Despite the fact that honeysuckle is known to most people exclusively as a decorative and completely inedible plant for food, its bushes with oblong dark blue berries clearly stand out from this framework.
The sweet and sour taste of these fruits resembles blackcurrant and is not inferior to it in useful properties: the reserves of vitamin C, glucose and fructose, mineral compounds of calcium, magnesium and copper in it are incredible. The most delicious honeysuckle, of course, is fresh. It is recommended to use this healing berry for residents of megacities, because it has a restorative, antibacterial, antihypertensive and anti-inflammatory effect, helping to strengthen immune defense and reduce headaches. Unfortunately, this shrubbery bears fruit for a rather short time: it blooms at the very beginning of summer and fades away with the appearance of other berries, and therefore the best way to please yourself with its wonderful taste and in other seasons are different kinds of preparations: juices, mashed potatoes, jam and pastille, compotes, dried and frozen fruits and, of course, honeysuckle jam, the recipe of which we will present to your attention today. Of course, in the process of cooking the berries somewhat lose their taste and useful qualities, but this can be offset by an increase in the number of stocks for the cold seasons.
Stock Options
For harvesting from honeysuckle, it is necessary to collect moderately ripe berries in clear sunny weather, then rinse carefully, because the peel of the fruit is very delicate and easily injured, and then simply spread out on a clean towel and leave to dry a little. To save it in the form of juice, you need to blanch it for 3-5 minutes, squeeze it from the pulp, and then tightly close it in sterilized bottles and put it in a cold place. From the remaining dry mass in the meantime, you can make a marshmallow. To do this, mix it with sugar in a ratio of 1: 1, wait 3-5 hours until the latter is completely dissolved and dry in the oven, and then molded and cut. Jam, compote and
honeysuckle jam will be less useful
. Their
recipe is no more complicated, but it will require heat treatment of the berries, which will slightly reduce their quality. Compote can be prepared with or without sugar, boiling the fruits in a saucepan for another 10 minutes after the start of boiling and rolling in a sterile dish.
Jam
Homemade jam from honeysuckle is stored long enough. His recipe is extremely simple and has several variations, from which the hostess will be able to choose a more affordable way for her. So, you can first fill in fresh washed berries with sugar in equal proportions, let it brew for 3-4 hours to form a syrup, and then put on fire for 5-7 minutes. Cooking should be repeated after a 5-8 hour break. Or you can first put the sugar solution on the fire for 10 minutes, and only then add the berries to it, duplicating the procedure after 6 hours. So get a richer jam from honeysuckle. The recipe can be improved, experimented with a combination of ingredients and proportions, but the amazing, truly summer, taste of this seemingly plain-looking berry will remain unchanged.