How to preserve dogwood for the winter and provide family with vitamins
Knowing how to preserve dogwood for the winter, you can provide yourself and your entire family with useful vitamins and minerals. Ancient people ate mostly fresh berries, therefore, according to their own observations, they could determine how the consumption of each type of product affects well-being. They used dogwood as a remedy. Used for this purpose not only berries, but also roots, bark, leaves.
The value and benefits of dogwood
The fruits of the plant bring many useful substances to the human body:
- potassium, calcium, magnesium salts;
- pectin;
- essential oils;
- nitrogenous substances;
- organic acids (including rare succinic);
- a huge amount of vitamin C.
Knowing how to properly prepare this berry for the winter, you can save the dogwood with the entire complex of vitamins. That will come in handy for the body during a period when there are no other sources of vitaminization.
The medicinal properties of berries are manifested in such positive effects on functions in the human body:
- increases hemoglobin;
- normalizes digestion, is a stimulant for the production of gastric secretion;
- has a strengthening effect on the walls of blood vessels;
- improves appetite;
- improves general blood circulation;
- normalizes pressure indicators;
- has a choleretic effect.
100 grams contains about 15% sugar.
It is recommended to add dogwood to the diet in the presence of body edema, anemia, problems with blood vessels, atherosclerosis.
Like many other berries, dogwood is a low-calorie product. There is only 40 kcal per 100 g. The broth contains only half of the calories. Also fresh and dried fruits are used for the preparation of various alcoholic beverages. Often wines, liqueurs, liqueurs are prepared from them.
Freezing dogwood
When using this method, all the benefits of the berry are preserved. Before freezing, all fruits should be carefully sorted out, removing damaged and rotten ones. Then wash with cool water and be sure to dry completely.
You need to freeze only ripe fruits.
As soon as the dogwood dries well, the ready-to-eat product can be frozen. It will be more expedient to lay out the fruits on a pallet or on other flat forms in one layer, after having spread parchment or cling film. After a time, when the berries are completely frozen, you can transfer them to a convenient container for compact storage in the freezer. These can be bags or boxes that are hermetically sealed to prevent foreign odors and substances from getting inside.
Drying dogwood
In this form, the delicacy will appeal to both adults, and especially children. When the season of fresh berries and fruits is over, dried fragrant fruits will certainly come in handy. They retain the taste and smell of fresh dogwood, making them richer and sweeter. This is due to the lack of fluid.
Before preparing the dried dogwood, you need to thoroughly wash 1 kilogram of berries and remove the seeds from them. Then add 100 g of sugar. In this form, they should stand for a day. During this time, juice will be released, which must be drained.After the berries are poured with hot syrup. Its temperature should be about 80 ° C. The syrup is cooked from equal amounts of water and sugar or from previously drained juice.
The finished liquid, along with the berries, is allowed to stand for five minutes. At the end of the time, the dogwood should be thrown into a colander. As soon as the syrup drains, the fruits can be dried in the oven on baking sheets twice for 20 minutes. With a break to cool the berries completely. The admissible temperature is 65-70 ° С.
Making pastilles
For this method, it is better to choose overripe berries. After removing the seeds, we interrupt 0.5 kg of fruit on mashed potatoes. Then it is necessary to grind through a fine sieve, removing the hard remnants of the peel. For 15-20 minutes, evaporate excess moisture over very low heat. It is imperative to stir all the time to avoid burning. The cooled mass should be laid out on parchment, oiled with vegetable oil, 0.5 cm thick. This layer will dry to the desired consistency in the oven for 2-3 hours at a temperature of 150 ° C using a special blowing mode.
In the finished form, the dogwood marshmallow is similar in consistency to chewing candy. It can be cut into portions and sprinkled with a little starch to reduce stickiness. Or roll up into tubes and then form portions. Often this delicacy is served with meat. If desired, put a nut-honey paste inside before curling. It will make an excellent confectionery treat.
Dogwood drying
This method is a less costly preservation option if the process is carried out with the help of sun and air. It remains only to periodically turn over a thin layer of berries, which should be placed in the shade. This requires good ventilation. And after 5 days, it will already be possible to remove the fruits to the place of permanent storage.
Dried dogwood fruits do not cause allergic reactions.
There are several more ways to dry dogwood using electric dryer or an oven. At first, the temperature is set at 50 ° C, and then it rises to 70 ° C. Drying is much faster, but there are financial costs.
Usually, ripe, but not soft fruits are chosen for this method. You must first wash them. Can be disinfected by adding a little vinegar or a pinch of baking soda to the water. If desired, pits are removed or dried whole.
Dried dogwood will greatly benefit your immune system. This is very important in the cold season, when colds attack and you need to support your body. The phytoncides present in the composition of berries have antiviral and antibacterial effects.
Eating these berries helps in the fight against weight loss. This is possible due to the ability of dogwood to accelerate metabolic processes in the human body.