Everyone knows that prunes are a wholesome and delicious treat. It helps the intestines work better, enriches the body with vitamins and minerals, helps fight constipation and high blood pressure. Prunes do a great job with anemia, lack of vitamins, improves brain function and reduces fatigue. Dried fruits are included in diet tables for patients, they are prepared in kindergartens and schools, motels and school camps. But you can cook delicious stewed prunes for the winter at home. The recipe may be different, but the taste is always excellent.
Preparation of cans and lids
The correct preparation of containers for spins for the winter is an important and crucial moment that no hostess should miss. Firstly, cans for compote should be washed well. Most often, they use ordinary baking soda, which cleans well and kills microbes. Secondly, banks require sterilization. Some housewives just pour boiling water over them, while others keep a couple of minutes above the steam from the water bath.
An important point. Banks must be dried after processing. To do this, put them on the prepared surface with the throat down. How to close prune compote without properly prepared lids? No way. Banks will explode in a couple of days, every experienced housewife knows. Screw caps should also be sterilized. You can lower each lid for a minute in boiling water, you can pour them with boiling water and leave in a bowl for several minutes. To whom it is more convenient.
Fruit preparation
Before cooking compote, as well as before use, prunes must be washed. Even if it seems to you that the fruit is clean, still place it in a container with cold water, soak for 15-20 minutes or just rinse several times. Prunes can be with seeds and without them. Everything here, as they say, is for everybody. If you will use not only liquid, but also fruits, then take pitted prunes. If only compote liquid is important to you, then you can buy prunes with seeds.
Cooking Option
There are two main types of cooking compotes: cooking and pouring. How to cook compote from prunes for the winter correctly, if you do this for the first time? There are no difficulties here. The main thing is to understand the sequence of manipulations. Let's analyze the first recipe.
For preparation you will need: 400-500 g of prunes, one glass of granulated sugar and one liter of water. Water must be taken clean, filtered. So the compote will be stored longer, and the lids will not fly up.
First you need to cook sugar syrup. Prune compote for the winter, the recipe of which involves the addition of sugar, is one of the most popular. We put the prepared pan with water on the fire, bring to the appearance of bubbles (the beginning of boiling) and immediately add sugar. Syrup should be boiled until the moment when all the loose sweet ingredient is dissolved in water.
After boiling the syrup, the fire decreases. Add prunes gradually so that there is no spray of boiling water. We cook the compote for 15-25 minutes, pour the finished product into prepared sterile jars, roll it with a key and turn it upside down. It is not necessary to wrap up jars of prunes, as is usually done with a spin of cucumbers or tomatoes.
Fill option
This recipe takes a little more than the first, but, as experienced housewives say, it's worth it. The pouring method allows you to soften dried fruits, but not to make them flabby.
So, for cooking you will need: half a kilogram of prunes, 250 grams of granulated sugar and a half liter of water. Prepared prunes should be put in jars. According to this recipe, compote from prunes for the winter without sterilization will be prepared. Dried fruits are poured with boiling water and stand for five minutes. Then the water is drained using a special leaky lid, and syrup is prepared from it.
When the syrup boils, the gas turns off and dried fruit is poured. Prune compote for the winter, the recipe of which is so simple and quick, will be loved by the hostesses. We roll up the banks, put them on the neck and wait for complete cooling. Then the prepared compote can be stored.
With or without sugar?
Many housewives do not like to cook too sweet compote. But experts say that prune compote without sugar will be stored much less than its sweet counterpart. If it seems to you that it is too sugary, you can always dilute it with water. But this is done only after opening the banks. And in the process of preparation, granulated sugar is added strictly according to the recipe.
Few secrets
If you decide to treat your family to such a healthy drink as stewed prunes for the winter, you should choose the recipe that gives an accurate description of the amount of ingredients. A glass or pan can be of different capacities for each housewife. Better take that recipe, which shows the exact grams and liters.
When you buy prunes for compote, remember that with seeds, dried fruit is much harder. It is important, again, to look into the recipe before purchasing the main ingredient.
Do not add any spices or aromatic herbs to the compote during cooking. If you want to add the aroma of mint to the taste of prunes, then put it after opening the jar.
Do not be lazy to sterilize jars and lids. Clean and thoroughly sterilized cans are a guarantee that compote will stand for more than one winter in the cellar.
Protein compote 3-4 months old is really tasty. Opening cans immediately is not recommended. Let the drink brew and fill with aromas and taste.