How to make strawberry jam with whole berries?

At first glance, it is quite simple to make strawberry jam - you need to boil the berries in sugar syrup.However, to get a fragrant dessert with a transparent syrup, in which whole berries float, you can only by knowing and observing many subtleties. A special approach requires both the preparation of berries, and the process of selecting containers, methods of preparation, seaming and storage of preservation.

Sometimes the housewives do not pay much attention to the careful preparation of the berries, but the taste of the dish and even its ability to be stored for a long time depends on it.

The process of preparing strawberries can be divided into the following steps.

At this stage, you need to select ripe berries without damage. Greens will give bitterness to jam and become “rubbery”, overripe ones will boil dry, becoming a mess.

Strawberries should also not be taken with minor damage or rot. Even if they are completely insignificant, fermentation processes have already begun in the berry. At best, the jam of them will be sour and muddy, at worst - provoke an explosion of cans and poisoning.

When starting washing strawberries, it should be remembered that this berry is very delicate, it is easy to damage, it quickly accumulates moisture, which negatively affects the taste and texture of jam.

Given these factors, you should rinse the strawberries quickly by placing a small amount of it in a colander. Do not turn on the strong pressure of the water or turn the berries by hand. Instead, you can gently shake the colander.

Decontaminating strawberries will also help washing it in acetic water. To do this, for 1 liter of liquid is taken 1 tablespoon of vinegar 9%. After this wash, rinse the berries with clean water.

Washed strawberries tedious for some time left in a colander to glass water. Then the berries in a single layer spread on a clean, dry towel so that they are completely dry.

Carefully washing your hands with soap and water, you can begin to remove the green tails. It will not be superfluous to scald the dishes with boiling water and wipe the working surfaces. This is due to the fact that it is not recommended to wash the berries after removing the sepals, so that the juice does not stand out from them.

You can use various methods of cleansing strawberries from greenery, but the most careful is still manual. To make the green tails easier to separate, the berry can be twisted slightly, holding it with one hand and tearing off the sepals with the other.

The important point is to prepare the strawberries just before cooking the jam. If you do this in advance, the berry will sour. For washing you can not use warm and hot water, you can only cool.

In no case can you change the stages of the number 2 and 4, that is, first clean the berries, and then wash them. From this strawberry will absorb a lot of liquid, in addition, the place of attachment of the stem can become the “entrance gate” for pathogenic microflora.

To make jam you need to find a suitable container. It should not be metallic, since oxidation may occur due to the large amount of acids in the berries, which will not in the best way affect the taste of the finished dessert. In an aluminum saucepan, the jam will start to burn, so the best option is enamelware. It is important that the enamel layer was complete, without chips and cracks.

Strawberry jam is very capricious, and it strives to run away or burn. Preventing this will also help the correct packaging - if its bottom is heated evenly, but the walls are not exposed to strong heat, the jam will not burn. In the best way this corresponds to the enamel basin.

In addition, more rapid evaporation of moisture occurs in the pelvis, so the syrup thickens faster, and the berries do not boil soft. But even in the right pot, you need to mix the jam all the time. First, it is cooked on moderate heat, but after boiling the flame should be reduced.

Evidence that the dish is ready, is appeared on the surface of pink foam. It is a product that appeared in the process of protein breakdown. By itself, the foam is not dangerous to human health and is pleasant to the taste, however, when canning causes clouding of jam and reduces the shelf life of the workpiece.

To understand that the jam is ready, another test will help - you should drop a small amount of it on a clean plate and wait for it to cool. The finished syrup will be moderately thick, if you hold a finger or a spoon in the middle of the drop, a “path” will form, and the particles of jam from its two sides will not merge into a single spot.

To preserve the color of strawberry jam, you can use lemon juice. If it is replaced by acid, then it should be remembered that citric acid is a more concentrated product. A tablespoon of dry powder will replace 5-6 similar spoons of freshly squeezed juice.

Remembering the tenderness of berries, you should not cook a large number of them at once, even if the volume of the container allows. The maximum possible amount of strawberries for cooking - no more than 2 kg per pan. It is better to use berries of small size, they will be ready faster than large ones and will not be boiled soft.

If the recipe assumes that strawberries should make juice, it should be covered with sugar for a period of 2 to 10 hours. It all depends on the size, variety and degree of ripeness of strawberries. It is permissible to leave it in this form at night. If the secretion process proceeds hard and slowly, you can warm the mixture a little at a minimum heat. At the same time it is necessary to ensure that the sugar located at the bottom of the pelvis does not burn.

If you need to get a thicker syrup, then during its preparation you should increase the amount of sugar by 100-200 g and the preparation time should be extended on average to 35-45 minutes. At the same time, strawberries are better removed from the syrup, so that the berries do not become “rubbery” and do not lose vitamins. When the syrup turns out the desired thickness, it should return the berries and boil all together for another 3-5 minutes.

Arrange the jam on the banks need hot, literally boiling. This should be done immediately after the dessert is removed from the fire. Banks should be pre-sterilized. By the time they are filled with berries, they should be dry.

For seaming, you can use the classic metal or screw caps. If the jam will be stored in the refrigerator, suitable and nylon.

Add flavor will help to emphasize the taste of the dish. Berry is well combined with mint - a fresh leaf can be put directly on top of the jam in the jar before corking it with a lid. In a syrup for cooking, you can add a pinch of cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and sweet peas. These spices are harmoniously combined with each other, but you can put only one of them. To add light caramel notes to the dish, some of the sugar in the recipe can be replaced by brown.

You can cook the jam with the addition of lemon or orange peel (per 1 kg of the peel of one citrus). True, lemon or orange should be washed with a brush and scalded with boiling water. It is necessary to remove the zest carefully, avoiding the ingress of white films into the mixture. If the fruit has a peel with a beautiful glossy shine, it is better not to rub the zest from it.It is treated with a chemical composition that improves the transportation and storage of fruits.

Strawberry goes well with raspberries, currants, cherries, blackberries, bananas. These ingredients can be added to the jam, replacing part of the strawberry. The amount of sugar may vary slightly. For example, when combining berries with sour cherries or currants, you can increase the amount of sweetener by 150-200 g, which is provided by the recipe.

Prepare jam with whole strawberries can be more liquid or thick, in its own juice or with the addition of water. If there is an extraneous liquid, then the dessert will be more liquid. It will take more time to evaporate this moisture, which will negatively affect the condition of the berries.

The classical recipe does not imply the addition of water, so the composition is obtained as rich as possible, and the syrup is thick. It is not surprising that the most delicious strawberry jam is obtained with this method. Berries and sugar are taken in equal quantities, these are the only ingredients of the composition.

It will take 1.5 kg of ingredients. Prepared strawberries should be laid out in layers, stirring each of them with a layer of sweetener. Leave the berries need in this form for at least 6 hours, but better - at night. Strawberries provide a lot of juice, which is enough to make jam without adding water.

Now you need to put the pelvis on the fire and bring its contents to a boil. It is possible that there will be sugar at the bottom, so the berry composition should be mixed. After the first signs of boiling appear, reduce the heat and then jam for 5 minutes. Collect the foam and remove the jam from the heat, leaving to infuse for 5-6 hours.

After this time, the strawberries should boil again, and after boiling for another 10 minutes. You should also remove the foam, then turn off the heat, and distribute hot jam to pre-sterilized banks.

You can cook and beautiful thick jam with whole berries. Quite often strawberries in jam appear as brown berries, completely devoid of the characteristic flavor. To correct the situation allows lemon juice. He will perform a natural preservative and retain the original appearance of the berries, not allowing them to boil soft. To make delicacies you need to prepare:

• 1 kg of strawberries;
• 800 g of sugar (you can increase the amount to 1 kg);
• a third teaspoon of citric acid;
• half a teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Berries need to be prepared and covered with sugar, leaving to let the juice. As already mentioned, this requires 6-8 hours, but it is better to withstand the berries under sugar overnight.

Then put the composition on the fire and add lemon juice, cook until boiling, after another 3-5 minutes. Leave the jam to cool, then put on the fire again, warm and pour acid. From the moment of boiling, keep on fire for another 2-3 minutes. Lay warm in sterile jars.

Thick jam with whole strawberries resembles jam on its consistency. However, the latter is usually prepared from grated berries. In short, the resulting jelly jam is an alternative option for lovers of whole berries in the blanks for the winter and those who like sticky desserts that can be spread on bread, for example.

Strawberries do not contain large amounts of pectin; therefore, agar-agar is put into it to give the necessary structure to the dish.

Composition:

• 3 kg of strawberries;
• 2 kg of sugar;
• 25 mg agar-agar (standard pack);
• a quarter cup of cold water;
• 1 lemon

Prepared strawberries need to fall asleep with sugar and leave for a few hours to let the juice. After that, you need to put the mixture on the stove to heat up and enter the juice, squeezed from lemon.

Dilute the agar-agar in cold water and, without waiting for the berries to boil, introduce it to them. It is important to do this while stirring the future dessert, otherwise the thickener will form lumps.

As soon as the first signs of boiling of the dish are noticed, the fire should be minimal and jam for another 20-25 minutes.

Strawberries in their own juice - a great dessert. In this jam, the berries remain fresh, they are not subjected to heat treatment, only syrup is boiled down. That is why strawberries in this case retains a maximum of beneficial properties, as well as the taste and aroma of fresh berries.

Inexperienced housewives fear that ingredients are taken in small quantities to make a syrup. However, this is enough, because after the first pouring of berries, they will give up some of the juice. In the process of cooking, the volume of syrup will increase, and strawberries - as if compressed.

Composition:

• 1 kg of strawberries;
• 1 kg of granulated sugar;
• 200 ml of water;
• a teaspoon of lemon juice.

Sugar and water must be prepared syrup. To do this, a small amount of sweetener should be poured into a saucepan and pour water. Boil over low heat until the mass begins to take on the consistency of the paste, then add some more sugar. The composition will turn into a viscous mass, as you need to pour sugar in small portions.

Prepared berries need to pour the syrup and leave for a quarter of an hour. Periodically you need to gently knead the composition, so that all the berries have been in syrup. During this time, the latter will become more liquid and turn red. This strawberry enriched it with its juice.

Now it needs to be removed with a skimmer from the syrup, and the latter should be boiled down for another 10-15 minutes on the fire, kneading and removing the foam. At the end add lemon juice. Repeat the process of pouring berries syrup, their infusion and further extraction from the syrup. The second time the syrup boils again for 15 minutes.

After the second infusion, the berries can be immediately transferred to the jars. As soon as the syrup leaves, it is removed from the foam, slightly cooled and poured into jars, hermetically closed.

There is another option for cooking strawberries in their own juice. For this, the prepared berries are poured with sweetener and left for 10-12 hours, so that they let the juice. Then, the resulting syrup (without berries) is boiled down for 20 minutes and cooled slightly.

The berries are poured with a sweet mixture and left in this form for 10 hours, after which the syrup is drained and boiled for another 15 minutes. There should be three such procedures. At the last pouring, the berries are not removed, but are boiled together with the syrup for 5 minutes, after which the jam is distributed to jars that have been sterilized beforehand.

“Pyatiminutka” jam this name was due to the peculiarities of cooking. The time of his stay on the plate is only 5 minutes, the rest of the time the composition is infused. Thanks to this, you can achieve a harmonious taste and almost fully preserve the healing properties of strawberries. It is important that the cooking process is not laborious and does not take much time.

For this you need to take:

• 1.5 kg of berries;
• 1.5 kg of sugar.

You can take any number of berries, the main thing - to comply with the ratio of 1 to 1 with a sweetener.

Berries are poured in layers with sugar. When the juice appears, put the pelvis with the jam on the fire, bring to the boil and simmer for exactly 5 minutes. Remove the foam and leave to infuse first in the room and then in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours. The procedure is repeated twice more, after the third "five-minute" composition is distributed among the banks.

You can make jam differently - first boil the syrup (for 1 kg of sugar, take a glass of water), bring it to complete dissolution of the sugar and pour over the berries. Leave on for 6-8 hours, during which the berry will run the juice. Boil the mixture for 5 minutes from the moment of boiling. Give the jam potayat 6-8 hours, you can overnight, and another 2 times to repeat the procedure.

Fried jam is an unusual dessert that can be obtained after sweating strawberries in a pan or in a saucepan.To do this, take equal quantities of strawberries and sugar. Since fewer berries are placed in a stewpan, than in a basin, it will be optimal to use 500-700 g of berries.

They need to put in a dry frying pan and begin to heat over low heat, periodically shaking the dishes. Berries will begin to produce juice, speed up the process will help add a small amount of sugar. If the syrup is low, you can pour in water.

When the amount of juice increases, the berries should be removed from the dish, add the remaining sugar and bring the syrup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for another 10 minutes, add strawberries and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the foam and spread on banks.

Store strawberry jam in a cool place. Banks rolled up with metal lids can be kept in the cellar, on the mezzanine or in the refrigerator. Those that are clogged with capron caps should be stored in the refrigerator.

If you want to preserve the benefit of the product as well as its rich shade as long as possible, keep the jam in a dark place, since contact with light gradually destroys vitamin C. The shelves of the refrigerator are inferior to dim cellars and mezzanines.

Properly prepared, hermetically sealed jam under the conditions of storage can be consumed even after 5 years. However, it is better to eat it in the first year, because over time, the composition begins to deplete and the jam brings less good.

The smaller the volume of the jar, the longer the jam will be stored. Naturally, in both cases, the banks must be sterilized for at least 15 minutes.

The optimum temperature for storing strawberry delicacy is + 5 ... +18 degrees. The walls of the room where the blanks are stored should not freeze through in winter, and in the summer to warm to more than 20 degrees.

If the storage temperature is lower than this, the banks may break (the contents will freeze and increase in volume). Increased humidity can lead to rust on the metal lids, which will cause mold in the dessert. Mold can be a consequence of sugar candies, which, in turn, occurs with a sharp change in storage temperatures.

On how to make strawberry jam with whole berries, see below.