Sometimes the berry season in the summer cottage is so rich that my head is spinning: what to do with red currants for the winter, gooseberries and raspberries? How to manage to process all this bright red splendor in order to maintain maximum vitamins, and even please loved ones with delicious Sunday pastries. The effort in the days of summer suffering will more than pay off in the winter evenings with a cup of tea with currant splendor.
We come up with what to do with currants
We can offer some simple ideas on what to do with red currants:
- jelly for the winter;
- compote and fruit juice from red currant;
- how to make homemade wine;
- jam or confiture;
- toppings for pies, pancakes;
- sauces.
The recipes below in the article without grueling details will tell you what to do with red currant so that it is fast, tasty and healthy. And some of them are noteworthy in that they make it possible to prepare two dishes from one kilogram of berries! It is very economical and prudent: not to let products disappear in vain.
How to make wine?
From red currant you can make an excellent alcoholic drink, which will be 100% natural, aromatic and delicious. It is made simple, but there are several aspects that are important when preparing wine at home:
- Do not wash the berries - if they were picked from a bush, then they are in excellent condition.
- We grind one and a half kilograms of currant with a meat grinder along with brushes, this will give a special aroma to wine.
- The resulting mass is transferred to a glass bottle with a wide neck, add two liters of clean filtered water and 0.5 kilograms of sugar.
- Shake the bottle, mixing the mass, and put in a dark and cool place for fermentation.
- The first seven days, daily you need to mix the contents with a long wooden spoon, and the next seven days - do not touch.
- Towards the end of the term, a layer of floating small particles of berries forms at the top of the liquid; Strain the rest of the currant mash, the cake can be discarded.
- Wash the bottle, dry it and pour the filtered liquid there. Close the lid with a hydrozator and put it back in place for another 14 days.
- During this time, a whitish sediment is likely to form at the bottom. Using a tube or a thin hose, pour the wine into a new sterilized bottle (filter) and leave it alone for the same period of time.
- Then filter again and taste. If you feel a lack of sugar, you can add a spoon or two. In this case, it is better to wrap a couple of pieces of refined sugar in a bag of dense fabric and, hanging it on a thread, lower it into a liquid. Install a hydrozator.
- After a week, filter again, having previously removed the sac from sugar.
Young wine, perhaps, will still play out, so we periodically drop in, and if we notice a white precipitate at the bottom, be sure to filter it in a known manner. If there is no more sediment, then it can be bottled and sealed, and after a month used as directed.
Red Currant Wines
And how to make redcurrant wine stronger? You can add a 50-gram cup of rum in the last filtering process, but remember that after that the taste will be a little different. Berry wines are good for home gatherings, they do not need a high percentage of alcohol, more importantly aroma and taste.
Is red currant wine made in combination with other berries? Of course, you can safely experiment with mixes from different additives, creating your favorite bouquets of tastes. At the same time, one should not forget that house wines are not stored for a long time: only a year and a half, and they lose their attractiveness.
Jelly for the winter
And now we offer you a recipe on how to make redcurrant jelly so that it is stored all winter. This berry is characterized by a high content of pectin, so it is ideal for marmalades, jellies and jams.
- Sort one kilogram of fresh berries, removing small twigs and leaves, pour one glass of water and put on a small fire, stirring occasionally.
- When the berries begin to lose their shape and start the juice, remove from heat and rub through a fine sieve, actively wielding a spoon.
- Cake can not be thrown away (below will be a simple recipe for fruit drink), and pour the resulting juice into a wide pan. It is advisable that the height of the liquid in the pan be as small as possible - this will allow the jelly to cook faster, and therefore save more nutrients.
- Stir the juice with sugar (1 kg) and let the mass simmer on low heat. It is necessary to evaporate the excess liquid without destroying the pectins, which is why the fire should be minimal, and no need to cover with a lid - evaporation will pass faster.
Desired result: in a short time (from 15 to 30 minutes), evaporate the third part of the liquid. Remember that with high boiling, the gelling properties will disappear.
Pour the finished jelly into jars, roll up the lids and turn upside down. If a hissing sound appears - the can is rolled up poorly, it must be redone, otherwise the product will be spoiled. Wrap all jars with a warm blanket and leave to cool completely.
If the next day, when moving to the storage place for the billets for the winter, it turns out that the jar looks like juice, not gelatin, you do not need to panic. Sometimes pectins in such cases manifest themselves after two to three weeks.
Jelly for the holiday table
The following ingredients are needed for cooking:
- 1 kg of currant;
- 2 tbsp. tablespoons of gelatin;
- 1 cup of sugar;
- 2 glasses of water;
- 0.5 liters of fresh cream;
- 0.5 cups icing sugar;
- 2 tbsp. tablespoons of cocoa powder.
This jelly consists of two layers: chocolate blanmange and red currant. And what to do with a prescription, consider in more detail:
- Prepare blanmange: soak gelatin in one glass of water, when swollen, heat in a water bath. Beat the cream slightly with powdered sugar and cocoa, pour a half stream of the dissolved gelatin in a thin stream, stirring surely to make the mixture uniform and smooth. Pour into prepared molds or bowls. Send to the cold for solidification.
- Currant jelly: pass the berries through a meat grinder, mix with water and boil over low heat for 5-8 minutes. Add sugar, boil again and turn off the heat. Strain hot through a sieve, add the rest of the gelatin to the juice and mix well. Cool to room temperature. When the first signs of gelling appear, pour over the frozen blanch and again clean in the cold.
- Before serving, decorate with a small curl of whipped cream with vanilla and a leaf of fresh mint.
Harvesting for the winter: compote
How to make compote from redcurrant - a healing drink that will save you from vitamin deficiency in the winter? Simply simple: for 1 liter of water, take 800 g of berries and 200 g of granulated sugar. Boil the mass for about 2-3 minutes, stirring lightly by shaking the pan (so as not to crush the currants). If desired, you can add natural flavors: cinnamon, vanilla, cloves.
Carefully remove the berries with a slotted spoon and place in sterilized jars, pour boiling liquid and cover with lids. We insist for ten minutes, and then pour the compote back into the pan, leaving the berries in a jar. Add another glass of water and boil again, pour the compote into cans with berries and roll tightly into tin lids. Turn over, checking the quality of rolling, and leave to cool.
Such a compote is very handy closer to spring, when there are few vitamins, and the body becomes more susceptible to infectious diseases. When consumed, the canned drink is diluted with boiling water to taste and served on the table.
Refreshing fruit drink
From the preparation of jelly there was a cake from red currant: what to make of it? Of course, fruit drink, which does not roll up for the winter, but is served immediately. The ratio of oilcake, sugar and water is taken based on taste preferences - someone loves rich aromatic and sweet, others want a simpler taste.
On average, this is two liters of water 200-300 g of oilcake and 0.5 cups of sugar. No need to cook! Pour sugar and currants with boiling water, mix and leave to cool at room temperature. Strain the cooled fruit and, if desired, add a little orange juice or a sprig of thyme for flavor.
In the summer heat there is nothing better than an invigorating and healthy fruit drink.
How to make jam?
Knowing the power of pectin in these berries, one can also figure out how to make redcurrant jam, which can later be used to bake croissants, burgers or toast crispy toasts.
An important condition when cooking jam: the dishes used should be coated with enamel or, in extreme cases, be made of stainless steel. Otherwise, oxidation may occur, and the taste of the dish will be irreparably damaged. Proceed:
- You need to take 1.2 kilograms of peeled berries, pour 100 g of water and put on low heat, stirring occasionally.
- Boil for about three minutes and knead lightly with a blender or potato masher, cook for another two minutes and turn off the heat.
- Wipe the hot mass through a sieve with a spoon, making sure that the future jam retains its “purity”: cake should not get into the syrup, but it should be squeezed too.
- Add 600 g of sugar to the liquid and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally and checking readiness: the finished jam should not spread on the surface of the plate. It takes an average of forty minutes to an hour to cook.
Still hot currant jam should be laid out in jars and rolled up.
Pie with topping: recipe with red currants
What if there are no special skills in the confectionery art, but I really want to please the household? How to pass for a skilled cook without putting a lot of effort? Of course, buy ready-made dough in a supermarket and bake a pie.
To prepare the filling in a meat grinder, grind a kilogram of berries, add 300 g of sugar and boil over high heat, be sure to mix the mass with a wooden spatula for about 15-20 minutes.
Cool the mass to room temperature and lay on a rolled yeast or puff pastry, making a grate of slices of dough on top. Grease the top of the beaten egg and bake in the oven.
Pancakes stuffed with cottage cheese, red currants and apples
Pancakes are baked according to the usual recipe, which can be found in cookbooks. The filling is prepared with the addition of red currants, which makes it unusual in taste and interesting in appearance:
- Cut sweet apples (300 g) into slices, sprinkle with 150 grams of sugar, boil in 100 ml of water for 5 minutes.
- Add 1 cup fresh currants, mix and steam for another 2-3 minutes.
- Then beat the mass with a blender, add 200 g of cottage cheese and work a little more with a blender so that the mass assumes a uniform consistency.
Spread the resulting filling on baked pancakes, wrapping with a roll and cutting into two parts, put in a dish.
Berry syrup for pancakes, pancakes and cheesecakes
What to make of red currant if children want fritters? Of course, flavored syrup, in which pieces of baked dough will be buried. The ingredients for cooking are simple:
- two glasses of currant;
- one hundred grams of water;
- one glass of sugar;
- one tbsp. a spoonful of starch (it is better to take corn);
- one hundred grams of butter.
From the berries, make a puree with a blender, into which add sugar, water and starch. Put the pan on medium heat and, stirring, bring to a boil. The mass should thicken. It does not need to be cooked for a long time, just 2-3 minutes of boiling is enough.
Turn off the stove and add the butter to the syrup, mix until it becomes homogeneous and the butter melts. Chilled syrup can be consumed by pouring baked desserts on top.