How to store red currants

Red currant is a berry from the gooseberry family. It is very useful for the human body. There are many interesting ways to store it. The article describes them in detail.

Red currant: what is useful

The berries have a lot of fiber, a sea of the most diverse vitamins of almost all existing groups (even PP). Currant is especially rich in vitamin A, which makes it an excellent medicine for eye diseases. It is replete with pectin, antioxidants, anticyodyne, and many other useful substances. Red fruit helps to cope with constipation, relieves the body of cholesterol, eases the symptoms of diabetes and gout, improves immunity, even fights cancer. Also currant is an excellent diuretic and diaphoretic.

Red berries make wonderful fruit drinks and cocktails. And the sauces from it are very tasty with salads and meat dishes. Red fruits are useful for women's skin: they can make an excellent peeling mask. And all thanks to fruit acids, perfectly cleans and whitens the skin.

Collect and select for storage

When harvesting should take into account such nuances:

Dry fruits are stored better than wet ones. Therefore, it is desirable to collect them in good time. This should be done not early in the morning, but after the dew has come down.
Berries need to be collected not individually, but with whole tassels, otherwise the fruit can be very wrinkled.
They must be put in small baskets, boxes or buckets. The capacity of all this container should not be more than 3-4 kg. It is also very desirable that the width of the baskets and buckets does not exceed the height. Otherwise, the proper gravity of the fruits can remember them.
You can pick a slightly unripe currant: it is stored and ripened in the refrigerator without any problems.

By the way, ripe red berries have a bright red color. But a dark red hue is a sign of over-ripeness.

How to store fresh red berries for the winter

Freshly picked berries can be saved all winter. For this perfect drying. Do the following:

Put the berries on a baking tray (always with one layer).
Put in the oven.
Set the temperature to 45-50 degrees, we begin to wilt.
Slow down until the berries are completely dry.

In this form, the currant will last about six months.

Storing in the Freezer

Currant in the freezer does not lose its beneficial properties. The taste also does not change much. To freeze it you need:

Arrange the berries on a baking sheet, tray or dish.
Put in the freezer.
Wait until the berries are frozen.
Pour into any container (it is possible to pour immediately: currants are very dense, they will not wrinkle).
Fold in containers or plastic bags.
Put in the freezer.

The optimal storage temperature is +2 degrees. Thaw berries need to gradually. First, we keep them in the lower compartments of the refrigerator (the temperature there should be + 4 ... + 6 degrees), then we can take them out. After defrosting, the fruit will be quite fresh in appearance. They will make a great compote.

Store currants in such conditions can be about three months. However, it can be longer: it will taste quite edible, but its useful properties will start to fade.