Useful viburnum - preparation for the winter and methods of preparing delicious and vitamin desserts
When jars of tomatoes and cucumbers are already on the shelves in the cellar, and potatoes are laid out in the boxes under them, you can think about more non-trivial stocks. Having harvested the crop from the garden, we go to the forest to breathe fresh air, and at the same time pick up the ripe viburnum. Why is viburnum useful, harvesting for the winter and methods of preparing its bitter berries - the topic of our conversation today.
It is best to pick berries in September-October, after the first frosts come. Frozen bunches practically lose the bitter taste characteristic of the culture and become sweet and tasty. But do not be late: birds can enjoy a sweet dessert and you will get only bare tops. And if the viburnum freezes too much, it will become too soft, which will make it difficult to harvest if you need whole berries.
Kalina - preparation for the winter and cooking methods
However, do not assume that berries have only medicinal properties. They make amazingly beautiful and delicious various desserts, from compote to jam and other sweets. Which, moreover, are also useful.
By the way, the easiest way to prepare for the winter is freezing. If you have the opportunity, freeze the whole berries, then pouring them into bags. In winter, you can always get them and use them for any purpose. Frozen viburnum retains all its properties and vitamins. So that they are not so bitter, you can sprinkle the viburnum with sugar, laying them in layers in a tray. Or make mashed potatoes: beat the berries in a blender, strain through a sieve, add sugar to taste. It is possible without it at all. Now just put the mass in the ice cube trays, and when it freezes, pack it in bags.
Harvesting viburnum for medicinal purposes
Let's start with perhaps the most valuable blanks that will be useful to us to maintain health. The most useful of them are "raw" methods (we remember that during the heat treatment some vitamins are lost).
For treatment, you can do:
- Raw jam with sugar. Grind the berries through a sieve to get a homogeneous mass, without seeds. Add sugar in a 1: 2 ratio and leave for a day, stirring occasionally. Then place a bowl of jam in the refrigerator and let it stand there for another day - then it will thicken. After that, arrange in jars and store under a nylon lid in the refrigerator.
- Viburnum jam with honey without cooking. Grind the berries in the same way as in the sugar recipe. Add the same amount of honey.Stir and store immediately in the refrigerator.
- Viburnum tincture on vodka with honey (effective at elevated pressure). Mash 1 kg of berries - you do not need to completely grind, it is enough for them to just let the juice out. Add 0.5 kg of honey and 500 ml of vodka. Insist a month in a dark, cool room, shaking.
In recipes with honey, it is better to use a fresh product with a liquid consistency. You will have to reheat the candied honey, and it will lose some of its nutrients.
Culinary methods of cooking viburnum for the winter
Useful berries make delicious:
- Compotes. Put peeled and chopped apples in an amount of about 700g in a 3L jar. Add 400 g of viburnum and cover with boiling water. Leave for an hour, then drain the water into a saucepan and prepare the syrup with 250 g of sugar. Pour apples with viburnum with hot syrup and roll up.
- Paste. Boil until tender (until they are soft) 1.5 kg of berries, pouring them with 500 ml of water. Grind in a blender along with the water in which the berries were boiled. Pour 1.5 kg of sugar into the puree and cook the workpiece until it becomes like thick sour cream. Cover the baking sheet with parchment, pour the thickened mass on it and put in the oven. Dry at a temperature not exceeding 60 °, until the marshmallow begins to separate from the paper in a single layer. Cut it into pieces and store in glass jars, preferably in the refrigerator.