11 best ways to store lingonberries for the winter at home
The quality of the fruit and the shelf life of the product depend on the correct choice of the method of storing lingonberries for the winter. This berry is not only frozen and dried, but also made from jelly, jam, enclosed in its own juice. Recipes with a step-by-step description of the process will help you avoid mistakes when harvesting lingonberries and get vitamin supply for the whole winter.
When and how to properly pick lingonberries
It is rare for someone to grow this berry on their own site. As a rule, they go to the forest for lingonberries. The harvest begins at the end of August. For this, a dry sunny day is selected when no rain is expected. This is done either in the morning after the dew has dried, or in the evening.
Only fruit is harvested on which there is no sign of insect or disease damage. The lingonberry should be firm and firm to the touch. Take a slightly unripe berry and put it in a separate container.At home, the fruits are laid out on a paper napkin. After a few days, the lingonberries will ripen at home.
How fast can you run
Before starting the harvest for the winter, the berries are carefully sorted. This is done in several ways.
Rinse with water
The simplest method used by housewives is to rinse the berries with water. To do this, take a wide and deep bowl, fill it with cold water and pour the harvested crop into it. Soak in the liquid for about 15 minutes, during which time all debris and dirt will float to the surface. The procedure is repeated several times with a change of water, until the lingonberry is completely clean.
Wide-meshed cleaning
For this method, it is necessary to have a wide metal mesh with small holes adapted to the size of the berries. The structure is installed with a slight slope for the berries to roll, and a clean cloth or plastic wrap is spread under it. Then they take a small handful of berries, knead them with a crush and pour the resulting juice over the fillet.
The lingonberries will roll off, and the leaves and debris will stick to the juice and stay on the net.
Vacuum
Used to quickly clean the bays of debris and a household appliance such as a vacuum cleaner. You will also need a large sieve or mesh with sides. In small portions, dry berries are poured through a sieve, and the airflow is directed from below with a vacuum cleaner.It is important to set the power correctly so that the berries do not fly in different directions with the leaves and twigs.
Sift in the wind
If it's windy outside, use another simple method.Two containers are prepared: a smaller one, from which the lingonberries will be poured, and the second large, which is put on the ground. They begin to slowly pour the berries, under strong gusts of wind the leaves and twigs will fly on the sides and the heaviest lingonberries will simply fall into the basin on the ground.
On a rough surface
A small gutter is made of metal and covered with a rough cloth. They begin to pour the berry into the structure, which is installed with a slope. Leaves and branches will remain on the fabric, and heavy berries will be poured into the lower container.
The downside to this method is that you often have to remove the fabric from the tray and shake it to remove debris.
Methods and recipes for preparing for winter at home
There are several simple ways to save a vitamin berry until spring at home. Freezing, drying and sweet lingonberry desserts are especially popular with housewives.
Frozen
The biggest advantage of this method of harvesting is that the berry retains all its vitamin supply almost until spring.
whole berries
Peeled and washed berries are laid out on a kitchen or paper towel so that they are completely dry from water. After that, they take out a palette from the freezer, cover it with cling film or parchment paper and lay lingonberries on it in an even layer. They are sent to the freezer to freeze the fruit. After that, they are poured into small bags or food containers with a tight-fitting lid.
Puree with sugar
For freezing grated lingonberries with sugar, plastic cups made from sour cream or yogurt, food containers or cut plastic bottles are suitable. Peeled and washed berries are dried from water and placed in an enamel container.They grind it with a wooden crush, gradually adding sugar. For 1 kg of fruit take 700 grams of sugar, you can increase the proportion of sweetener to 1 kg if you want to get a sweeter product. It is hermetically sealed in a selected container and sent to the freezer. This preparation is used in winter as a vitamin supplement to tea.
Urinate
If the hostess has a cold basement or cellar, you can cook soaked lingonberries. The berry retains all the beneficial substances, and the ingredients for the recipe will require a minimum. Also, the longer the fruit is soaked, the tastier it becomes.
The composition of the ingredients is presented:
- 3 liters of water;
- 5 kg of lingonberry berries;
- 300 g of granulated sugar;
- cinnamon or vanilla at the choice of the hostess.
Sorted lingonberries are poured into a colander and thoroughly washed under running water. Sterilize 3-liter containers and lay the fruits well in them. Then a sweet syrup is cooked from water and sugar with the addition of aromatic spices to your taste. After cooling, the berries put in jars are poured into it. The neck of the container is covered with gauze, the jar is placed in a deep plate and left in the kitchen for 3 days. After this time, the jars are sealed with nylon lids and taken to the cellar for further storage.
Drying
It is best to use a special device for drying berries. But if there is no such unit in the kitchen, then an ordinary oven will do. First, the fruits are prepared: they are sorted, washed, dried in water, spread in an even layer on a napkin. Lingonberries are laid out on the racks of an electric dryer and a baking sheet from the oven and sent to the device.The temperature is set at 60 degrees.
When the berries are completely dry, they are transferred to dry glass containers, covered with nylon lids and removed to a dark, dry place.
Grinding with sugar
To create such a blank, you need only 2 ingredients: sugar and berries. They are taken in a ratio of 1: 1. Half-liter jars are also prepared in advance. They are washed with baking soda and sterilized by steam or microwave. Washed lingonberries are dried and pounded with a wooden pestle in an enamel container, gradually adding sugar. Can be used to turn berries into oatmeal and a meat grinder.
Mix the puree well and put it in the jars. For better preservation, sprinkle granulated sugar on top. Store such a blank only in the refrigerator or in the cellar. The shelf life of grated lingonberries with sugar is no more than six months.
Preservation
For this recipe you need ripe berries. They are washed from dust and dirt, thrown in a colander and left to drain. The fruits are placed in washed jars, poured with boiling water and placed in a saucepan for further sterilization. Sugar is not included in this recipe. The heat treatment time for lingonberries is 10 minutes for half-liter containers. After that, they are rolled up with metal lids and covered with a warm blanket to cool the jars. They are stored in the closet of the apartment and in the basement.
In his juice
Instead of water for canning, this recipe uses berry juice. Washed fruits are placed in sterilized containers and sprinkled with plenty of sugar.
Banks are allowed to rest overnight, during which the required amount of juice will be released. In the morning, the containers are placed in a pot of water and half-liter containers are sterilized for about 15 minutes.
Boiled lingonberry
The fruits are laid out in an enamel bowl and covered with sugar. After that, they start cooking. Do 2 rounds of 5 minutes each, after the third baking, roll up with metal lids and cool under a warm tea towel.
Jam
Lingonberry jam is prepared according to the same recipe as for other berries. They take 800 grams of sugar per kilogram of berries, wait for the fruits to release a little juice so that the jam does not stick to the bottom of the container, and put on fire. Cooking time depends on the preferences of the hostess. If you want to get a thicker consistency, the time is increased to 20-30 minutes. Otherwise, boiling for 15 minutes is sufficient.
In syrup
The berries preserved in sweet syrup are then used to garnish pies. The berries are washed, and the dried ones are laid out in sterile jars. Separately, in a saucepan, syrup is boiled from water and sugar, the amount of sweetener is taken to taste, but it must be remembered that lingonberries are sour berries. After boiling, pour the jars and let cool. After that, the syrup is again poured into a saucepan, again brought to a boil, and the lingonberries are again poured. This time they already roll the lids, turn them over and wrap them until they cool completely.
Goo
For the preparation of flavored jelly, thickeners are used. Instant gelatin is generally used. Juice is squeezed out of the berries using a juicer. Sugar is added to it and put on the fire.A few minutes before the end of cooking, pour the gelatin diluted in cold water and turn off the gas. After that, you can lay out on sterile jars and roll up. They consume as much as possible 700 grams of sugar per liter of juice.
How to prepare and store berries during long-term transport
If you need to transport berries for a long time, choose low wooden crates or plastic containers. It is important to bring fresh air to the berries and in no case wash them before transport. Although lingonberry is one of the densest berries, there are usually no transport problems.
Additional tips and tricks
When harvesting lingonberries for the winter, you can not use metal containers for cooking or chopping the berries so that the product does not oxidize. You can store the berries not only on the day of picking, but also the next day, the fruits are perfectly stored in a cold place and leave juice if not washed.