Properties of cranberry jelly and the subtleties of its preparation

Many people gladly drank thick cranberry kissel when they went to school or kindergarten, and, having matured, for some reason, crossed out this healthy drink from their diet.And in vain, because this dish is not only very appetizing, but also benefits the body.

Cranberry jelly has a fairly low calorie content - about 53 kilocalories per cup. Naturally, this figure varies depending on the ingredients used and additional sweeteners.

As for the chemical composition, it is rich in various vitamins and useful elements. Such substances as potassium, choline, lysine, thiamine and others can be found in jelly. There are in the composition and vitamins of group B: B1, B2 and B5. Thanks to them, drinking the drink strengthens the nervous system, helps the immune system and maintains the balance of hormones. In addition, in the presence of essential amino acids that are important for the functioning of all body systems.

Cranberry jelly largely affects the work of the human body. It strengthens the immune system, cleanses the body of toxins and normalizes the functioning of the liver. In addition, it is believed that he is able to eliminate headaches, regain appetite and reduce cholesterol. And the ability to “envelop” the walls of the stomach allows you to endure the attacks of gastritis and ulcerative pathologies with much less painful sensations.

Just one glass of drink can reduce pain. Kissel can also lead to the proper state of the microflora and establish intestinal peristalsis. It is often prescribed to those who diets, including curative. The original Russian decoction helps to regulate the weight, because the glass drunk before the start of the meal, significantly reduces the amount of food eaten in the future.

Experts believe that jelly has a positive effect on the kidneys. It removes excess fluid from the body, relieves swelling and copes with abdominal distension. Food starch used in cooking improves exchange processes. Cranberries, which are in the composition of the dish, are rich in vitamin C, which means it helps prevent various infectious diseases, copes with vitamin deficiency and greatly enhances the immune system.

Regular consumption of kissel in the fall and spring will help avoid colds. It is extremely useful for young children to drink it, because there is also an abundance of vitamins and other useful substances behind the pleasant taste.

Harmful jelly can be, of course, for those people who have an individual intolerance to the product. You should not use it as individuals with diabetes and suffering from overweight.

Cooking cranberry jelly is not particularly difficult, you just need to follow the instructions step by step. A simple recipe includes only four ingredients: the cranberry itself (and you can cook it from frozen berries), starch, water, and sugar. The flow chart of a classic drink is as follows: 600 milliliters of cranberries (after blender processing), 300 grams of granulated sugar, 90 grams of potato starch and water are required: 250 milliliters to create a thickener and 1500 milliliters for the drink itself.

Cranberries are washed, then ground in a blender and rubbed through a sieve. After that, to brew a drink, the cranberry cake will have to be poured with a liter of water and brought to a boil. The juice remaining after filtering through a sieve is mixed with half a liter of water.

Then the cranberries are filtered again and combined with the juice. The liquid is again placed on the stove, brought to a boil and flavored with sugar. At this time, you can do starch - pour the powder with cold water and stir until the lumps disappear.It should be remembered that by changing the amount of this component, you can make jelly more dense or liquid. Ready starch neat stream pours into the berry mixture, standing on a working stove. The entire volume of broth to be brought to the extreme point, stirring occasionally, and then turn off the heat and cool.

If you make a thick cranberry jelly, you can pour it with whipped cream or honey and get a full dessert. For the preparation you will need 100 grams of berries, 100 grams of sugar, 80 grams of potato starch, 940 milliliters of water and, if desired, cloves with cinnamon. Compliance with the proportions in this case is very important. The washed berries are ground in a blender or passed through a sieve, and then filtered. As a result, berrycake and berry juice should be obtained separately. The cake is poured with hot water, spices are added to it, and everything is cooked from 10 to 15 minutes on low heat. Then the broth is passed through cheesecloth and is divided into two parts: 400 milliliters for starch and the remainder. The starch powder is poured in with the cooled liquid, and everything is mixed until the lumps disappear.

The rest of the berry mixture is set on fire, but sugar is added to it beforehand. Everything is brought to a boil, and then starch is poured into the pan in a thin stream. Somewhere from 5 to 8 minutes everything is cooked on a small fire, after which the juice remaining in the first stage is poured into the kissel. Everything is mixed, poured into glasses and cooled to a temperature of approximately 15 degrees Celsius.

You can soften cranberry acidity by adding fresh sweet apples. For cooking, you need 500 grams of apples and 50 grams of cranberries, 125 grams of sugar and 50 grams of potato starch. In addition, it is worth to prepare 150 milliliters of water for starch and 850 milliliters of liquid for the kissel itself. The berry is ground in a blender, then filtered through a sieve. The cake is separated and put into a container with water, where it is to be boiled and re-filtered. The apples are peeled, they are removed midway, and the fruits are cut into cubes.

Fruits, along with sugar, are sent to a berry liquid, where they are boiled until softened. At this time, you can do starch - dilute it with cool water and mix until the lumps are eliminated. After the mixture is neatly trickled into the main pan, the jelly is brought to a boil. The fire is turned off and everything is cooled.

To prepare this kind of jelly, you need 250 grams of berries, one orange, 250 grams of sugar, 125 grams of potato starch and 1000 milliliters of water. In addition, it makes sense to stock up on half a cinnamon stick and three carnation buds for a more interesting result. The washed citrus is dried and disposed of peel, which is immediately crushed on a grater. Cranberries are picked, washed and ground in a blender.

Berry juice and cake will need to be decomposed into different containers. Then water is brought to a boil in a saucepan, and cake, sugar, seasonings and zest are put into it. Everything is cooked on low heat for 15 minutes. The resulting broth is filtered through cheesecloth, after which 250 milliliters are separated into a separate container and cooled a little. Potato starch is diluted with this amount, so that no lumps remain. The remaining broth is put back on fire. As soon as the jelly begins to seethe, it will be necessary to pour in starch and the remains of berry juice. Everything is brought to a boil again and kept in this state for one minute. After that, the fire can be turned off, and the drink poured into containers and entertain guests or family.

The quality of home-made cranberry kissel largely depends on the thoughtful choice of ingredients. Berries should be either fresh, dried, or frozen. Before heat treatment, it is better to process them in a blender. Of course, nobody forbids adding whole fruits, but in the process of cooking their skin can burst and ruin the whole appearance of the finished product.

Working with a blender, you need to choose the average mode - otherwise the remnants of the peel will, in general, impossible to catch, and this again will spoil the jelly. The amount of sugar added to the jelly usually depends on the cranberries. Naturally, if it is very acidic, then sweetener will need more. You can determine the taste of the fruit without trying them. Large and ripe berries are much sweeter than small and unripe ones.

If you want to increase the benefit of the product, you can replace the granulated sugar with honey, fructose or agave syrup, but the proportions will be different: twice as much. In addition, in order to make the taste more interesting, you can add the dish with vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, candied fruits or pink pepper. For preparation it is better to take potato thickener, because corn will make the broth less transparent. About starch should also be recalled that this substance sinks to the bottom of the vessel, not dissolving in water. Therefore, before cooking, you will need to mix the liquid again.

So that the cooled beverage does not have an unpleasant film on the surface, it should be sprinkled with sugar or powdered sugar. It is also worth adding that it is not necessary to keep the jelly heated for a long time, so it will change its amazing texture. It, by the way, depends on the content of starch. When kissel is prepared as an independent dish, one should stick to medium thickness, and when as a sauce for dessert, strive for a semi-liquid state.

You will learn more about the benefits of cranberry kissel in the following video.