Rhubarb for the winter

Rhubarb contains a lot of useful elements, it is especially rich in folic acid, ascorbic acid, magnesium. Many of the vitamins in the product are preserved after heat treatment. Most of our compatriots since childhood are familiar with the taste of rhubarb compote, pies stuffed with this vegetable. With a pleasant sourness, it gives the desserts a unique taste. Often rhubarb is grown in order to feed on healthy sweets from it at the beginning of summer, filling the body’s need for vitamins. Experienced housewives do not miss the opportunity to prepare rhubarb for the winter, to provide family with vitamin desserts for the whole year. There are many classical ways of preparing this product for the winter, and each of them has its own advantages.

Cooking Features

To ensure that rhubarb blanks are well preserved and their taste meets your expectations, you need to know a few things.

Rhubarb is not fully edible. The leaves of the plant contain too much oxalic acid, in such a concentration it can cause serious harm to the body. Only rhubarb stalks are good for food.
For home preparations use young stalks. If they are not cut off in time, they will be overloaded. Large coarse fibers will make the product taste unpleasant and heavy for the stomach.
The top layer of rhubarb petioles has a pleasant pinkish shade, which many housewives try to keep. In addition, the skin contains the most useful substances. However, if the petioles are slightly overgrown, it is better to clean them, using only a more tender central flesh for harvesting for the winter.
Tanks in which rhubarb or preparations from it will be stored in winter should be clean. Containers for freezing is enough to wash and let them dry. Banks for compote, jam and other canned food must be sterilized, the same applies to the lids with which these cans will be closed.
Rhubarb is convenient to harvest in the form in which you plan to use it. If you prefer drinks from this plant, it is advisable to procure juice or fruit juice. If you use rhubarb for baking, you should stock up on jam and jam. As an independent dessert, you can serve rhubarb jelly. Frozen rhubarb can be used throughout the year at your discretion, including for the preparation of savory dishes.

Since it is possible to prepare rhubarb for the winter in a variety of ways, there is no unified technology for the preservation of this product. The nuances associated with the preparation of the stalks in one way or another are indicated in a specific recipe. Having carefully studied the instructions accompanying it, you will avoid mistakes.

Freezing rhubarb for the winter

Composition:

rhubarb - how much is collected.

Method of preparation:

Wash the rhubarb at the same time removing leaves from the petioles. Petioles cut into pieces of 2 cm.
In a saucepan, boil water, put rhubarb pieces into it.
Blanch for 1-2 minutes. This will preserve the specific shade of the vegetable when it is frozen.
Fold the rhubarb into a colander, let it dry, so as not to freeze the water.
Fill with clean and dry containers with stalks, close them tightly, put them in the freezer.

You can freeze rhubarb in packets. Having filled them with pieces of vegetable, it is necessary to remove excess air from them, after which they remain tightly closed using a special device that melts the plastic and glues it using heat, or tightly tied in a knot.

Rhubarb, frozen in its pure form (without added sugar) can be stored in the freezer for up to 12 months. After defrosting re-freeze it can not be subjected. Such a preparation can be used to prepare not only sweet dishes, but also soup and sauce.

Compote from rhubarb for the winter

Composition (4 liters):

rhubarb - 0.5 kg;
sugar - 0, 75 l;
water - 3 l;
Cinnamon (optional) - to taste.

Method of preparation:

Wash rhubarb, dry, cut into small cubes (about a centimeter or a little less).
Fill with clean cold water, leave for 20-30 minutes.
Drain.
Pour sugar in a saucepan, add water. While stirring, bring to a boil.
When the sugar is completely dissolved, add rhubarb to the syrup. Cook compote on low heat for 20-30 minutes. 10 minutes before it is ready, add cinnamon to it.
Sterilize the jars and their lids.
Fill jars with cooked compote, roll up.
Turn the cans upside down. Wrap a warm blanket.

After the jars have cooled down, the stock can be stowed in storage in the pantry: compote is well worth it at room temperature. Before use, it is recommended to dilute the drink with clean boiled water.

Rhubarb juice for the winter

Composition (3 liters):

rhubarb - 5 kg;
sugar - 0, 25 kg;
fresh mint (optional) - 50 g.

Method of preparation:

Rhubarb wash well. Cut into small cubes.
Put a piece of rhubarb in a colander, dip it in boiling water for 2 minutes, then immediately place the colander with vegetable in a container filled with cold water. After a minute, pour into an enamel basin or other utensils.
Treat the remaining rhubarb in the same way.
Squeeze out the rhubarb juice. You can do this in different ways: using a juicer, press. You can chop the stalks in a meat grinder or blender and squeeze the juice from the mash through the gauze folded in several layers.
Put finely chopped mint in a container with juice, leave for 6 hours.
Strain the juice, add sugar to it.
Bring the juice to a boil over low heat, but do not boil. Sugar during this time should be dissolved.
Pour juice into sterilized jars or bottles.
Place a cloth on the bottom of a large pot, put the containers with the juice.
Fill the pot with water to about the shoulders of the cans.
Sterilize for 15-30 minutes, depending on the volume of containers filled with juice: 15 minutes for half-liter cans or bottles, 30 minutes for half-liter. If you closed the juice in a three-liter jar, increase the sterilization time to 40-45 minutes.

It is necessary to cool jars with rhubarb juice upside down under something warm. Store it preferably in a cool place.

Rhubarb jam

The composition (1, 5 l):

rhubarb - 1 kg;
sugar - 1 kg;
vanillin or cinnamon (optional) - to taste.

Method of preparation:

Wash the young shoots of rhubarb, cut into slices about 1 cm thick.
Dip the plant pieces in boiling water, blanch for 2-3 minutes.
Catch the pieces with a slotted spoon, put them in a container with cold water.
When the rhubarb has cooled, fold it to a colander, let dry a little.
Put rhubarb in an enamel bowl or pan. Only aluminum dishes will not work: this material, when interacting with acids, emits harmful substances.
Pour sugar. Leave for 6 hours or even overnight in a cool place. Do not forget to cover the pelvis with gauze or a thin cloth to protect against insects.
Put the pelvis on a slow fire. Bring the contents to a boil. If there is foam on the surface, remove it. Add cinnamon or vanilla. Boil 15 minutes.
Pour the jam over the sterilized jars, close tightly.

Under plastic covers rhubarb jam is stored in a cool place. If you close the cans tightly with metal lids, then rhubarb jam can be stored in the closet.

Rhubarb jam

The composition (1, 5 l):

rhubarb - 1 kg;
sugar - 1 kg.

Method of preparation:

Rhubarb wash, dry, cut into pieces of 1-2 cm.
Grind the vegetable to a state of mashed potatoes with a blender or meat grinder.
Place the puree in a bowl or pan, add sugar, clean for a day in a cool place.
Place the prepared mixture on the stove. Boil for half an hour, stirring. When foam appears on the surface, be sure to remove it.
Let the prepared jam stand for 2 hours, bring it to the boil again.
Spread the jam over the prepared jars, seal them.

Rhubarb jam is good at room temperature. It can be used to make sandwiches, pies, buns. This jam recipe is considered a classic. Other options are prepared with the addition of orange peels, apples and cinnamon, and other ingredients.

Rhubarb jelly

Composition (for 3, 4 l):

rhubarb - 1 kg;
water - 2 l;
gelatin - 20 g;
sugar - 0, 75 kg;
cinnamon or vanilla (optional) - to taste.

Method of preparation:

Rhubarb, washing and drying, cut into small pieces, put in a saucepan.
Dissolve the gelatin in half a glass of cool water.
Fill the remaining water with rhubarb, bring to a boil, cook for 5 minutes.
Add sugar, cinnamon or vanillin, continue cooking for 15 minutes.
Strain the broth, return to the pan, heat.
Pour the dissolved gelatin into the broth, cook over low heat for 5 minutes.
Pour the jelly over the prepared jars - when cooled, it will become thicker.
Close the cans tightly. When they cool to room temperature, put in the refrigerator.

Rhubarb jelly - ready dessert. You can store it only in the refrigerator and not for a very long time: it is desirable to eat a treat until the New Year.

Having prepared rhubarb for the winter according to the classic recipes, you can be sure that the family will be provided with a tasty and useful delicacy for a long time.

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