In autumn, when the harvest of apples came to an end, the question arises: what to do with so many fruits and how can you prepare apples for the winter? Of course, ideally, you want to keep them fresh so that you can at any time rejoice in the natural aroma and taste of juicy fruit. But this option is only suitable for owners of cool cellars and cellars, only in such conditions it is possible to store fresh apples without damage, 4-5 months. However, urban residents should not be upset, because there are dozens of ways to harvest apples for winter at home.
Processes and prescriptions for billets:
- Dried apples
- Jam, jam and jam
- Marmalade
- Candied fruit
- Dried apples
- Compote
- Juice
- Pickled apples
You can distinguish several simplest, most useful and tasty ones from the variety of blanks. Any way is good in its own way, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each of them and what you need to know so as not to spoil the dish and preserve the maximum benefit of apples, let's try to figure it out.
Dried Apples
The easiest way that our ancestors used to save the harvest. Dried apples can be eaten separately as useful sweet chips, cook compotes from them, prepare toppings for various homemade cakes.
A huge plus of the method is that you can dry absolutely any apples, no matter what color, size or variety. Drying is subject even to those wormed, beaten and decayed from one side fruits, because they do not dry the whole apple, and small pieces of fruit and a bad part of the fruit can simply be cut and thrown away.
There are several options for drying apples.
In the sun
- Apples are cut into plates or small pieces.
- Thread on a thread or lay out a thin layer on a tray or tray.
- Cover with gauze and leave in the sun for 3-4 days, turning daily to uniformly dry.
The disadvantage of the method is the dependence on weather conditions. Drying apples in this way is possible only in dry, sunny and hot weather.
In the oven
A simple method, which, however, takes quite a long time.
- Oven to heat up to 80 degrees.
- Put the pieces of apples on a baking tray and dry for half an hour.
- Reduce the temperature to 70 degrees and keep apple slices in the oven for another 5 hours.
- After this time, turn the fruit, reduce the temperature to 50 and cook for another 4 hours.
In the microwave
The fastest express method.
- Apple slices are placed in a microwave oven and dried at a power of 200 W for half a minute.
- Turn over the slices and dry for another 30 seconds at the same capacity.
- Repeat this procedure for 5 minutes.
Jam, jam and jam
Any kind of apples is suitable for making apple jam, the choice depends on your taste preferences. Fruits must be ripe, not wormy, the skin is not damaged, without traces of bumps and rot. Before cooking, apples are washed and discarded.
The difference between jam and jam is that the jam contains whole fruit slices and is prepared along with the skin, and the jam is boiled to a homogeneous consistency, for this it is necessary to remove the skin first. In the rest they can be cooked according to the same recipes.
These desserts are served separately for tea or used as a filling for sweet baking.
Classic recipe for apple jam
Ingredients:
- 2 kg fresh sweet apples;
- 1.3 kg of sugar;
- cinnamon( powder).
Method:
- Cut the apples together with the cuticle into pieces, add sugar and leave for 12 hours, preferably at night.
- On moderate fire, simmer the mixture for 8 minutes, remove the foam.
- Then remove the mass from the plate and cool completely.
- Warm and cool the mixture 2 more times, at the end add a little cinnamon.
Marmalade
Delicious and healthy dessert. Real jam! It is prepared as usual jam, only during cooking in a container where apples are cooked, put a handbag with apple middle and skin: they contain pectin, which is necessary for the dessert to freeze. Also important is the amount of sugar, the more it is, the thicker will be the marmalade. Usually 1 kg of apples take 0.6 kg of sugar.
Cooked with sugar apple pulp spread on a flat pan and dried in the oven 60-90 minutes at 50 degrees.
Candied Fruits
Delicious sweet baked goods, which are used in various desserts or served as a separate dish.
Ingredients:
- 500 grams of apples;
- 400 grams of granulated sugar;
- 1 lemon;
- 300 ml of clean water;
- 0,5 coffee spoons of cinnamon;
- carnation;
- powdered sugar.
Procedure:
- Mix the water and 200 grams of sugar, put on medium heat until the sugar dissolves completely.
- Put apples in sugar syrup, sliced in slices, simmer on low heat, until the fruit blushes.
- Add the remaining sugar, lemon zest, cloves, cinnamon and cook on low heat until thick.
- Spread the apple slices on a baking tray( you can lightly sprinkle it with oil).
- Dry the pieces of fruit at 50 degrees for 1.5 hours, the oven door must be open.
- Leave to dry at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Afterwards, dry the apples in the oven.
- Put the candied fruit powder in a container and cover it tightly.
Washy apples
A very simple method for which ripe, healthy apples of any sorts without worms and rot are suitable. To prepare the soaked apples, first prepare the brine: for 1 liter of water take 40 grams of sugar and a quarter of a tablespoon of salt. The following preparation process is simple:
- on the bottom of the container, in which the fruits will be soaked, lay a layer of currant and cherry leaves;
- from above, clean whole apples with tails, repeat the layers until the place is finished;
- pour all the brine and cover with gauze;
- leave to wander for a few days until foam settles;
- tightly cover the dishes with a lid and put in the cold for 60 days.
The recipe can be complemented with spices, herbs, honey and berries.
Compote
Favorite since childhood drink, which can be cooked from fresh or dried fruits, or harvested for the winter in the fall. Prepare from ripe apples, and for a more interesting taste in the drink add cinnamon and cloves, as well as almost any fruit and berries: currants, plums, cherries, oranges, lemon. It is better to use apples of solid sorts, which do not fall apart during cooking.
Boil apple compote easily, for this, from water and sugar( 300 grams per kilogram of apples and 2 liters of water), a syrup is prepared, in which apples are cooked for 3 minutes. After they are transferred to cans and poured with syrup.
There is another way of making compote from apples for the winter - slices are placed in cans so that they occupy not less than 1/3 of the total volume. Pour boiling water there and leave for 6 minutes. Then the water is poured into a separate dish, sugar is also added( 150-200 grams per liter of water) and brought to a boil. The resulting syrup is poured into a container with apples and rolled.
Juice
If the kitchen has a juicer, you can prepare natural apple juice and keep it for the whole winter. To do this, choose juicy sweet and sour ripe and healthy fruits. From apples squeeze out the juice, add sugar, bring everything to a boil and immediately pour into the jars. Juice can be stored for up to 2 years.
Per liter of fresh juice you need about 100 grams of sugar. If the apple juice is too thick, it can be slightly diluted with water.
Pickled apples
This unusual piece is served in winter as an appetizer for alcoholic beverages, on a side dish for meat dishes or used as an additional ingredient in various salads and vinaigrettes.
Will be required:
- 1 kg of apples of small size;
- 500 ml of water;
- 1 cup sugar;
- 200 ml of vinegar;
- salt, sweet pepper, cinnamon and corn cloves.
Method of preparation:
- Apples are completely placed in pasteurized jars.
- Fill with a mixture of water, vinegar, spices and sugar.
- Warming cans in boiling water, the time depends on the volume of the can - for a liter container it is enough 15 minutes. Be sure to keep the contents of the jars is not boiling.
- Close the lid and refrigerate.
Homemade billets from apples are delicious and useful. Enjoy them all through the long and cold winter!