Have you ever tried nut jam? But did you know that in order to prepare one jar of such jam, the hostesses spend more than one week, spinning tirelessly at the fruits for the future goodies? And it is not in vain that they are trying so hard, because as a result, they are the most valuable product for health.
Despite the fact that the recipe sounds very complicated, the process of cooking and seaming is simple and is easy for beginners to cooks. In this article, we will share with you a recipe for green walnut jam, and also talk about the benefits and dangers of its use.
Walnut jam
Most of our readers have not heard of such jam, or remotely remember its taste from distant childhood. This is easily explained by the fact that walnut grows in the Caucasus, in Greece and Asia Minor, in Ukraine, in China, India and Iran, and it certainly will not be able to take root in a summer cottage near St. Petersburg. Inhabitants of those places where walnuts still sprout are incredibly lucky, because they have the opportunity to independently prepare jam and enjoy a ripe nut.
But why use green nut for jam? Indeed, in addition to spring juiciness, there is something else in it that is useful to our body.
Useful unripe nutlet
Walnut is a storehouse of essential nutrients useful to our body, vitamins and minerals. It is rich in healthy fats and protein. But why are we using green fruits for walnut jam? The fact is that as the fruit ripens, its chemical composition changes. The main problem is the peel, which is still ripening - hardens, it contains a huge amount of iodine, which is not so easy to get from the hardened shell. But insufficient intake of iodine negatively affects the function of the thyroid gland, respectively, and hormone-dependent metabolism.
In addition to iodine, the walnut is full of B, C, PP, A, E, and K vitamins. They have enough magnesium, iron, fluorine, the amount of cobalt, zinc, sulfur, and potassium we need, as well as the calcium and phosphorus we need. , and magnesium with copper, and selenium with sodium. In addition, in large quantities in walnuts various acids we need: stearic, oleic, for example. And also in walnuts you can find tannins, quinones and essential oils.
After reviewing the list of useful elements in walnuts, one involuntarily recalls pharmacy complexes of vitamins. So why not eat a handful of nuts, the same rich complex of elements necessary and indispensable for our body?
Thus, walnuts positively affect our body, namely:
- improves cerebral circulation, that is, memory and concentration are improved;
- strengthens blood vessels;
- good anti-inflammatory;
- muscle recovery after exercise;
- stabilizes the nervous system;
- strengthens bones, teeth and joints;
- positively affects the work of the heart;
- does not bypass the positive effect of the liver and gastrointestinal tract;
- positive effect on metabolism.
A useful point is that walnuts are necessary for women who are recovering their reproductive functions, and for men suffering from impotence or prostate.
The benefits of jam
So what is the use of walnut jam?
It has been established that those who eat a spoonful of nut jam in the winter or during periods of epidemic are less susceptible to disease or recover more quickly. And those who suffer from arrhythmia and other heart diseases have unstable blood pressure, they claim to feel an improvement in their general health and an increase in vitality.
Following the list of useful elements in walnut jam and reading reviews of this delicacy, we concluded that it perfectly strengthens the immune system, positively affects mood and overall tone, and also helps in the treatment of hypothyroidism, strengthens the liver, positively affects sleep and Helps to get rid of insomnia, fight sore throat and flu, and saves our nerve cells and heart.
It has a positive effect on our mental activity and helps to recover from serious illnesses and operations. Jam from green walnuts helps with stomach ulcers and gastritis, and also cleanses our body.
And this is just a small list of the beneficial properties of walnuts.
Do not overdo it!
But even from such a large number of positive effects on the body, you should not lose your head and buy a box of walnuts, because they also have their drawbacks.
With extreme caution, walnuts should be consumed by women during lactation and gestation, because it is a fairly strong allergen. An exception may be women with a lack of iodine.
But walnuts are also very high-calorie: 654 kcal per 100 grams, which limits the consumption of people who want to lose weight or just monitor their weight, they do not recommend walnuts and diabetics because of the large amount of sugar in it. Remember that both a deficiency and an excess of iodine are harmful to health. In general, it is not recommended to eat more than 5 nuts a day, as well as eat them on an empty stomach.
This is how walnut jam has its own harm, albeit a small list, but it is quite serious, so you should approach the use of walnuts or jam from it wisely. The optimal solution is the consumption of nuts as a medicine, tasty and very healthy. Calculating in spoons of jam, the daily norm is two to three tablespoons. A great solution to diversify a sweet sandwich, add it to dessert or saturate your body with vitamins, iodine, minerals and essential acids over a cup of tea.
Making jam
The process of making jam from young walnuts is laborious and time consuming. But whatever the recipe, whatever it is cooked (often walnuts are cooked with spices, plums or green tomatoes, as well as no less useful mountain ash), and the main secret of successful jam is the quality of green fruits and the proper preparation for cooking.
So, the preparation and selection of raw materials are crucial stages in the preparation of dessert.
Fetal choice
As we have already said, the main ingredients of the walnut jam recipe are green fruits. You can determine the quality of a green nut by paying attention to:
- the peel of the nut is soft, there is a slight waxy coating;
- the core is soft, jelly-like consistency.
Most often, the fruits reach this degree of maturity by the end of June, cooking begins in early July after a long and thorough preparation of raw materials.
Inspect the nuts carefully, only flat, uniform fruits are suitable for canning, without dents or other damage. This explains the fact that the fruits for rolling are picked only on their own from the tree. Fruits choose a medium size, preferably the same.
There is a wonderful way to check if raw materials are ready for jam. Take a wooden knitting needle or a toothpick and pierce the nut through it. If you succeed - the crop can be harvested and prepared for canning.
Cookware
It should be noted that for the preparation of walnut jam, not all dishes are suitable because of the rich number of elements in the raw materials. So, for example, copper dishes, aluminum, do not fit. Use enameled dishes and stainless steel. Keep in mind that it is necessary to soak green nuts because of the huge amount of iodine, respectively, the iodine coming out of them can stain the container. Get ready for it.
The soaking process is long, so that the green fruits do not ferment, wash the container with a solution of water with soda (a liter of water per teaspoon with a slide).
Soaking walnut
After you collect the fruits, they must be cleaned. By the way, wear rubber gloves before cleaning, as nuts will stain your hands. The peel is removed in a thin layer, transferred to a container and filled with clean water.
There are several ways to soak nuts. We will share with you the most affordable. After cleaning, the fruits are pierced with a fork and soaked for at least seven days, the water must be changed two to three times a day.
Citric acid helps to remove iodine here, so we dilute a special solution. 1.5-2 liters of water accounts for a teaspoon of citric acid, which is used to pour nuts for a day.
The next option is cooking in lemon water for about 20 minutes. Water does not drain, but it costs another day.
After the nuts are washed, they are ready for the main stage - cooking jam from walnuts.
Cooking
Correctly boiling jam is really not an easy task, because for nuts you always need an eye and an eye. But although the process is time-consuming and responsible, however, it is worth all the effort expended on the jam.
Before cooking, check out other options for making walnut jam, such as mountain ash or plums, and choose the one that suits you best. And we will offer you a fragrant Armenian method.
Armenian walnut jam
To make jam you will need:
- fruits - 100 pcs. medium size (1.2 kg);
- sugar - 1 kg;
- water - 0.4 l;
- lemon - 2 pcs.;
- cloves - 10-12 inflorescences;
- cinnamon - 10 g.
Boil the syrup from sugar and water and cool. Add spices there. If you are not a fan of chewing cloves, then build a gauze bag in which it lowers and infuses. Add nuts to the syrup and squeeze the lemons.
Bring the jam to a boil and leave for a day. Repeat this three times.
Jam can only be rolled on the fourth day. Remove the bag of spices and pour into jars.
Please note that different recipes have different cooking times, so do not forget to try a nut to make sure it is ready. Take out the nut, it should retain its shape, but not be hard, its shell can be easily cracked, and inside it is like marmalade or jelly. The finished nut should not have bitterness.
Here is such a wonderful recipe from walnuts. We hope you are lucky to try this incredibly healthy treat.