
- Simple recipe for jam from nectarines
- Nectarine compote
- Freezing nectarines
- Dried nectarines
Methods for harvesting nectarines for the winter
Nectarine is one of the few fruits that is admirably amenable to any kindprocessing, without losing the nutritional qualities. It can be frozen, dried, cooked with jam, compote or jam. The choice of method depends only on your imagination and taste preferences.
For example, slices of dried or frozen nectarine can be added to oatmeal for breakfast, compote is great for dinner, and jam or jam is a universal filler for any dessert. However, it is impossible not to notice some aspects that distinguish the basic types of blanks.
- The plus of cooking jam or jam is that the finished product can be stored for more than a year, stably withstanding small temperature changes. In this case, heat treatment can destroy a significant number of useful elements contained in fresh fruits. In addition, you need to carefully monitor the amount of added sugar.
- Dried fruits lose up to eighty percent of moisture and are stored for no more than a year, but at the same time they retain most of the trace elements and are relatively dietetic. However, the process of drying is laborious enough and takes a lot of time.
- Freezing advantageously differs in that at negative temperatures, microbes are killed, and useful substances remain in their original form. The downside is that the food should be stored at a temperature not exceeding -18gr. C, and in case of defrosting, repeated freezing is unacceptable.
Important cooking details of
It is important to remember that each of the options for preparing nectarines has nuances and a certain technology. Moreover, even the choice of a certain variety and the degree of maturity are important. For the best result, it is recommended to consider the following useful recommendations:
- Before you start harvesting, you must carefully sort the fruit. Immature, damaged or rotten fruit is discarded.
Advice: to choose a ripe nectarine, sniff - from it must come a strong sweet aroma, and take a closer look - always ripen the wasps or bees over mature fruits. However, do not be upset if you make a mistake and brought home an immature fruit. Nectarines have a wonderful property: they can "reach" to the desired condition, after lying a few days in the heat. - Such blanks, like jam or jam, it is better to lay out on previously sterilized jars to avoid the risk of getting microbes. Some recipes do not require sterilization of containers, but in this case it is necessary to boil at least cover!
- To make the fruits in the compote softer and juicy, they can be removed from the skin in advance. To do this, you need to make a small incision in the place of attachment of the twig, keep in boiling water for about a minute and then gently clean the nectarine.
Advice: to speed up the peeling process, use a colander. With the help of it you can dip several fruits into the water at once, but it is best not more than four to not weld them ahead of time. - Normally, nectarines can be preserved entirely, but if the fruits are large and you had to cut them, it is important to remember that in the cans the halves are always laid down by the core to the bottom.
Workpiece Recipes
Simple recipe for jam from nectarines
This recipe requires a minimum of ingredients and time, and the result will be a wonderful winter treat.
For the preparation of one half-liter jar you will need:
- 2 kilograms of nectarines;
- 4 cups sugar( can be taken brown for a more saturated color);
- 1 packet of vanilla sugar.
- Nectarines must be thoroughly washed under running water( peel can not be removed).
- After that, remove the brushes and cut the fruit into small rectangular blocks.
- Cut the nectarines into a saucepan, cover with sugar, mix well and leave for 2-3 hours in a cool place( the refrigerator is excluded).
- Then mix again, pour the vanilla sugar and put it on the fire. As soon as the jam boils, we reduce the flame and cook for another fifteen minutes.
- Then remove the pan and leave for several hours.
- After the break again, cook the jam for about 15 minutes on a small fire. Once the mass boils, you can pour it into the jar.
Nectar compote
For a one-and-a-half-liter jar you need to take:
- 0.5 kilograms of nectarines( the less, the better - the larger ones are placed in a container);
- 1 liter of water( filtered);
- about 300-350 grams of granulated sugar.
- Pre-washed fruits should be spread over the cans so that they occupy about half the space.
- After this, pour the nectarines with boiling water and leave to infuse for 15-20 minutes.
- Put the present water and sugar in a saucepan( 1 gram of water is 300 grams of sugar), then thoroughly mix and boil for about 5 minutes. The syrup is ready.
- Fill it in jars, tightly roll up the covers and turn the top with your feet.
- After this workpiece you need to wrap, wait for cooling and leave in a cool place.
If desired, you can add peaches or plums to the compote, but do not mix nectarines with strawberries or cherries - they interrupt the aroma.
Freezing of nectarines
The process of freezing any fruit is simple and quick. No additional ingredients other than pure fruit are required. They can be frozen whole, cut into slices or completely crushed in puree.
To freeze nectarines, they must be thoroughly rinsed and dried. If you cut the fruit with lobules, it is better to put them in a bag for freezing, and wrap the entire fruit in a clean piece of paper. Then we send the contents to the freezer and forget it until winter - that's the whole science.
Advice: that the cut pieces are not darkened, they can be pre-washed in lemon solution( approximate proportion: 200 ml of filtered water per 1 tablespoon of lemon juice).
Dried nectarines
Some fruits can be dried entirely, but nectarines are not among them, so they need to be washed, dried, free from bones and cut into slices. Nectarine can be dried both in the open air, under the sun's rays, and in the oven.
The second method is preferable in that it is possible to control the temperature. To start the slices you can slightly podvyalit at 45gr. C, then remove excess moisture by 70gr. C and finally dry it for 20gr. C.The time spent depends entirely on the capabilities of your oven. On average, the drying takes from 9 to 12 hours.
The strength and time spent on the preparation of nectarines are more than worth the frosty winter, when a jar of fragrant jam or a bag of frozen fruits will fill the house with the aromas of the past summer, stirring up pleasant memories!