Summer pleases with many berries. Cherries begin to sing one of the first - in the middle of June. But the beautiful and very juicy-looking berries have a very short season - only a couple of weeks. Therefore, it is useful to think about the storage of this excellent fruit. How to make it so that you can enjoy the taste of cherries all year round?
How to assemble. How to choose when buying
If the sweet cherry grows in its own garden, then when harvesting it is necessary to consider the following:
- picking fruits is better in the early morning hours: then the pulp has the optimum density;
- freshly harvested fruits should be spread out on a bedspread and carefully picked.
When buying berries, it is necessary to check whether there are any damages on them: cracks, dents, etc. The stalks of fruits should be greenish and elastic. The most juicy, ripe and tasty cherries are usually darkish in color.
Basic storage methods
Sweet cherry is a perishable fruit. But there are ways to keep it long. Speech about:
- stored in the refrigerator (except for the freezer);
- freeze;
- drying;
- conservation.
Each of the above methods has its own characteristics.
How to keep the sweet cherry in the refrigerator
In the refrigerator, sweet cherry does not lose freshness for about one week. But in the fresh air, it will begin to roam and rot the very next day. True, if it is with a handle, it can “live” a day longer.
Store need to:
- First of all, you should carefully check each fruit: there are no damages or wormholes on it.
- Next dry the berries. But only if there is moisture on them. In no case can they be washed before being sent to the fridge.
- Fold the fruit in a container and place it in the fruit compartment or at the very bottom section. Plastic trays - the best container for storing cherries. Clay plates or familiar glass jars are also suitable. But bags made of polyethylene are bad for this, because they lack tightness.
- It is necessary to cover the dishes with berries with something: a metal lid, a napkin, anything. If this is neglected, the fruits will quickly dry out.
The optimal temperature for storing cherries in a refrigerator is 0 ... + 2 degrees. The ideal humidity is 95%.
There is a way to make the fruit last a month. It is necessary to put cherry leaves on the bottom of a glass jar, on top of its berries, then leaves again and so on up to the top of the jar. Tara tightly close and refrigerate.
How to preserve fresh cherries for the winter by freezing
In the freezer fresh cherries you can extend life for quite a long time, and specifically for a whole year! That is, she will survive the winter without any problems. And while its useful properties are not going anywhere. So:
- We rinse each fruit well.
- Dry thoroughly with a paper towel. Make sure all the berries are completely dry.
- Fold up small containers tight, tight, insulating from extraneous odors, shaped like packages. Ideal - bags for fruit. Fruits cannot be put into ordinary plastic bags: they will absorb the smells of other products in them.
- We send tare with cherries to the freezer.
Thawing berries is easy and simple. You can use a microwave oven: put them in it for two minutes and set a mode called “defrosting”.
How to preserve the berry by drying
Drying cherries is a simple procedure. It can be done with the help of commonly available household appliances - electric dryers and stoves (more precisely, its ovens).
In an electric dryer dry berries as follows:
- First, thoroughly wash and carefully sort out.
- We wipe out a napkin from paper.
- We tear off the stem, remove the bones.
- Put in an electric drier, maximum one layer.
- At the beginning of the drying process, we set the temperature not very high (maximum +60 degrees): otherwise the fruits will crack, juice will begin to flow from them.
- When a couple of hours pass, we increase the temperature to + 70 ... + 80 degrees.
The whole procedure usually takes no longer than one day.
Now regarding drying in the oven. It can be produced in two ways. The first is drying with added sugar. It is done like this:
- We prepare a syrup, that is, a mixture of water and sugar in approximately equal proportions.
- In the resulting mixture put the fruit without stones (washed and without tails).
- Cook all this for a couple of minutes, then do not touch one day, so that the mixture is present.
- A day passed - it's time to bring the syrup with berries to a boiling state, and then let it cool.
- Now pull the cherries out of the syrup.
- We put them on a baking sheet, put them in the oven and set the temperature to +50 degrees, and keep them there for a while.
Dried cherries should be soft to the touch, not “bleed” with juice.
The second method of drying the cherries is done as follows:
- Wash and clean the berries.
- We put (thin layer) on a baking sheet.
- Dry in the oven at +50 degrees.
- If the cabinet is poorly ventilated, slightly opening the door - then all the excess moisture will quietly go away.
- After 10 minutes, we raise the drying temperature to +75 degrees and dry for some time.
If the berries do not stick together, then the process can be terminated.
Keep the conservation of sweet cherries
You can make a lot of delicious preserves from cherries: mashed potatoes, compotes, jams, jams and many others. Canned berries are stored in cellars and storerooms. Refrigerators are bad for this business. Storage should be cool and dry.
Valuable tips
The storage of cherries is a whole science. There are many nuances in this matter. So it is useful to know that:
- the more time passes from the beginning of the storage of sweet cherries in the refrigerator (the freezer does not count), the more vitamin C it becomes;
- it is imperative to check whether different insects have got in the dried sweet cherry: they adore her;
- in no case should you freeze the once thawed sweet cherry, otherwise all its beneficial properties will disappear;
- it is necessary to get rid of the conservation of which the covers are damaged or swollen.
There are plenty of ways to store cherries. You just have to do everything “scientifically”, and then you can enjoy this juicy beauty all year round.
