Happy owners of cherry trees in their own garden do not have to wrestle with what to eat after a long winter and a barren spring. Sweet cherries, along with strawberries, make us happy with the first berries, indulge an organism yearning for vitamins. And if the harvest is rich, it is imperative to prepare compotes for the winter and, of course, tasty sweet cherry jam. About the technology of its preparation and talk.
Kitchen appliances and utensils
Every good housewife, having a garden, and not having it, is well able to make blanks for the winter. She also knows that suitable equipment is necessary for success in this endeavor. First of all, you need a capacity for boiling jam. Ideal when there is a copper basin. Use it only for this business. Copper is good because it perfectly preserves the taste and color of berries and fruits. Copper dishes are valued for this, and experienced housewives are well aware of these properties. But to buy a copper basin today is problematic.
It can not be found in hardware stores. And if there is, it will not be the same copper, the percentage of its content will be lower. You can find a pot at the flea market. If such luck turns up, you need to take it without any hesitation. Owners of a grandmother's inheritance may well have such a wash, because this is a thing for centuries.
But if there is no copper basin, then you should not be upset. Well-suited for cooking jam so-called cauldrons. They are sold in stores, and good quality. The main feature of the jam cooking jar is a thick bottom. It will not allow the product to burn, even if the hostess comes running and forgets to stop in time. Kazanchik needs to be kept in a perfectly clean state. If there are any sticking, remnants of burns on the bottom of the dish, this dramatically increases the likelihood that the jam will burn. It is necessary either to clean the dishes or replace.
Enamelware for cooking jam is not recommended.
Important! Dish enamel in combination with boiling syrup often burns.
If there is no pot or copper basin, then you can use a conventional aluminum bowl of a suitable size.
Will also require banks for packaging the finished product. This is what is in abundance in the household stores, especially during the harvesting season, so these are cans. Any: 0.5 l, 1 l, 1.5 l, 2 l, 3 l, 4 l, 9 l. For jam, the first 2 types are suitable - 0.5 and 1 l. In a large container is not recommended. In the open state, the jam can become moldy if it is not eaten on time. But if the hostess has many children and grandchildren, then a 2-liter capacity will do.
You can close the sold jars with two types of covers: “twists” and “euro covers”. Both of them are equivalent. But when sealing with a reusable eurocap, it is necessary to tighten it very tightly, otherwise the air that has penetrated inside the can will necessarily spoil the product.
Some more devices for canning are sold, for example, a special holder, which makes it very convenient to get cans of boiling water if they are sterilized.
And the main tool is the seamer itself. A seemingly simple device, but very capricious. A good twist is taken care of by the hostess, as the pupil of the eye. Even if the machine itself is rusty, but the thread is in excellent condition, then such a tool will tightly and precisely close the can, and this is very important. And vice versa. Masters know that their instrument is not given to other people. Do not lend to the neighbors and seamer.
Required Ingredients
With the inventory sorted out, he is ready and fully armed. What to cook from the sweet cherry for the winter, we decided right away - jam with pits. Why precisely with pits? Because the intact, sterile berry inside retains all its valuable vitamins and microelements better. Need for this jam:
- sweet cherry - 1 kg.
- sugar - 0.8 kg, can 1 kg.
- 1 cup of water.
This is something without which nothing can be done. This number of products is the so-called 1 part. It can be increased multiple, i.e. On 2 kg of berries 1.6 kg of sugar and 2 glasses of water take already. And so on. It all depends on the luxury and fertility of trees growing in the garden. Or from the material possibilities of the hostess.
Did you know? Cherrywood resin is a wonderful natural gum.
In addition to these products, many add to the jam different fragrances:
- cinnamon;
- vanilla;
- cherry leaves;
- citric acid.
It makes sense. Sweet cherry, delicious in its natural form, loses a little in quality when cooked. There is little acid in it, it is corrected by citric acid at the tip of a knife per 1 kg of berries. Vanilla and cinnamon, as a rule, are not added simultaneously - either this or that. If you wish, you can add, the jam from this will only improve. A little secret - 2-3 leaves of cherry, they also add flavor.
Features of product selection
Cherry choose the best. Any berries that have rotted, pecked by starlings are not suitable. They can also be used, but in other preparations for the winter of sweet cherries and another recipe.
Did you know? Sweet cherry is a diet berry, it does not cause an increase in the acidity of the stomach.
Sugar our housewives use ordinary - white sand. Cane, refined pieces, brown sugar are not recommended. Of course, they make jam with such sugar, but in other kitchens. Italian, for example, likes to use brown sugar in their desserts. Ukrainians are not sophisticated and boil sweet cherry jam for the winter with regular beet sugars.
This, in fact, ends recommendations on the choice of ingredients.
How to cook jam with bones
For the process of cooking jam you need to prepare the dishes mentioned above and jars. They need to be thoroughly cleaned with baking soda and sterilized. Here each mistress has her own methods. Some pour boiling water, others put in the oven, and others sterilize glass containers with steam. Very comfortable old-style kettle, one that is put on fire. A half-liter or liter jar is hung on the tip of a boiling kettle. And while the hostess fills one jar, the next jar is already sterilized without her participation. This ensures a continuous process and time saving.
Learn also how to make wild strawberry, red and black currant, quince, yoshta, strawberry, cornel, gooseberry, plum, melon, sunberry, hawthorn, pear, physalis, viburnum, cranberry, blueberry, apple, apricot, manchurian jam jam.
And now how to make jam from a sweet cherry with a stone. Cook the easiest and easiest way, in one step. First you need to prepare the berries. They are sorted, separating the pedicels, and sorted, leaving only the selected.
Following procedure - soaking raw materials in cold water with salt. Salt is added to taste, so that the water is salty in moderation. Few people know why this is done. And the answer is simple: to remove fruit worms, which, albeit in small quantities, are sure to be found in the berries. They can be seen, they fall to the bottom of the tank.
Then, according to the proposed recipe for jam from cherries with a stone, the berries should be thoroughly washed with clean cold water in order to remove all traces of salt. Impaling berries. This is done so that they do not wrinkle during cooking. If there is a lot of cherry, you can imagine how long it will take for this process. There is a way out: to flush out the sweet cherry. A portion of berries is dipped into boiling water in a colander, and after 2-3 minutes it is removed and immediately placed in cold water. And so, until the raw material is over.
Berries are prepared, now you need to cook syrup. Remember that 0.8 or 1 kg of sugar requires 1 cup of water. We place the ingredients in the cooking container (copper basin, cauldron, aluminum basin) according to the recipe and set on medium heat.
Important! It is impossible to move away from the cauldron, you need to stand over it and continuously mix sugar with water.It is at this point that sugar can burn, ruining the dishes.
Sugar in the process of heating melted and boiled syrup. Cook it a little more - and you can breathe a sigh of relief. At this point, add cinnamon or vanilla, if desired, a couple of leaves of cherry and citric acid.
Berries are laid straight into the boiling syrup. Again, you need to wait until the brew boils, constantly, but not continuously, stirring. When the jam begins to boil intensely, the fire decreases. Jam is cooked without a break, without standing, as in some other recipes, 1-2 hours to a thick, sticky state. Finally it is ready.
Next, sterilized jars are filled with boiled lids and rolled. Inverted jars are recommended to wrap to cool.
Did you know? The popular name of sweet cherry is "bird cherry".
Storage rules
Jam is stored in cellars and cellars - it is in the village or in the country. In a city apartment, sugar-rich, sterilized, hermetically packed products can stand for years. But just this and do not need to do. There is an opinion that the seeds of berries during such storage emit prussic acid, which can be seriously poisoned. Like it or not - you should not check for yourself.
Sweet cherries, cooked in this way, will delight the hostess and her loved ones on cold winter evenings in a cozy warm kitchen with a cup of tea.
