Mulberry is one of the most common plants, the fruits of which are not just tasty. They are especially sweet and fragrant. In addition, mulberry has healing properties.
Although fruits grow on a tree, they are called berries. They begin to ripen in July and bear fruit for almost a month. This is enough to get enough fresh mulberry and cook stocks for the winter.
How to harvest mulberries and prepare for storage
Mulberries are collected gradually, as they ripen. For harvesting you need to choose a dry and sunny day. There are plenty of them at the height of summer.
In the early morning hours to start work should not be. We need to wait for the sun to dry the dew.
Harvesting mulberries by hand is difficult and not necessary. The method of its removal from the branches has long been developed:
- Oilcloth, paper or a mat is spread under the trees.
- Fruits are brought together by tapping on the branches of the mulberry. Ripe berries are easily showered on the prepared litter.
It is better to sort the fallen berries right away and remove the garbage, leaves, immature fruits. Tails do not tear off.
If necessary, the berries can be washed in a pan with cold water and dried using a sieve or grates.
After such preparation, the mulberry is dried, frozen and prepared for a variety of jams, jams, compotes.
Storing Fresh Mulberries
Fresh mulberries do not last long - three or four days, and only in the refrigerator. Dry fruit can lie for about a week. Berry feels rather well in a plastic bag or in a shallow bowl, which should be tightly covered with cling film. It is desirable to fill such container with fruits of good quality. Spoiled and slightly crushed berries must be removed and eaten quickly.
Place the mulberry is best in the department for fruit. It is important to isolate the fruit from other types of berries.
It does not hurt once or twice a day to look into the container and check the condition of the fruit. If any of them have already begun to deteriorate, they should be removed immediately.
Storing mulberries for the winter. Dried berry
To extend the storage period of her mulberry:
- dried;
- freeze.
Only ripe berries are selected for drying. They are cleared of debris, and when heavily polluted, they are washed with water and allow time for the fruit to dry.
It is best to carry out the drying in two stages:
- Spread the mulberry in the open air, choosing a sunny and open place. You can place the fruit on trays, trays, pieces of plywood. It does not hurt to cover the tare paper.
Mulberry should always be covered with gauze, as insects and birds love it.
This stage lasts one or two weeks. At night, trays with mulberry should be cleaned in a dry room.
- The final drying of the berries is carried out in the oven, heated to 30-40 degrees. For an hour, the fruit is completely dried.
The mulberry prepared in this way should be poured into glass jars or other containers that can be hermetically sealed. For reinsurance (protection from bugs) berries are stored in the refrigerator. In the kitchen cupboard, they also feel good. Dried mulberries can be stored for up to two years. Throughout this period, the berries remain healthy and tasty. They are eaten as seeds or used in cooking (baking, stewed fruit).
Storing mulberries frozen
You can freeze whole berries in bulk. For this you need:
- Wash and dry the mulberry.
- Place the berries on pallets with a layer of no more than three centimeters and send to the freezer for four hours.
- Frozen fruits should be decomposed into portion plastic bags and sent back to the freezer. There they will lie for months, retaining all the beneficial properties of mulberry.
When the berry does not need water procedures before freezing, it can be immediately decomposed into small plastic bags, well closed and sent to the freezer.
You can store frozen mulberries for a year or two. But it is important that the temperature in the freezer does not leave the mark of -18 degrees.
Mulberry freeze also:
- with sugar;
- in syrup.
For frosts with sugar you need 150 grams of sand per kilogram of berries. If the mulberry is very sweet, then the amount of sugar is reduced by a third. The freezing process:
- Fruits are placed in a container and sprinkled with sugar.
- The container is tightly closed and shaken. This contributes to the fact that the sugar is distributed evenly inside.
- A mulberry container is sent to the freezer.
To preserve mulberry in syrup:
- We prepare a sweet solution from 0, 5 l of water and a glass of sugar. Syrup boil for five minutes.
- Cool the solution in the room.
- We send the syrup for two hours in the fridge.
- We place the mulberry in containers or plastic cups.
- Fill the berries with cold syrup so that they are completely immersed in it.
- We close the containers with a lid, and seal the cups with cling film.
- Place the mulberry container in the freezer.
The shelf life of mulberries in sugar and syrup (in the freezer) is at least a year.
When the season begins, berries and fruits, you need to try to eat them more. This fully applies to mulberry. Do not be afraid that its fruits will stain hands and dishes. All this is easily washed with citric acid. But the vitamins and trace elements contained in mulberry, a great influence on well-being and significantly add strength.
Preparations for the future diversify the diet and improve health at any time of year. Although mulberry is a perishable berry, it is easy to keep.
