Cherry juice at home can be done in many ways. Often, such drinks are boiled and canned for the winter. However, some cooks prefer to use them only fresh.
How exactly should you prepare cherry juice at home, we will describe a little further.
Making fresh cherry juice at home
Have you ever tasted fresh cherry juice? The recipe for such a drink does not require much time and ingredients. But to get a really very tasty and healthy juice, you have to make a lot of effort.
So, to make fresh cherry juice yourself, we need:
- freshly picked cherry - about 2 kg;
- drinking water - use as desired;
- granulated sugar - about 100 g (to taste).
We process components
Before making cherry juice, you should carefully process the freshly picked berries. It is sorted out, laid out in a colander and washed thoroughly. After that, all the bones are squeezed out of the cherry. Do it over deep dishes. Juice that will drain during this procedure should not be poured. It must be combined with the pulp.
Making a drink
After the berries are processed, proceed to squeeze the juice. To do this, spread the cherry in a small sieve, which is installed over a deep container. Grinding all the ingredients with a crush, you get a rather thick and sweet gruel without cake. By the way, the peel and other flesh remaining after the implementation of these actions can be discarded or boiled compote from them.
Chopping all the berries in a sieve, they are laid out in a multilayer cheesecloth, and then the entire contents of the bag are squeezed out strongly. As a result of such actions, you should get a thick and concentrated drink of maroon color.
How to store and use?
Fresh cherry juice should not be stored for too long (even in the refrigerator). This is due to the fact that it quickly oxidizes and deteriorates. If you think that such a drink turned out to be too acidic and concentrated, then you can add a little sugar and drinking water to it.
Fresh cherry juice is not recommended for people with diseases of the stomach and other organs of the digestive tract.
Harvesting a cherry drink for the winter
It is good to harvest cherry juice for the winter for those who like to enjoy natural drinks of their own production in the cold season, saturating their body with vitamins.
To implement such a recipe, we need:
- freshly picked cherry - about 2 kg;
- drinking water - about 500 ml;
- granulated sugar - about 250 g (to taste).
Preparation of the main product
How to harvest cherry juice for the winter? The recipe for this drink requires the use of only fresh berries. It is sorted and thoroughly washed, and then all the bones are squeezed out. After this, the product is placed in a fine sieve and wiped with a pusher. The cake that is left from the berries is thrown out, and the juice is boiled from the pulp.
Brewing a drink
So that homemade cherry juice does not deteriorate and remains unchanged until late winter, it must be subjected to heat treatment. Of course, this procedure will deprive the berries of most of the vitamins. However, this is the only way you can enjoy a delicious drink in the cold season.
After thoroughly grinding the cherry, its pulp is placed in an enamel container, and then ordinary drinking water and granulated sugar are added. Having mixed all the components, they are brought to a boil. After boiling the cherry juice over low heat for about 3 minutes, proceed to its conservation.
How to preserve a drink?
After the berry juice is ready, it is poured into sterilized glass jars. Next, the containers are covered with lids and installed in a pan, on the bottom of which a towel is laid. Having filled the dishes with water (to the shoulders of the cans), it is brought to a boil. In this form, cherry juice is kept for half an hour. Then the hot containers are removed and closed with sterilized lids.
Turning the cans upside down, they cool for about a day at room temperature, after which they are cleaned in a basement or underground (that is, any cool room). You can use this juice in a few days.
Cook juice with stones
According to experts, in the seeds of cherry contains hydrocyanic acid, which adversely affects human health. In this regard, juices with such a berry can not be stored for too long. They must be consumed within 2-3 months.
So, for making juice with cherry seeds, we need
- freshly picked cherry - about 2 kg;
- drinking water - 3-5 l;
- granulated sugar - about 400 g (add to taste).
We process the berry
Berries for such juice should be taken as fresh as possible. They are sorted out, and then laid out in a colander and washed thoroughly. After that, the cherries are dried and distributed into three-liter jars, which are sterilized in advance.
To obtain a more delicious and concentrated juice, the containers are filled in half or 1/3 part.
Cooking process
Cooking cherry juice with seeds should be in several stages. First, ordinary water is poured into a large enameled pan, and then it is brought to a boil. Pouring granulated sugar into the dishes, wait for its complete dissolution. After that, the resulting syrup is poured into banks, where the berries were laid out in advance.
Filling the containers to the shoulders, they are covered with lids and left in this position for 20-35 minutes. After the color of the water changes and turns dark red, the jars are closed with a special lid with small holes and the whole juice is poured back into the container. After tasting the drink, I add sugar to it (if necessary). In this form, the syrup is brought to a boil and again poured into cans. This time, the containers are immediately rolled up, turned upside down and covered with a thick blanket.
In this form, the cherry drink is kept for about 3 days, after which it is cleaned in the refrigerator or underfloor.
When can I use it?
Cherry juice with seeds should be infused in a dark and slightly cool room for about 3-5 weeks. Such a long exposure of the drink will make it more saturated and tasty.
Pouring cherry juice into tall glasses, it tastes. If it turned out to be too sweet and concentrated, then it can be diluted with ordinary drinking water (cooled boiling water).
The taste of such a drink differs significantly from the taste of ordinary pitted cherry juice.
To summarize
By independently harvesting homemade cherry juice, in the winter season you can no longer buy flavored drinks in the store. By the way, the latter contain not only a lot of sugar, but also harmful additives that negatively affect human health.