Currant jam: properties and recipes

Currant is a valuable source of vitamins, especially ascorbic acid.It is important that with proper heat treatment, most of them are stored in the berry. It remains only to learn the secrets of such processing and to get acquainted with proven recipes of jam, to stock up on store with a tasty and useful dessert.

Currant jam has a rich berry aroma and sweet-sour taste. It can be prepared in many ways, but the composition that is subjected to minimal heat treatment will be useful. So it will be possible to fully preserve the vitamin and mineral composition of the berry.

A feature of currant can be called the fact that it can not cook at all, but simply grind and stored in its raw form. The natural preservative will be granulated sugar. Such a composition can be considered the most useful. Black currant jam has a powerful immunostimulating, firming and tonic effect.

The high content of vitamin C makes the composition one of the first means in the fight against colds and flu, vitamin deficiency, as well as a product for their prevention.

In the autumn-winter period, a few spoons of jam daily reduce the risk of infection, strengthen the immune system. The product can be given to patients, for example, to prepare juice from it or, during the recovery period.

In addition, thanks to ascorbic acid and vitamin E, currant jam has antioxidant properties - binds radicals, removes toxins from the body and slows down age-related cell changes.

Due to the presence of organic acids, jam has a beneficial effect on the digestive system, enhancing the production of gastric juice and preparing the digestive tract to receive food. The presence of dietary fiber improves intestinal motility, which also has a positive effect on digestion. Finally, pectins promote cleansing.

Morse on the basis of frayed currant, drunk half an hour before a meal, will help activate metabolic processes, improve digestion and stimulate appetite. Strengthen this action by adding a slice of lemon to the juice.

Jam has a slight diuretic effect, therefore, fruit drink based on it can be recommended as a means of prevention against diseases of the urogenital system. If there is no sugar in the dish, it can be recommended as a drink that helps to lose weight and remove excess moisture from the body.

It also has a beneficial effect on the circulatory system, contributing (in the absence of sugar) to lowering cholesterol levels, and maintaining hemoglobin levels within the normal range. Needless to say, clean blood vessels and oxygen-enriched blood are a guarantee for the nutrition of all organs and tissues!

Currant jam is useful for children and adults, during pregnancy, it allows the body to provide a supply of vitamins and minerals, relieves puffiness and slight constipation. The sweet and sour taste of the dish allows you to cope with toxemia.

The richness of the mineral-vitamin composition makes jam useful and lactation. However, the nursing mother should not forget about the high sugar content in the product, which is fraught with the appearance of allergic reactions in the baby. In general, moderate consumption of currant jam during this period is not prohibited, unless it causes deterioration in the well-being of infants.

You should not eat jam, not subjected to heat treatment with increased acidity of the stomach, acute forms of gastritis, pancreatitis, ulcers and other inflammatory processes of the gastrointestinal tract.

Vitamin K contained in jam reduces blood viscosity, therefore, consumption of the product should be abandoned for thrombophlebitis, blood clotting problems, tendency to internal bleeding, as well as when taking anticoagulants (blood viscosity reducing drugs).

The acidic aftertaste of currant jam is due to the presence of ascorbic acid and organic acids in a large amount of it. It also contains especially important for pregnant women folic acid, which is necessary in the first trimester for the normal formation of fetal organs.

Vitamin composition is also represented by vitamins E, P, B. Jam contains quite rare vitamin K, which is involved in blood formation processes. Among the minerals - magnesium, potassium, iron. Sulfur, lead and silver are present here. The aroma of berry jam and fresh currants is explained by the presence of essential oils. Finally, the composition contains pectins, dietary fiber and tannins.

The calorie content of a dish depends on the ratio of berries and sugar and the presence of additives. So, if 1 part of berries and 2 parts of sugar are used, then the average caloric content is 160-170 calories per 100 grams of jam. Raw jam is usually more nutritious, since more sugar is actually put in fresh form to preserve the berries.

It is a mistake to think that honey jam has a lower nutritional value. Moreover, when using honey as a sweetener, it increases by 3-7 kcal. It depends on the amount and type of honey.

Reduce calorie meals can, using sweeteners. You should not reduce the amount of sugar, wanting to reduce its energy value. Sugar is a natural preservative and, if it is not properly proportioned to the berries, billet may begin to ferment and deteriorate.

For jam, you need to use only ripe berries, it is allowed to remove them from the branch a week after darkening. Later fruits are prone to fermentation, they are easily damaged, so beautiful jam with whole berries of them will not work.

You need to pick berries on a warm sunny day after the dew subsides. Tearing it is better with brushes, and storing it in the refrigerator. But it is permissible to keep them for no more than 3 days.

Before cooking jam, remove sticks and twigs, leaves. Cracked berries are not suitable for cooking - pathogenic microorganisms, which are more susceptible to rot, penetrate through the lesions on the skin. Rotten and unripe fruits should also be removed from the general mass.

It is important to use ripe, but not overripe berries. The latter, when released into the stomach, cause fermentation processes and, as a result, a feeling of bloating, abdominal pain, increased flatulence.

In addition to preparing the berries, you need to take care of suitable utensils. Because of the high concentration of acids, you need to boil the berries in an enamel pot. Avoid contact with metal kitchen appliances, so as not to cause oxidative processes.

It is advisable to pour all the used utensils with boiling water, thoroughly wipe the working surfaces and wash your hands before cooking. Banks must be sterilized. Otherwise, fermentation of the jam and the risk of botulism cannot be avoided. Covers for seaming suitable kapron or metallic lacquered. Conventional metal will oxidize.

One of the popular recipes for currant jam - "Five minutes". Its advantage is in the relative simplicity of cooking (no need to stand at the stove for hours, preventing jam), but most importantly, with this method of processing, the dish almost does not lose vitamins and healing properties.

The berries in the jam for this recipe are whole, juicy. Special attention is given to the syrup - a rich ruby ​​scale, sweet but not cloying, it perfectly complements the slightly sour currant. Composition:

• 1 kg of currant berries (better than black, but also white);
• 1 kg of granulated sugar;
• 1 cup of water.

First you need to sort and wash the berries. Then throw them in a colander so that excess water is gone.

Next, you should prepare a syrup based on water and sugar.Sugar portions, constantly stirring the syrup. It is recommended to boil it in a basin or stainless steel or aluminum saucepan, the syrup will burn in an enamel bowl.

When the syrup begins to boil, berries are dipped in it and boiled for 5 minutes. Clean the foam and turn off the fire. Now the berries with syrup should be cooled, if possible leave them overnight, so that the ingredients are well mixed and filled with each other.

Remove the foam and leave to cool. After this, repeat the process a third time. Pour hot jam over sterile jars, roll up the lids.

This recipe can be called a variation of the previous one. You should take the above quantity of ingredients and cook the traditional five-minute jam. At the last stage of cooking, add nuts to the mixture.

A delicious combination is obtained by adding almonds. It needs to be cleaned and fried in a dry frying pan, then remove the film and cut with a knife into small pieces. You can substitute almonds with chopped walnuts or pine nuts.

You do not need to shred nuts too much; they must remain large enough to be felt in the finished dish.

The dish is poured over sterile jars, sealed with nylon caps. This kind of jam is great for pouring strudel or ice cream before serving.

It is good to put currant jam in dough for sweet pastry, it acquires a characteristic taste and aroma. However, it is too liquid for fillings. In this case, the correct use of currant jelly or jam. However, it is tasty and as an independent dessert.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of currant;
• 1.5 kg of sugar.

Currants need to sort and wash, and then turn into mashed potatoes by hand or using kitchen appliances. In the resulting composition, add half the volume of sugar and cook, stirring all the time until thick. It usually takes about 25 minutes.

Next, you need to fill the sugar and cook until ready for another 15-20 minutes. You can learn about the readiness of a dish by dripping jam on a plate - when it cools down, it will not spread.

Jelly has a delicate air consistency. It can be used for coating and decorating cakes and casseroles and, of course, used as a dessert. A few spoons of jelly, added to porridge or cottage cheese, will transform their taste and make it much more attractive for children.

To prepare you need:

• 2 kg of red currant;
• 6 glasses of sugar;
• 300 ml of water.

Berry need to fill with water and put on fire, so that she began to burst and let the juice. To speed up this process, in order to preserve more vitamins, you can push a tolkushkoy or shovel made of wood on the berries. The whole process should take no more than 5 minutes.

The resulting composition should be slightly cooled and grind through a sieve. It turns out quite thick puree, its volume should be calculated in glasses and add the same glasses of sugar plus one more. That is, if the mashed potatoes - 5 glasses, sweetener will need 6 glasses.

Now you need to put the mixture on the fire, bring to a boil, and then later another 5 minutes. The dish can be decomposed into sockets or other dishes and leave to cool. Suitable jelly for rolling in the winter. Then it is hot poured into sterile jars and rolled lids.

In general, the jam for this recipe is common in the preparation, the combination of red and white berries makes it unusual. It is made from the berry mix and looks very appetizing and attractive.

For this you need to prepare:

• 1 kg of currant (red and white, taken in equal volume);
• 1 kg of sugar.

Jam is brewed in two containers, each berry is separate, so the sugar must first be divided in half.

Add sugar to the berries, add water if necessary and bring to a boil. Boil until the foam disappears for about 10-15 minutes. The composition will become transparent and slightly thickened.

Next, in the past sterilization banks need to put 3-4 tablespoons of red currant jam, and the next layer - from white. Continue alternating color layers until the container is full. Cover with lids.

Currant jam without cooking is considered the most useful, because the berry is kept fresh. It is this dish most effectively strengthens the immune system and fights against colds.

Composition:

• 1 kg of berries;
• 1.5 kg of sugar and another 100 g to put it in the top of the jar.

Making raw jam is quite simple. To do this, you need to rub the fruit in an enamel pot or plastic container. You can skip them through the meat grinder.

Fill the composition with sugar, let it stand for 10 minutes and mix. To distribute on the banks, in advance sterilized, pour a little more sugar on top and cork with lids. It is better to use screwed ones, but they will also fit from nylon.

Store the jam should be at a temperature not higher than +1 degrees, that is, the cellar or refrigerator for these purposes are optimal.

Jam does not require cooking and is prepared without adding sugar. You can make jam from frozen berries.

All that is required is berries and honey, taken in equal volume. Currants can be black, it will be tasty and mix from different types of culture.

To this mass you need to add liquid honey. It is better to choose a product with a neutral taste - from lime, acacia. Stir the mixture thoroughly. Conveniently, when there is an assistant - one person pours honey, while the other kneads jam.

Sterilize the banks in a convenient way, pour honey over them, close the capron lids. Such a composition can be eaten not as a dessert, but taken as a prophylactic during the flu and colds season. Jam has a powerful antiviral, immunostimulating and regenerating effect.

You can diversify the taste of currant jam using other berries and fruits. It is well combined with berries of raspberry, strawberry and gooseberry, cherry. Adding other berries, it is important to consider their ratio with sweetener and currants. It is more correct to do calculations by glasses. For example, if the same amount of granulated sugar is required for 15 cups of black currant, then you can take 2 cups of raspberries, 2 cups of gooseberries and 11 cups of currants. The weight of the sweetener does not have to change and maintain complex calculations.

Interesting to get jam with currants and pumpkin. It is fair to note that it is an amateur, but it has quite an interesting taste. In short, lovers of these ingredients, as well as culinary experiments, definitely worth it to cook.

Currant-pumpkin jam:

• 300 g of currants;
• 200 g pumpkin pulp (without peel and seeds);
• 2 teaspoons butter;
• 100 grams of sugar.

Prepared currants covered with sugar and leave for a quarter of an hour. At this time, very finely chop the pumpkin. You can cut it into thin plates.

After the indicated time, add the pumpkin to the currant mass, add the same oil there and bring it to a boil on moderate heat, and then for another 15-20 minutes.

A record amount of vitamins can boast currant jam with orange. It has a rich taste and a fresh citrus aftertaste.

Currant-orange jam:

• 1 kg of currant;
• 1 large orange;
• 1.5 kg of sugar.

Orange should be doused with boiling water to wash off the wax layer that is usually applied to the fruit to preserve them during transportation. Then cut it together with the peel into pieces and chop it with a meat grinder.

Likewise, pre-cook currants. Stir the resulting compounds and cover with sugar. Wait a quarter of an hour so that the sweetener is completely dissolved, then mix again and distribute in sterile jars.

Spices also allow you to shade the taste of currant jam. For example, fresh ginger root, which must be finely grated. It will not only make the taste of the dish spicy, but also increase its anti-cough action. Well combined with cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, star anise, cinnamon. It is not recommended to put them in large quantities so that their flavor does not enter into discord with the currant aroma.

Thick jam currant with spices resembles confiture. The spices used give the dish an oriental touch, it acquires the features of “winter” dishes and sweets - a little spicy, warming taste.

Ingredients:

• 500 g of black currant;
• 400 g of sugar;
• anise and cinnamon on the tip of a teaspoon;
• 3-4 asterisk cloves;
• 150 ml of water.

Prepare a sweet syrup and put spices in it after boiling. Syrup can also be made from currant leaves, sweetener and water. To simmer on the fire for a quarter of an hour, cool and filter.

Put currants in syrup and leave for 3-5 hours. During this time, the berries are filled with the aroma of spices. After that, return the mixture to the fire and boil for 20-25 minutes after boiling, stirring. Hot put in jars, close.

If you want the berries in the jam to remain whole, beautiful and juicy, they need to be blanched beforehand in boiling water. To do this, boil the right amount of water, throw the berries in them for a couple of minutes and immediately fold to a sieve, and then rinse under cold water.

In the process of cooking jam you need to remove the foam. When its selection stops, the dish is considered ready.

For information on how to make currant jam in a slow cooker, see the next video.