Cherry plum jam: a new taste of sweet blanks from a relative of plum

Cherry plum is the closest relative of the familiar plum, their only difference is only in size and location of growth.Cherry plum fruits have a sweet and sour savory taste, they can be eaten fresh, but more often they cook fragrant jam and sweet and sour jam and jam from a cherry plum.

Cherry plum is not only unusually tasty, but also very healthy fruit. They contain significant amounts of vitamins and minerals, pectins, tannins, as well as fiber, which is necessary to maintain the normal functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. In the process of heat treatment plum does not lose its properties, so the fruit jam from it has very useful properties:

• cleanses the body of toxins, pollution and slags;
• normalizes blood circulation;
• improves the metabolism and activity of the nervous system;
• has a slight choleretic effect;
• reduces the severity of headaches;
• improves immunity, optimizes the protective functions of the body;
• relieves symptoms of colds, such as sore throat and cough, as well as a runny nose;
• significantly improves the condition of the skin, prevents early aging.

There is evidence of the positive effects of cherry plum on the body in diseases of the kidneys, urinary tract and liver.

Doctors especially recommend the jam of these fruits emaciated people, recovering sick, as well as pregnant women.

Due to the high content of vitamins, cherry plum jam can be an excellent means of combating winter avitaminosis, since even after processing this fruit remains a particularly valuable source of minerals, fructose and organic acids.

At the same time, one should not forget that the cherry plum jam contains a large amount of refined sugar, the excessive consumption of which causes problems with the heart and the vascular system, leads to the development of diabetes, as well as obesity and metabolic disorders.

Nutriciologists have shown that sugar is often very addictive to the human body, which, in its severity, can be compared even with narcotic. As soon as sugar enters the body, it immediately begins to develop a special hormone responsible for the emergence of a sense of pleasure - dopamine. In this case, the human body clearly remembers the connection "sugar - pleasure" and simply forces to use it more and more, in order to achieve maximum hormone production. You, probably, noticed that very few people can easily stop at a single candy or a sip of lemonade - the same thing happens with jam and jam made of cherry plum.

However, this does not mean that fruit jam should be excluded from your diet. Not at all, you can eat jam from these fragrant fruits every day, however it is necessary to achieve such a ratio of consumed proteins, fats and carbohydrates in the menu, so that sweet jam and other "unhealthy" products make up no more than 20% of the diet, and the remaining 80 % accounted for fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and eggs.

Certain species of cherry plum are almost impossible to separate from the bones without special treatment, so they are commonly used for compotes, in which they are preserved together with bones. However, from the juicy and fragrant fruits are especially tasty jams and jam, and in this case, the fruit should be prepared in advance.

If for winter preparations you buy varieties that can quickly open in two parts, then you need to clean them in advance - in fact, this is the only thing that should be done at the preparation stage for cooking the main dish. There is no need to peel the skin, because during the heat treatment it becomes rather soft.

As a rule, for the manufacture of jam per 1 kg of fruit is required 700 grams of white sugar.However, this ratio may vary, since the individual varieties of cherry plum have a slight acidity, and each has its own taste preferences. So, lovers of sweet can safely take the necessary ingredients in a ratio of 1 to 1, but if you take a sweet fruit, you should add three or four slices of lemon or a couple of orange slices.

Red cherry jam is cooked according to the classic recipe, It requires the following ingredients:

• cherry plum without stones - 1 kg;
• refined sugar - 1 kg;
• filtered water - 1 cup.

To begin with, wash the fruits and, if possible, remove all the bones contained in them. If it is impossible to get rid of them, then simply pin the skin of each fruit with a fork or toothpick; otherwise, during heat treatment, it will crack and simply separate from the pulp.

Then you need to prepare a syrup of water and sugar, bring to a boil, turn off, and then pour the fruit into it. Ideally, of course, plum should be brewed in the prepared syrup for 8-10 hours, but many housewives just wait until the mixture cools, and immediately continue cooking sweet pieces.

The cooking pot is put on a slow fire and brought to a boil, while it is necessary to stir the jam periodically with a wooden spatula and be sure to remove the froth. After boiling begins, let the pot stand on the fire for another five minutes, then remove from the hotplate and allow to cool.

Then jam should be boiled again and then checked for readiness. For this, a drop of sweet syrup is dripped onto a dry, clean plate and tilted.

Another original jam recipe is spiced jam cooked in the oven with the addition of cinnamon and cloves.

You will need:

• cherry plum red - 1 kg;
• refined sugar - 0.5 kg;
• carnation - 2 pcs .;
• ground cinnamon - on the tip of tsp;
• lemon juice - 2-3 tbsp. l

Fruits are stoned and laid out in a large saucepan or bowl, the rest of the ingredients are poured into it, mixed well and allowed to brew for 3-4 hours.

The oven should be preheated to 180-200 degrees, then cover the pan or other container with a lid and place in a roasting pan for 1.5-2 hours. Every 30 minutes should stir sweet mass.

The finished jam from red cherry plum is poured hot into sterilized dried jars, rolled up with a lid, and after cooling it is placed in storage in a cellar or other cool place.

From the yellow fruits, experienced housewives recommend cooking jam-honey. The product is very aromatic, with a rich taste and a pleasant amber color. Such a dessert will always complement the sweet table. For honey-jam from yellow varieties you will need:

• Alycha yellow - 1 kg;
• refined sugar - 3 kg;
• water - 1.3 l.

Fruits should be washed, mixed with water and boiled for about 15-20 minutes. until soft, after which the mass must be rubbed through a sieve to get rid of the bones and skin. Then it is necessary to strain the broth, in which the fruit was previously cooked, and mix it with the mashed mass of mashed potatoes, add sugar and put the cooking container on moderate heat.

Jam should be brought to a full boil, then continue to cook over low heat for another 50-60 minutes, while stirring constantly. As soon as the mass thickens, the pan can be removed, pour hot jam over the cans and close with plastic or glass lids.

Unfortunately, not all varieties of cherry plum can easily part with their bones, but you can get fragrant jam even in this case. For him are needed:

• cherry plum - 1 kg;
• sugar - 1.5 kg;
• water - 1.5 st.

The cherry plum should be thoroughly cleaned, bruised, cleaned and crushed unripe fruits, get rid of worms. Then you need to rid them of the stems and thoroughly rinse with cool water.

Prepared cherry plums in small batches are placed in hot water and blanched for 3-5 minutes, then immediately cooled in pre-cooked cold water. After this procedure, each fruit is punctured in two or three places and placed in a large saucepan. Simultaneously prepare the syrup, for this, sugar is poured with water and, stirring, brought to the beginning of the boil, and then boiled for 5-7 minutes.

Prepared syrup should be poured over cherry plum and left for 4-5 hours for impregnation. After the specified time has elapsed, the syrup is carefully poured into the cooking vessel and again boiled for 15 minutes over medium heat, after which the fruit is again poured with a little boiled solution and again left for 4-5 hours. Then again syrup is drained and boiled again for half an hour. Then plum is poured again and kept on medium heat for about 15 minutes

Ready jam should be cooled and spread on pre-cooked cans in hot form,

Perhaps the most traditional winter harvest of cherry plum is jam. Most often, yellow varieties are used for it, a little tart and with a barely perceptible acidity. From such a fruit is quite problematic to remove the bone, so it is better to make jam from it.

To begin with, plum should be cleaned and rinsed with water, then poured into a basin with a thick or double bottom and pour bottled or filtered cool water. For 1 kg of fruit you need half a glass of liquid, put it all together on the stove, gradually bring it to the boiling stage and keep it on low heat for 15-20 minutes.

Next, the resulting mass must be rubbed through a sieve to separate the bones. Purified mashed potatoes are again poured into a saucepan, then they are poured with sugar (0.7-1.0 kg) and cooked over low heat for an hour, often stirring with a wooden spoon.

Significantly simplify the preparation of cherry plum jam will help modern household appliances. If there is a slow cooker in the hostess’s arsenal, then you can safely use it and make fragrant jam in just 1.5–2 hours.

To begin, the fruit should be mixed with water, brought to a boil and boil for 5 minutes for softness, and then quickly cooled under cold water - thanks to these actions, the stone will be easily separated from the pulp and you can quickly prepare the fruit for further processing.

After that, everything is simple: the pulp should be laid out in a slow cooker, put sugar in it, put the “baking” mode and after 45 minutes enjoy fragrant and delicious jam.

To learn how to make cherry plum jam with bones, see the next video.