Starch Jelly Recipes

One of the dishes of traditional Russian cuisine since the times of Kievan Rus is ordinary jelly. For the first time about this dish is mentioned in the annals of the end of X - the beginning of the XI century. This gelatinous mass, depending on its density, can be either a complete dish or a dessert drink. Previously, jelly was prepared on the basis of oatmeal or wheat broth and was a viscous greyish yellow mass, which was flavored with salt and ate with a piece of bread or cereal. The name of the dish was due to the sour taste, as it was preparing a drink from the fermented grains.

After the importation of potatoes into the country and the spread of potato starch, kissel is increasingly made as a dessert with the addition of various fruits and berries. Just a few years ago, this drink could be tasted in any canteen or away, but every year it is replaced by various ready-made juices, yoghurts and sweet drinks. Nevertheless, kissel is a storehouse of beneficial micronutrients and vitamins, so do not give up on such a dessert.

Since kissel can stew from a variety of starch with the addition of a large number of ingredients, it is impossible to specify one nutritional value and calorie content. The content of BZHU in a product can vary within certain limits. Thus, kissel can contain from 0 to 1 g of protein (protein is contained only if milk is included in the composition), from 0 to 0.5 g of fat (also in the case of a milk base), and from 10 to 40 g of carbohydrates.

Calorie dessert drink ranges from 56 to 152 kcal per 100 g of product. More dense and sweet desserts contain more calories, and liquid drinks, similar to compotes, a smaller amount.

In home jelly contains many useful substances for the human body:

• B vitamins (thiamine, pantothenic acid);
• potassium, necessary to maintain the balance of alkali and acid, as well as the restoration of the muscular system;
• vitamin PP (nicotinic acid);
• many amino acids, such as lecithin, choline, riboflavin and others.

The benefits of such a drink is obvious.

• The specific consistency of the jelly allows it to envelop the walls of the esophagus and stomach, which helps with severe pain. The drink is useful for gastritis, peptic ulcer diseases and acts as a prevention of gastrointestinal diseases. The main thing is not to use ready-made store powders, but to prepare a dish from natural ingredients.
• Regular consumption of liquid or thick jelly stabilizes the microflora and allows you to forget about dysbiosis, diarrhea and swelling in the intestines. The drink will help relieve the heaviness in the stomach and protect against overeating, which means it will help those who follow a certain diet. In addition, oatmeal jelly, along with proper nutrition and physical activity will help to lose weight and reduce the amount of subcutaneous fat.
• Berry fruit jelly removes excess fluid from the body and helps relieve puffiness. It stabilizes the kidneys and the urinary system.
• The high content of vitamins and beneficial amino acids turns sour snack into a real energetic feed. The drink will increase physical activity, improve mood and help with seasonal avitaminosis.

Frequent consumption of a sweet drink is not recommended for everyone, and some people will have to give it up altogether.

• People with diabetes, it is advisable not to eat such high-carbohydrate foods that increase the level of glucose. Only one way out of this situation is to use not sweet, but salty oatmeal kissel.
• Obese people should be careful.The glycemic index of a sweet drink is too high to be called dietary, therefore, with an excessive amount of fatty deposits, the jelly will only bring harm, not benefit.
• People with allergies need to remember that most often an allergic reaction is caused by the dyes and preservatives that make up the powder mixtures. When preparing a dish with your own hands, you can simply exclude from it those products for which a person has an individual intolerance. In contrast, it is possible to note the possibility of eating oatmeal kissel for those who do not tolerate lactose in animal milk, as vegetable protein does not cause such an acute reaction in them.

For each type of jelly, whether it is a drink made from corn, oatmeal or potato starch, there are different recipes. However, the basic principles of cooking and cooking dishes remain the same. The main ingredients are water and starch, and the content may vary significantly.

First you need to pour the required amount of prescription starch powder in a glass of cool water and stir it thoroughly. Do not pre-dilute the starch in the water, otherwise it will settle to the bottom, so the end result does not meet expectations. So that the resulting mixture does not contain lumps, it is filtered through a fine sieve. The finished mixture is added to the pan with the required amount of water according to the recipe and stirred until smooth. Pour the mixture into a thin stream while stirring.

The proportions of powder and water depend on the thickness of the final product: for a drink, you need to pour in more water, and for a gel-like dessert less.

• Thick kissel requires at least 80 g of starch per 1 liter of water. In the absence of kitchen scales, powder can be measured with spoons. 80 g of starch is about 3 tablespoons with a small slide.
• The average thickness of the kissel brewed from 45 grams of starch - 2 tablespoons without a hill of dry powder.
• Liquid kissel, similar to compote, is made from only 30 g of dry product diluted in 1 liter of water.

Boil the sour mixture is not necessary, just wait until the starch is completely dissolved, then you can remove the pan from the stove. The optimal cooking time is the period from 20 to 30 minutes, not more. Long-term boiling of starch at high temperatures will turn it into glucose and reduce the viscosity of the final product. To keep the jelly from burning and not lumping, it is best to use an enamel saucepan or thick-bottomed saucepan. It is better to stir it not with a metal spoon, but with a wooden spatula, otherwise the dessert will have a resistant metallic aftertaste.

The finished drink is cooled to a temperature of 40-43 degrees and bottled. If a thick dessert is stored in the pan itself in the refrigerator for several days, a thin film will appear on it that tastes unpleasant.

Each ingredient that is part of the jelly, makes certain changes in it. So, depending on the starch, the density and appearance of the finished drink varies greatly.

• Rice. Kissel will be cloudy with a grayish-white tint. This dessert does not look very attractive, so it is almost never cooked on rice starch.
• Corn. It has the same problem as rice - low transparency. On corn starch, it is good to prepare milk jelly, having a liquid consistency and white color.
• Wheat or oatmeal. Starch from grain crops makes the dish very thick and dense, turning it almost into porridge.Such a dish is very useful for treating gastrointestinal diseases and maintaining a diet; however, aesthetics should be added to this product with an additional decoration.
• Potato. This starch is used in the preparation of most jelly. It will allow you to cook as a transparent berry compote, and thick sweet jelly. Virtually all ready-made powders for jelly contain exactly potato starch.

Thick starch drink can be prepared both without additives, and with various berries, fruits and cereals. All of them change the properties of the finished dish and contribute their own nutrients. For example, cranberry jelly is indicated for diseases of the gallbladder and hypertension. Cranberries are also useful in diseases of the urinary tract. Lingonberry jelly has anti-inflammatory and choleretic effects. The rich content of vitamins in lingonberries will help to cope with neurosis and vitamin deficiency, gently soothe stress and depression.

Kissel from any fruit and berries will help in the treatment and prevention of colds and viral diseases. You can cook it with cranberries, currants, strawberries, raspberries, apples, peaches and many other sweet and sour fruits. In addition to sweet dessert kissels, you can prepare a healthy breakfast of wheat or flax. This dish has a dense texture enveloping the esophagus and stomach and soft taste. Drink normalizes the digestive tract, helps with frequent constipation and diarrhea. However, in the presence of cholecystitis, such kissel is not recommended.

Separately it is necessary to allocate oatmeal pudding, cooked not in ordinary water, but in fresh milk. Animal protein, which is part of any dairy products, is necessary for the normal growth and development of children and adolescents, and is also indicated for pregnant women. Use of powdered milk mixed with starch is allowed. This mixture is effective for severe allergies and food poisoning, reduces muscle pain after exercise and helps restore hormonal levels.

Make a tasty and healthy jelly at home will not be easy. The main thing is to pick up high-quality starch and pre-purchase or collect suitable fruits from your own site. Potato or cornstarch can be found at almost any grocery store, and sugar, milk, water, and oatmeal can be found in almost any home.

This recipe for jelly is considered a classic, as it is most useful and easy to prepare. For milk drink you need:

• 1 liter of milk fat content of 2.5%;
• 3 tbsp. spoons of potato starch (or 6 tablespoons of cornstarch);
• 1⁄4 tsp vanilla;
• 3 tbsp. spoons of sugar.

In a glass with 100 ml of cool milk pour the starch and mix the resulting solution thoroughly. In order not to leave a single lump, you can stir the powder with a whisk, slightly beating the milk. Pour the remaining milk into a saucepan with a thick bottom, add sugar and vanilla and set on low heat. As soon as the liquid on the stove is heated to a temperature of 40-45 degrees, pour a mixture of milk with starch into it in a thin stream.

Stir the resulting mass thoroughly until smooth, while stirring, wait for boiling. After that, the jelly cooked literally 1-2 minutes and removed from the heat. To drink the desired consistency, you must first check the milk for freshness.

To combine the benefits of jelly with the taste of your favorite chocolate, it is best to use not a milk bar, but natural bitter chocolate. The percentage of cocoa in this product must be at least 75.It is necessary to take a monolithic tile, as porous sweetness will give an unpleasant taste. To make a dessert, you will need:

• 0.5 liters of milk fat content of 2.5%;
• 1⁄4 glasses of purified water;
• 1 tbsp. spoon of potato starch;
• 30 g dark chocolate;
• 2 tbsp. spoons of sugar;
• 1⁄4 tsp vanilla spoons.

The first step is to melt the chocolate. To do this, broken into small pieces of tile laid out in a saucepan, filled with milk and put on a slow fire. Vanilla and granulated sugar are added to the mixture, everything is stirred with a spatula every 1-2 minutes. The saucepan remains on the fire until the mass becomes homogeneous, after which you can add fire. In 0.5 cups of cool water the starch is stirred, the mixture is filtered through a fine sieve to eliminate the lumps.

The resulting starch solution is poured into the chocolate mass, which must be continuously stirred, in a thin stream. Everything is brought to a boil, boiled for 1-2 minutes after that, and then the stew pan is removed from the stove.

In summer, it is especially good to prepare vitamin jelly from seasonal berries growing on the site. These can be strawberries, cherries, currants, and even honeysuckle. To cook such a drink is best with a lower starch content, so that it resembles a thick juice or compote. It is served in a large jug cooled in a refrigerating chamber. For cooking you need very few ingredients:

• 1 l of purified water;
• 450 g of any fresh berries;
• 60 g of potato starch (or 120 g of corn starch);
• 350 grams of sugar.

Berries are washed with running water, all cuttings and stalks are separated. All fruits should be uncorrupted, without crumpled sides and even more rot. In an enamel saucepan, granulated sugar is combined with water and set on fire. The syrup must be stirred frequently so that the sugar at the bottom of the pan does not burn. As soon as the last sugar bead is dissolved in water, you can add starch and berries, ground with a blender or rubbed through a fine sieve.

Kissel brewed for about 25-30 minutes, after which the pan is removed from the heat, and the drink cools down on the table to room temperature. In the future, you need to remove it in the refrigerator, where the jelly is stored no more than 2-3 days.

If there are no fruits or berries on hand, and you want to cook your favorite delicacy right at this moment, you can use canned jams and preserves instead. For this you will need:

• 950 ml of water;
• 150 g of any jam or thick jam;
• 60 g of potato starch;
• sugar, vanilla and other spices to taste.

The jam is dissolved in water in a large enamel saucepan and put on a slow fire. It is necessary to boil the mixture for about 10 minutes, constantly stirring from the bottom upwards. Hot mix gently filter through a sieve and pour the resulting liquid into a clean pan. The remaining fruits in the sieve can be used to make various pies and puffs. A starch solution is poured into the syrup (1 cup of cool water, 60 g of starch) and spices are added.

The mixture is placed on the fire and brought to the appearance of the first air bubbles from the bottom. As soon as one of them appeared, the fire diminishes to a minimum, and the jelly cooks for another 10-15 minutes with constant stirring until it thickens.

Each housewife or has its own recipe for a delicious jelly, which is customary to cook with family. Someone uses only corn starch, someone prefers a mixture of berries and fruits. It is best to try any recipe yourself, the only way to understand is whether it is suitable in this particular case. However, there are certain tricks that will be useful for everyone, regardless of the recipe.

• To dilute the starch in water to obtain a homogeneous solution, often a quarter or even half a cup is not enough.If the starch solution needs to be poured into a kissel in a thin stream, it is best to stir the powder in a whole glass of cool water. In warm water, starch instantly gathers into clumps, which will be very difficult to "break."
• Berry and fruit jelly on potato and corn starch can not be boiled for more than 3-4 minutes, but it is better to limit to only 1-2 minutes. But milk and cereal jelly is better to boil for about 4-5 minutes, so that the mass becomes more dense and homogeneous.

• In the finished homemade jelly, you can add any spices, honey and even fruit wine for taste. In winter, fruit drinks can be made from dried fruits or frozen berries, this does not impair their taste, although they will yield to summer drinks in favor.
• To prevent thick jelly from sticking to the walls of the dish in which it will be stored, simply moisten it with water. From dense crust from above will help sprinkling from usual icing sugar.
• You should not cook jelly in an aluminum dish - it will lose its saturation and brightness, besides, it is quite harmful to health.

To learn how to cook the starch jelly, see the next video.