What can you make from strawberries?

Experienced housewives do not wonder what can be made from strawberries, because this fragrant berry with an unforgettable taste can be the basis of desserts, sauces and even soup.

Regardless of which dish will be prepared from strawberries, you should use whole, intact fruits that have reached technical maturity. They contain the maximum amount of nutrients. They have the highest content of pectin, so the berries in the jam and compotes will keep the shape and maintain elasticity, and the jams and jellies will have the necessary consistency.

Some hostesses, especially if the strawberries will be cut or frayed, tend to use slightly rotted or damaged fruits. They cut off the low-quality part of the berry, using the rest for cooking. However, such strawberries will provoke fermentation processes, therefore dishes made from it cannot be called useful. Billets can deteriorate and even explode.

Harvesting berries involves their sorting and washing. If you plan to cook a dish of whole berries, you need to select those that have approximately the same size. In this case, they will be prepared at the same time and you will avoid a situation where the larger berries will remain unprepared and the smaller ones will melt.

Strawberries quickly absorb moisture, so you need to wash it quickly. To do this, a small amount of berries poured into a colander and washed under cool water. Do not turn them over with your hands, it is better to shake the colander slightly. After washing the first batch, you need to let the water drain, and only then spread the strawberries in a single layer on a clean, dry towel. Now the next part of the berries is washed in the same way.

If the strawberry is very dirty, you can put it in the bowl, pour water on it and leave it for 3-5 minutes. Berries fall to the bottom, and litter, insects and leaves will float to the surface. After this, the berries are washed again with a colander.

It is important to allow the strawberries to dry completely before proceeding with further processing. You should not wash the berries in advance, they sour. Clean strawberries should be freed from green tails, after washing hands with soap and water.

The peculiarity of strawberry preparation is that it requires minimal thermal exposure. So the berries retain their structure and remain tender. Long cooking turns them into "rubber". Short-term high-temperature exposure is also a guarantee that the strawberry dish will bring maximum benefit.

From the point of view of benefits, the most useful, perhaps, is the freezing of whole or grated berries. In both cases, it is not cooked at all, and sugar acts as a preservative.

To freeze a whole berry, you need to prepare it, peel it and put it on a cutting board or tray in a single layer, putting the berries in the place of attachment of the stem. Then send them for an hour to freeze in the freezer.

After 60 minutes, strawberries need to get, pour sugar and again send in the freezer until complete "freezing". Ready berries to shift into a package for more ergonomic storage. 600-700 g of sugar is enough for 2 kg of berries.

In the future, such strawberries can be eaten as a separate dish, as well as served with whipped cream, pancakes, used as a curd filling, decoration for cakes and pastries. If desired, you can put the berries on the compote, add to the pastries or cook jam.

Another option to keep fresh strawberries is to grind it with sugar and freeze it. For this berries need to turn into a puree. You can use a sieve or scroll through a meat grinder. The first option is more time consuming, but will allow you to get a berry mass without stones. Finally, you can punch the berries in a blender, then you get a liquid, but quite airy consistency.

Next, in a sterile jar you need to lay out a layer of puree, on top of it - a layer of sugar, and so on to the top of the container. The top layer must be from sugar, and its thickness should be increased by 2 times. This will save the dish for a longer period. Next, close the jar lid and store it in the refrigerator for storage. For 2 kg of berries requires 2.5 kg of sugar, that is, the proportion looks like 1: 1.5.

Rubbed strawberries will be a useful basis for tea and fruit drinks during the flu and colds season, because the berry has a pronounced immunostimulating and anti-cold effects. The mass will be quite thick, it is convenient to make jelly and marmalade from it, add to cocktails, soak biscuits. If you want to take it as a filling for the cake, it is better to first thicken it and reduce a little.

Another option to preserve fresh berries - pour its own juice. This method involves pouring whole grains with sugar (the proportions are the same as for “live” jam). After a while, the berry will give juice, after which the strawberries should be separated from the juice, and the resulting syrup should be boiled over the fire. In some cases, water is added.

Boiled syrup need to pour the berries and leave them in this form for 10-12 hours. Then drain the syrup and boil it again. Its quantity will increase, because the berries will give the juice. Usually, the procedure is repeated three times; at the last pouring, the berries are boiled for 3-5 minutes on fire. Then the whole mass is distributed in sterile jars.

You can save strawberries for the winter, and make jam from it. The whole variety of recipes can be reduced to two groups - liquid and thick. Liquid jam involves minimal cooking. Thick in its consistency close to confiture. Since strawberries do not contain much pectin, in order to obtain a thicker consistency of jam, one has to resort to certain tricks.

Increasing the amount of sweetener and cooking time, it is possible to obtain a thick and sticky syrup. However, due to their laboriousness and the reduction of “usefulness” in the composition of the berries, some hostesses do not like this method.

Fresh strawberries in an electric drier or oven can be turned into dried. Strawberry candied fruits can be added to tea, cocktails, cereals, and muesli, and can be eaten dry like chips. They are sweet enough and will replace candy.

There are many recipes for cooking, but we will focus on the classic version.

Composition:

• 500 g strawberries;
• glass of water;
• 500 grams of sugar;
• icing sugar for candied fruit dressing.

Berries to prepare. From the water and sweetener cook syrup, waiting for the complete dissolution of the sugar crystals. Berries lowered into the syrup and over high heat to bring to a boil, then wait another couple of minutes. Remove the foam that appears and re-boil the berries. Similarly, you need to do 5-6 times.

Then discard the berries on a sieve and drain excess liquid. It will take about 3-5 hours. Strawberries by this time a little dry.

The next step is the evaporation of moisture from the berries. To do this, they are in one layer, avoiding sticking together, spread on a baking sheet, covered with parchment. Dried strawberries at a temperature of 80-90 degrees for 2-3 hours. If an electric oven is used, the temperature can be reduced to 60 degrees, but in this case the drying time will be 3-5 hours. The oven door should not be tightly closed, it should be half open.

After a specified time, push down on the berries. We ate the juice of them no longer stands out, candied almost ready. Baking should be removed from the oven and leave for a quarter of an hour in room conditions. The finished berries are then rolled in powder and cleaned for storage.

You can not boil strawberries in syrup, and pour it to them. That is, the cooking technology is similar to that used to make berries in its own juice.The difference is that it is enough to stand strawberries in syrup for 15-20 minutes. Fill - up to 7 times. For 1 kg of berries, take the same amount of sugar and 300 ml of water. The process of drying the berries in the oven is no different from that described above.

You can make lemonade with strawberries. It will make a pleasant refreshing drink, but most importantly, its composition will be natural and known to you. Unlike the classic homemade lemonade based on oranges and lemons, strawberry drink has a softer, not so sharp taste.

Ingredients:

• a glass of strawberry;
• 2.5 liters of pure water;
• 2 lemons;
• half a cup of sugar (you can adjust the sweetness of the drink to your taste);
• a few sprigs of mint.

Syrup is first cooked. It is necessary to achieve the dissolution of the sweetener (by the way, you can take a sugar substitute, although a slightly noticeable bitterness will appear in the taste of the drink). At this time, the lemons are scalded with boiling water and cut into medium-sized pieces along with the peel.

Put the citrus on the bottom of the jug and pour hot syrup. This will help fill the last with citrus notes and level the bitterness of lemon rinds. The composition should be given 30-40 minutes to cool. At this time, you can wash and peel the strawberries, then cut it into plates. Such slices will give your taste and smell to lemonade and will look attractive in a drink.

In the cooled citrus syrup add strawberries and mint. It is better to rub the last one first in hands for an incredible fragrance. The last step is to add water (it can be carbonated) to the beverage. Its quantity is determined by taste. Serve lemonade with ice or frozen strawberries.

Cooking strawberry marmalade at home does not require high culinary skills, while the homemade version, as the reviews show, will be much tastier than the shop counterpart. Needless to say, and at times more useful. To obtain the desired structure of the dessert in the marmalade must be included pectin or gelatin.

Ingredients:

• 300 grams of strawberries;
• 100 ml of water;
• 4 tablespoons of sugar;
• 2 teaspoons agar-agar.

Prepared strawberries should be whipped with a blender together with sugar and put on fire. As soon as the mass boils, you should reduce the intensity of the flame and simmer the mass for 5-7 minutes. In cold water, dilute the agar-agar and pour in the berry mass.

Bring to a boil, but do not boil. Then cover the tray with baking paper (it is better to oil it with vegetable oil) or cling film, then pour the marmalade mass. Previously, the latter must be cooled to 50 degrees.

Next, marmalade should be given time to freeze, then remove from the mold, cut into slices and roll in powdered sugar. To save the bright aroma of berries will allow a tablespoon of lemon juice, added to the composition.

Gentle, airy and fragrant strawberry marshmallows of a soft pink shade will leave few indifferent. Agar-agar is used as a thickener, the gel strength must be at least 1000. It is unacceptable to replace it with gelatin, the dish will not work.

Composition:

• 300 grams of strawberries;
• 150 ml of water;
• 650 g of sugar;
• 100 g of powdered sugar;
• 9 g of agar-agar;
• 1 egg white.

Dilute the agar-agar in cold water and leave for half an hour to swell. Meanwhile, turn strawberries into mashed potatoes by sifting through a sieve. 300 g puree is obtained from the specified number of berries. If it came out a little more, remove the excess.

Puree a little warm and cover with sugar, using 200 g of sweetener. The crystals of the latter must completely dissolve. Separate the protein and beat a little with a fork. Agar-agar to put on a slow fire and enter the remaining sugar. When heated, it will turn into a syrupy syrup. It will take about 5 minutes.

Combine half of the protein mass with the cooled berry puree and beat until the mixture brightens, then enter the second half of the protein and continue the process for another 2 minutes.

Remove agar-agar from the heat (it should be hot, but not gurgling) and quickly put into the whipped mass. Pouring should be closer to the walls of the mixer bowl, because when it hits the whisk, it will begin to thicken.

Already from this point on, the agar-agar begins to solidify, therefore one should beat the mass a little more (only to mix the ingredients) and place it in the pastry bag. Cover the baking tray or tray with parchment and using the nozzle to set aside small marshmallows. Give them 5-6 hours to freeze in room conditions.

Morse, unlike compote, does not involve the digestion of berries, which means that it is a more useful drink. For 2 liters of water you need to take 3 cups of berries. Add sugar to taste and boil syrup in water. Squeeze the juice out of the berries, put the cake in the syrup and boil for a couple of minutes, filter the liquid. When it cools to room temperature, pour the juice.

A simple option is to use crushed berries, which are poured with water. To strawberries gave more juice, it needs to fall asleep with a small amount of sugar and wait a bit. If desired, you can strain the drink.

In the summer heat, I don’t want to eat hot soups, but for many people it’s hard to call lunch without the first one a full meal. This is where okroshka and botvinia come to the rescue. However, from the strawberry it turns out not less tasty and cooling soup. Kids will appreciate it.

Ingredients:

• 500 g fresh strawberries;
• 1-2 oranges;
• sugar to taste.

Squeeze juice from oranges. Set aside some beautiful strawberries, punch the rest with a blender and mix with orange juice. Add sugar and mix the dish, allowing the sugar to completely dissolve. Instead of the usual, you can use brown sweetener, which will give caramel notes to the soup.

Pour the soup in plates, decorate with fresh strawberries, mint leaves. You can add sour cream, yogurt or ice cream.

You can make strawberry juice in several ways. Less time consuming - use a juicer. If such a unit is absent, you will first have to grind the berry through a sieve, and then squeeze through gauze folded in 2-3 layers.

As a rule, the juice is very concentrated, so before fresh consumption it is usually diluted with water or softer carrot juice. You can pour the juice into ice molds and freeze. Such pieces of ice can later be used for cocktails, fruit drinks or sauces.

If you want to keep the juice for the winter, then it should be heated on low heat for 10 minutes with the addition of sugar. Per 1 liter of juice requires 100 g of berries (a little more). Next, the drink is distributed in sterile jars and sealed with metal lids.

Sweet and juicy strawberries with a slight acidity are also suitable for making sauces, and depending on the spices used, it can complement both sweet desserts and emphasize the taste of meat and fish.

The strawberry sauce is called coolie. It was originally prepared from vegetables, meat or crayfish. However, today coolies are a berry-based sauce, which can remain fresh or be subjected to heat treatment.

To make it you need to take:

• 250 g strawberries;
• 40 mg of water;
• a teaspoon of cornstarch;
• 6 g of gelatin;
• tablespoon of sugar;
• a few leaves of mint and basil.

Prepared strawberries punch blender with sugar and greens. Now add the starch, mix the composition thoroughly and put it on fire for 2-3 minutes. At this time, dilute the gelatin in warm water, mix it thoroughly to break the lumps, and pour into the berry mass. Hold on the fire until the first bubbles appear, but do not let the mass boil.

Cool, serve in a sauce-pan, decorating with a mint leaf. For more piquancy, you can add a pinch of allspice, cinnamon and cloves.If you refuse to use greens and spices and add more gelatin (10 g), then the sauce can be used for layer of cake layers.

Since there are many acids in strawberries, it is unacceptable to use metal dishes for its preparation. From this, the raw material is oxidized. The best packaging is enameled. And if it is supposed to boil berry mass, then the dishes should be taken with thick walls and a bottom.

Lemon juice or acid helps to preserve the color of strawberry dishes, and mint, sweet peas, and cinnamon enhance the flavor and add savory notes.

When preparing candied fruits, do not reduce the amount of sugar and the time of exposure to the berries with syrup, since the shelf life of the dish depends on it. Sugar acts as a natural preservative, so with its lack of candied fruits will begin to deteriorate. If you plan to put candied fruit in baking, do it better in the dough, without subjecting the dried pieces to the pre-soaking.

If you need to boil down strawberry puree until ready, then it is better to focus not on the time frame, but on the appearance of foam. She testifies to the readiness of the berries. As a rule, it is removed, since it gives bitterness during preservation and can lead to damage to the blanks.

How to make strawberry ice cream, see the next video.