Open a jar of strawberry compote in the winter - a real pleasure! Already only when pronouncing the word "strawberry" a person has the most pleasant feelings, associations and anticipations. Today we will talk about how to make a fragrant, tasty and healthy drink for the winter.
About the benefits of strawberries
This berry is almost 90% of the water. But in the remaining 10 percent, nature fit surprisingly many useful substances in the form of the most important vitamins: retinol, beta-carotene, biotin, tocopherol, ascorbic acid and most of the vitamin B group, as well as organic acids, pectins, phenols, flavonoids and as many as 20 types micro and macronutrients. 
Such a saturation of substances valuable to the human body in combination with the outstanding gastronomic qualities of strawberries pushed it into the ranks of if not the main, but far from the last in its usefulness food products.
Did you know? Judging by the excavations, strawberries in its original, uncultured state in the Stone Age decorated the menu of primitive man.
ABOUT the benefits of strawberries can be judged by the list of medical problems, in the prevention and resolution of which this berry can help. This is most clearly manifested in:
- optimization of metabolic processes;
- maintaining normal visual acuity and intraocular pressure;
- strengthening the nervous system;
- enhance brain activity;
- normalization of blood composition;
- increase stress resistance;
- strengthening the immune system;
- normalizing the activity of the cardiovascular system by strengthening the heart muscle and the walls of blood vessels;
- reducing the content of "bad" cholesterol in the blood and preventing the formation of blood clots;
- normalization of blood pressure;
- optimization of the gastrointestinal tract;
- normalization of the functioning of the liver, gallbladder, kidneys and urinary tract;
- normalization of water-salt balance in the body;
- anti-insomnia and normalization of sleep;
- removing excess sugar from the body;
- detoxification;
- activation of regeneration of cellular structures;
- relief of pain during arthritis and gout;
- rejuvenating effects on the skin, hair and nails;
- beneficial effects on the development of the fetus during pregnancy.
Kitchenware
Before you start cooking strawberry compote for the winter, you need to decide what and with what you have to cook it. Usually for this event is enough:
- enamel pans;
- wooden or plastic spoons;
- ladle;
- colander;
- sterilized three-liter cans;
- metal cover for canning;
- sealing key;
- plastic cover with holes;
- warming in the form of warm clothes or a blanket.
Strawberries for the winter can be prepared in different ways: freeze, make jam, marshmallow or jam.
Ingredients
To fill the three-liter capacity strawberry compote, you need the following products for its preparation:
- fresh strawberries - 0.5 kg;
- water - 2.5 l;
- granulated sugar - 0.2 kg.
Pre-preparation of berries
Having selected ripe dry berries with green tails and with a smooth, shiny surface, they should be washed well and then a green tail should be torn off from each berry.
Important! In no case should not be used for compote berries that lose their shape or, especially, slightly rotted.
Preparing cans
For good preservation of compote during the winter, much depends on how carefully sterilization is carried out of the cans in which it will be stored. 
Sterilize thoroughly washed jars using a jet of steam emitted by a special stand, which is sold in any hardware store, or by roasting in an oven. Simultaneously with the sterilization of containers should be boiled for preservation for at least 10 minutes.
Find out what methods you can sterilize the banks at home.
Recipe
- 500 g of washed and tailless berries should be poured into a sterilized three-liter jar.
- Then pour boiling water into it to the top.
- Cover the jar with a sterilized lid and leave for a quarter of an hour.
- After that, using a plastic lid with holes, drain the rosy liquid into a saucepan, leaving the berries in the jar.
- The liquid in the pan should be brought to a boil and dissolve 200 g of sugar in it.
- Then, the resulting syrup should be poured back into the jar, which immediately must be hermetically rolled.
- The bank is turned upside down in a secluded place and covered with some warm clothes in the form of a thick towel or blanket.
Did you know? It has long been observed that strawberries are able to act as a very effective aphrodisiac, with which, obviously, the phrase "pulled strawberries" is connected.
What can be added for taste and aroma
Some who lack pure strawberry flavor and aroma in compote try to enhance them with additional ingredients. For example, add a teaspoon citric acid.
Or prepare strawberry compote and rhubarb In equal proportions, for which the peeled stalks of rhubarb are cut into small pieces and placed in a jar with strawberries. It is believed that it is rhubarb in compote that perfectly matches strawberries.
Read also about how to harvest rhubarb for the winter.
And you can add three teaspoons of orange zest or several small sprigs of mint into a three-liter jar of compote.
What can be combined in compote
A compote of strawberries and cherries is popular, in the preparation of which half of the usual amount of strawberries in a jar is replaced with exactly the same amount of sweet cherries with stones. Cherries can be replaced by cherries with pits.
The cooking process itself varies somewhat from pure strawberry. Here, the mixture of berries should first be filled with cold water, and then it should be brought to a boil along with the berries.
To boil strawberries and apples compote, half of the strawberries should be replaced with two apples, which should be freed from the middle and cut into slices. Then, in boiling water in a saucepan, you should first fill the apples, and after a couple of minutes, strawberries. After the sugar has dissolved, the compote must be boiled over low heat for 5 minutes.
Familiarize yourself with recipes for wintering cherries (drying, freezing), sweet cherries (compote, jam, white sweet cherry jam), raspberries (wine, brandy), apples (freezing, soaked, jam and jam, compotes and juice, wine, cider, moonshine) currants (jam, wine).
But compote with the addition of raspberries cooked in the same way as pure strawberry. The berries here are taken in equal proportions. The same proportions in the drink with the addition of black currant, only it is boiled, as is the case with apples. 
Where it is better to store blanks
Compote spilled in carefully sterilized jars should be stored in a cool and dark place. The best option for this is a dry basement. At high air humidity there is a high probability of damage to metal covers by corrosion.
In the absence of a basement, many people store their blanks in storerooms, where it is not so cool, but dark, which allows vitamins and other useful substances to be preserved. You can do without pantry, but then experienced owners wrapped the banks in black paper.
Important! In any conditions, banks with strawberry compote should not be stored for more than two years.
Strawberry compote harvested for the winter is a preserved slice of summer that has arrived on uncomfortable winter days with its taste, aroma and sunny mood in your home.
