How to prepare cherries for the winter? TOP 5 step-by-step recipes at home: jam, compote, pickling, freezing, drying. Cooking secrets and video recipes.
Sweet cherries, like any other berries, are preferable to use raw. However, its season is short, therefore, in order to feast on it throughout the year, cherries are harvested for the winter: jam, compotes are boiled, and frozen. Then the sweet and aromatic berry will remind you of warm days during a long winter. The recipes for seasonal harvesting, given below in this article, will allow you to use healthy, tasty and vitamin berries at any time of the year.
Cherries for the winter - the secrets of harvesting
- For harvesting, select whole and hard berries, not sticky, not wrinkled and without traces of rot.
- To remove pests, soak the fruit in cold water for one hour.
- Remove the stalks before harvesting.
- Leave the bone or remove it depends on the type of workpiece. Without the seed, the product will lose its attractiveness, while the seed will add bitterness.
- Put the melted berries on a napkin for drying before harvesting. Excess moisture reduces the sterility of the workpiece.
- Preservation glass jars should be thoroughly washed with baking soda and sterilized over steam or in the oven.
- Boil the lids for at least 5 minutes.
- Turn the rolled-up containers with conservation, wrap it up with a warm blanket and let it stand for at least a day so that the product slowly cools down to room temperature. This will increase the shelf life of the workpiece.
- Sweet cherries, in comparison with cherries, are much sweeter, therefore, less sugar can be used for preservation.
- Additional additives will give a special taste of cherries: mint leaves, citrus zest, aromatic spices.
- Brown sugar, stevia or fructose will make the dessert preserves healthier and less nutritious.
- To preserve it with a rich and bright color, add citric acid to the composition. It will also extend the shelf life of the workpiece.
- The shelf life of canned cherries with a stone is no more than a year. Since during storage, after a certain time, hydrocyanic acid, dangerous to humans, will be released from the bones.
- Pickled berries are put in salads and used to make sauce.
- Jams, preserves and confiture are used for filling in pies, served with pancakes, pancakes.
- Sweet cherries in their own juice are used for filling in dumplings, pies.
How to sterilize jars
- Above the ferry. Cover the pot with water with a special support with a hole for the jar. Turn the jar over and place it on this stand. Boil the liquid and sterilize the container until drops appear on the surface of the flowing rivulets.
- In the oven. Place the washed jars in the oven, set the temperature to 150 degrees and soak a 0.5 liter jar for 15 minutes. For larger cans, increase the time to half an hour.
Cherry compote for the winter without sterilization
There are a lot of recipes for cherry compote for the winter: sterilized without pits, whole berries without sterilization, in their own juice, without sugar. For any preservation, take berries with or without pits. Choose light or dark fruits, there is not much difference here.
See also how to prepare cherry compote with seeds for the winter.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 305 kcal.
- Servings - 2 cans of 3 liters
- Cooking time - 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- Sugar - 1, 5 tbsp.
- Citric acid - 0.5 tsp
- Sweet cherry - 1 kg
Cooking cherry compote for the winter without sterilization:
- Sort out the berries. Separate the crumpled, rotten and spoiled ones. Remove the stalks. Wash the selected fruits under running water.
- Place the cherries in the prepared sterilized container, filling it by 1/3 part.
- Pour boiling water over the berries, cover and stand for 15 minutes.
- Drain the liquid into a saucepan.
- Pour sugar into the water at the rate of 1 tbsp. 3 liters, and boil the syrup for 5 minutes, removing the foam. The proportions of sugar can be adjusted to your liking. When added to the volume of a glass, the compote will be of medium sweetness.
- Pour the syrup over the fruit and add citric acid. Be sure to add citric acid, since cherries practically do not contain their own fruit acids.
- Close the cans with lids and roll up.
- Store sweet cherry compote for the winter without sterilization after cooling slowly in the pantry or cellar.
Cherry jam
Making sweet cherry jam for the winter is a simple recipe for preparing, and the result is unusually tasty. Take berries with or without seeds.
Ingredients:
- Sweet cherry - 1 kg
- Sugar - 1 kg
Making cherry jam:
- Sprinkle the prepared berries with sugar and stir. Set them aside for half an hour to let the juice stand out.
- Put food on moderate heat, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Set the jam to cool, about 7 hours.
- Spend 2 more times boiling cherry jam for 10 minutes. Check the readiness of the jam by dropping the syrup on the nail. The drop should hold its shape well and not spread.
- After the second cooking, cool the jam, the third - pour the hot piece into hot sterilized jars and roll up the lids.
- Cool the workpiece upside down, wrapped.
Read also about the intricacies and secrets of cherry preparations for the winter.
Pickled cherries for the winter
Contrary to the popular point of view that cherries are harvested only in the form of sweet preservation, pickled berries can be served with meat, grind, make sauces, add to the dough …
Ingredients:
- Cherry - 300 g
- Water - 200 ml
- Table vinegar 9% - 30 ml
- Sugar - 60 g
- Salt - a pinch
- Black pepper - 5 peas
- Bay leaf - 1 pc.
- Carnation - 2 buds
- Cherry leaves - 1 pc.
Cooking pickled cherries for the winter:
- Select cherries that are firm, undamaged and ripe.
- Put black peppercorns, bay leaves, cloves, cherry leaves in a prepared 0.5 liter jar.
- Place the berries tightly in the jar.
- Determine the amount of water you need. To do this, fill a container with cold liquid and drain it into a saucepan.
- Add sugar and salt to the liquid and cook the marinade so that the sugar melts completely. Then add vinegar and turn off heat.
- Pour boiling water over the berries and send them for sterilization. To do this, place the jars of cherries in syrup in a large saucepan on a soft cloth. Pour water over the neck and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Then roll up the jars with sterilized metal lids.
- Turn the container with pickled cherries on the lid for the winter, wrap it in a warm blanket and cool.
How to freeze cherries for the winter
Correctly frozen cherries will preserve all the vitamins and minerals they contain for a long time. Frozen whole fruits with seeds are suitable for compotes and drinks, and without them - for filling in pies or dumplings. To preserve the aroma and taste of frozen berries, store them in an airtight container, away from meat and fish. Defrosted foods are not re-frozen.
- Freezing berries on their own. Wash the selected high-quality fruits, remove the leaves and stalks. If desired, remove the bone with a special tool, hairpin or pin. Let the cherries dry well before freezing. Place the prepared berries on a tray so that they do not come into contact with each other and send them to freeze in the freezer for 3-4 hours. Then pack the berries in a convenient container and store them in the freezer.
- Harvesting cherries in their own syrup. From the selected and washed fruits, prepare a syrup (1 kg of berries, 4 tbsp. Water, 0.5 tbsp. Sugar). Blanch the food for 5-7 minutes over medium heat. This method will preserve nutrients and bright color in the berries. Pour the resulting syrup with berries into containers and send to the freezer.
How to dry cherries for the winter
Dried cherries are a rare kind of harvest. However, in the form of dried fruits, it has a pleasant taste and contains a large amount of vitamins and minerals. The most convenient way to do this is to use an electric dryer. But in its absence, you can prepare cherry drying using an oven.
Pierce the prepared berries in several places to speed up the drying process. Place them on a baking sheet in one layer. Send the berries to the oven, setting the temperature to no higher than 70-75 ° C. Leave the cabinet door ajar. Drying time will take about 17 hours. Stir and stir the berries several times during cooking so that they dry evenly. The finished fruits have a dark burgundy color, when pressed, the juice does not stand out, drying does not stick to the hands.
Store dried cherries in glass jars, paper bags in a cool and well-ventilated area. Periodically inspect the workpiece for bugs and worms. Having found such pests, reheat the workpiece in the oven.
Video recipes:
Cherry compote without sterilization
Sweet cherries in syrup
Canned cherries
