As soon as the season of strawberry ripening begins, each hostess wants not only to feed this delicious berry to the whole family, but also to make useful preparations for the whole winter. This is not so difficult, because today many more ways have been invented, how to prepare strawberries for the winter.
Content:
- Strawberry frost
- Strawberry jam
- Strawberry with sugar
- Strawberry compote
Dry method of freezing
Freezing strawberries by a dry method is easy enough. First you need to select good berries without visible damage and defects, carefully wash them and put a thin layer on the towel to dry. When the berries become dry, it is necessary to remove all the stems, so that the air does not get inside the berries, which will destructively affect the structure of the strawberry.
Some prefer to immediately fold the berries in a dry plastic bag and send to the freezer, but with this method there is a risk that the berries will stick together. It is best to put the strawberries on a kitchen doser in advance and send them for an hour or two to the freezer. When berries freeze, they need to be folded into a bag and put on further storage.
The advantage of this method of harvesting is that even in winter whole and beautiful berries can be easily used for decoration of confectionery products. After defrosting, they will not lose their form, they will not lose any flavoring qualities. Of course, the berries will not be able to completely preserve all the beneficial substances, but most of them will remain in the juicy strawberries.
Jam
Strawberry jam is a favorite treat for so many adults and children. There are many recipes for preparing such a treat, but in order to keep the maximum amount of useful substances in the berry after heat treatment, it is necessary to choose the way in which strawberries will be cooked for a minimum amount of time.
Most housewives choose for this recipe "Five-Minute".In such jam berries completely retain their color and aroma, and also do not lose their original shape. In the bank, they are not similar to a homogeneous mass, but to candied berries.
Jam berries should be whole, free of defects and damages, first they should be washed, all the stems removed. One kilogram of strawberries will require 400 grams of sugar.
Berries need to be filled with the necessary amount of sugar and leave to infuse for 4-5 hours, then pour into a jam-cooking jar. On a slow fire, everything should be brought to a boil, then remove the foam, boil for another 5 minutes, turn off the fire and roll into prepared, sterilized cans.
Keep this sweet treat in a cool place. Such jam can please rich composition of useful vitamins, which are so necessary for everyone during the winter cold and avitaminosis.
Strawberries with sugar
There is another rather simple way of preserving in the strawberry all useful vitamins and minerals. Berries can be candied. And strawberries, rubbed with sugar, you can both freeze and store at room temperature. True, sugar will require a different amount.
If you are going to store a delicacy at home, then sugar should be taken at least a kilogram per kilogram of berries, otherwise rubbed with sugar strawberries is unlikely to be even before the New Year. If you are going to freeze it, you can take a lot less sugar, to your taste. Most prefer a proportion of 1: 2, that is, a pound of sugar per kilogram of berries. With this ratio, an optimal combination of sweetness and strawberry taste is obtained, which do not "clog" each other. However, everything depends on personal preferences, someone likes a more pronounced note of sweetness, and someone prefers a natural strawberry flavor. You can add sugar powder instead of sugar.
To prepare for this recipe, you need to prepare the strawberry, wash it, peel it from the stems and put it in a blender or food processor. In the same bowl you need to add the right amount of sugar.
In a blender, all should be ground to a uniform state. You can, by the way, use a submerged blender, and even to dehumidify the strawberry with sugar is a common cricket, however, it will take a lot of effort to do this. Be sure to wait for the complete dissolution of sugar, to accelerate this process, you can milled the mass to 60-70 degrees, continuously stirring, then cool to room temperature.
The resulting mass of pour:
- for storage at home - in clean, sterilized jars and roll up with lids;
- for freezing - in ice forms and send to the freezer. To prevent the strawberry from absorbing odors, these forms must be placed in plastic bags.
This workpiece can stand all winter. It serves as an additive in cereals, yoghurts or even cocktails.
By the same principle it is easy to prepare ice cream in special forms, adding sticks to them. The advantage of this method is the maximum preservation of berries' nutrients.
Strawberry compote
Stuffing in the form of compotes is traditional for many families. Strawberries are perfect for these purposes. Drink turns aromatic and saturated.
The essential disadvantage of this method of harvesting strawberries for the winter will be that under the long-term action of high temperatures, most of the vitamins and minerals that are in the berry will be destroyed. To maximally preserve the whole benefit, you should close the compote without water. To do this, you need to wash the washed and peeled strawberries in a container, cover with sugar and leave to infuse for 10 hours. During this time, the necessary juice to stand out. After allotted time, everything must be put in prepared banks, pour the juice that stood out, and put sterilized for 10 minutes, and then roll up. Such compote will be very concentrated, and the berries will retain their original form.
Useful strawberries can please your taste and richness of vitamins all year round, for this you need only use simple and affordable recipes for harvesting berries for the winter.