Stewed berries for the winter. Wild berry compote for the winter

Creating strategic fruit and vegetable stocks for the sad and cold months, you can not forget about compote of berries for the winter. This type of preservation preserves most of the utilities contained in the original product, due to which it will help the anti-vitamin organism survive until spring. Jar fruits can become a filling for a wide variety of pastries and decoration for cakes and cocktails. And, in the end, a compote of berries for the winter (its recipe is not important yet) is simply delicious to drink!

Some rules

The most important thing in such preparations is to know how to cook compote from berries for the winter correctly. Even if you have a well-developed culinary intuition, awareness in some details is clearly not superfluous.

1. Stewed berries for the winter can consist of different "material". However, varieties of the same origin (for example, cherries of different varieties) should not be combined in a jar.
2. The peduncle is removed from the berry removed just before being used. Having lain even a couple of hours before launching, the berries partially lose their juice. As a result, they become less elastic, which does not have a very positive effect on their appearance. And the compote itself is not so fragrant and more watery.
3. In some cases, certain berries (for example, cherries and cherries) go into business directly with tails - from them a compote of berries for the winter acquires an elegant bitterness. In this case, special attention should be paid to the washing of raw materials: at the joints with the peduncle, dust is poorly washed out. Many housewives, for a guarantee, prefer to pour boiling water over the berries.

Naturally, before unfolding fruits and berries in jars, containers should be well washed. Some housewives from old memory prefer soda. However, we assure you, these are prejudices. With modern detergents, dishes are washed much better, especially if it is not the first year in use. And you need to rinse well after soda.

The most popular way of rolling

And the most pleasant thing in it is the lack of the need to sterilize compote from berries for the winter. The raw materials, washed and drained from the water, are laid out in hot sterile jars about one third of their volume. Dishes are poured with boiling clean water flush with the upper edge of the neck and covered with boiled or roasted lids. After a third of an hour from all containers, the water, which partially absorbed the berry juice, is drained using a lid, in which holes are made, into one large pan. Sugar is poured in there (a glass for each three-liter), and the syrup boils. The berries are immediately poured over them, the cans are rolled up again with sterilized lids, turned upside down and covered with something warm until they cool.

Filling lovers

If you like a thicker and more saturated compote of berries for the winter, the recipe is used slightly different. The same three-liter containers are filled up to half, or even more, with raw materials. One and a half to two glasses of sugar are poured into each, steep boiling water (“shoulders”) is poured, and the dishes are put covered with covers on a water bath. There they should stay for 20-30 minutes. If you use smaller jars, then the time will be shorter: a half-liter takes 10 minutes, a liter takes 15 minutes.

Compote of assorted berries for the winter: composition options

Mixed drinks have a special aroma and unforgettable taste. However, some fruits may clog the notes of the rest, and in some cases their shades conflict. If this is your first time to cook a compote of Assorted berries for the winter, try using these combinations to get started.

1. Cherry and cherry in equal proportions plus half the amount of apricots. Whether to take the seeds out of the cherry is up to you, the rest of the components go right with them. Syrup for pouring 35% concentration, that is, a little more than half a kilogram of sugar is taken per liter of water.
2. Sweet cherries, again with uncooked seeds - a third kilo, currants - half of this mass, raspberries - a third of sweet cherries. Instead of combining currants - raspberries, you can take strawberries with gooseberries, such a compote of berries for the winter will turn out no worse. For syrup, a third of a kilogram of sugar is per liter of water.
3. Cherry plum, cherry and apricots - in equal shares, cherry and gooseberries - half portion. Syrup is again a fortress of 35 percent.
4. Cherries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants (both black and red) - in equal volumes. The concentration of syrup is 25-30 percent, depending on your outlook on life.
5. Very interesting and extremely useful is an assorted compote of wild berries for the winter, if, of course, you have access to it. Blueberries are combined with almost any berries, including garden ones. With lingonberries, you should be careful - the drink can turn out to be excessively acidic. It is better to combine it with something sweet, for example, strawberries or strawberries, and supplement with a more concentrated syrup. BlackBerry in harmony is practically not inferior to blueberries, so you can roll it into compotes without fear.

Finally, we note that the compote of Assorti berries for the winter often turns out even better if you add it with fruits: apples, hard pears or quinces.

The subtleties of compotes assorted

In principle, there are few special differences from single-component compotes, but they are.

1. For beauty and seduction, an assorted compote of berries for the winter is stacked in layers.
2. If berries with a different degree of elasticity are combined, more dense are laid down. For example, first cherry, and on top - raspberries or strawberries. Otherwise, you will not get whole berries of softer varieties. Especially important is the observance of this condition for those who like not only to drink compote, but also to taste its components. Or going to apply them in another dish.

Undoubtedly, everyone has their own preferences regarding the sweetness of drinks. When a compote of Assorti berries is planned for the winter, it is especially difficult to guess the right amount of sugar for the syrup, since all the ingredients have their own sweetness. So the necessary proportions will have to be deduced independently.

Winter enjoyment

When the cold comes, to console the soul and make it believe that the summer is back, it may well be a compote for the winter from frozen berries. It is not advisable to make a roll out of them: in the summer it is too expensive a product, because at one time it required additional efforts to preserve it, and in winter it was time not to seal, but to open. Therefore, such compotes are prepared in order to use them immediately. We offer you some attractive recipes.

1. We will call the first option “Blues composition” - there should be a romantic name for such a delicious drink. Three liters of water boil, sugar is poured into it from half a glass to a whole, depending on how much the family loves sweets. Either half a lemon or a whole orange is squeezed into the syrup (as you like). A pound of frozen cherries is being laid. As soon as the compote boils, the pan is removed from the stove, covered with a lid and left for an hour to insist.
2. "Summer Delight." A completely appropriate name. You will need black and red currants plus raspberries, all in equal shares (150 grams per three liters of water). Dense berries are washed; if the red variety has been frozen with tails, they are plucked. The rest of the actions are similar to those described above, only sugar should still be taken in a full glass so that it does not turn out sour. By the way, such a compote comes out of berries for the winter when replacing sea-buckthorn currants.

Subtleties of handling frozen fruits

If you are making a compote not from yesterday's picked berries, do not defrost them. First, they will lose a significant amount of juice. Secondly, they will become very unattractive in appearance. And thirdly, you are wasting your time! And the beautiful color of compote from frozen berries is obtained only when lowering them into the base directly from the freezer.

Common mistakes

Whatever you cook compote from, in no case do not boil it. In this process, your raw materials will lose not only their appearance, but also all the utilities that are in it. Along with them, to a large extent, aromas and taste appeal are lost, that is, you get just tinted water.

And second: when cooking syrup, avoid aluminum pans. The probability that their walls partially pass into the drink is quite high. Why do you need unaccounted for and unwanted supplements?