Blueberries are harvested for the future. The thing is that it does not grow on the beds, it should be collected in the forest. But if you still managed to pick up this berry a lot, not only to enjoy fresh, but also to make from it preparations for the winter, it makes sense to cook blueberry jam. It turns out it is tender and tasty, besides very useful. After all, blueberries not only strengthens the immune system, but also has a positive effect on metabolism, the cardiovascular system, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect, lowers body temperature during illness.
Cooking Features
Cooking jam from blueberries has its own characteristics.
- You should not choose over-ripe berries for cooking jam. After all, blueberries are already quite soft and fragile, and if they are overslept, they will quickly turn into a shapeless mass at best in the first minutes of cooking.
- It is necessary to wash blueberries thoroughly, but carefully so as not to damage the berries. Before washing it is better to sort it out, in order to remove leaves, mashed berries, adhering forest litter. After that, the picked berry should be placed in a colander and submerged several times in clean water. It is also possible to wash it with running water, but the risk of damaging a blueberry with a stream of water is quite large.
- In order for the blueberry jam to be well preserved, it is necessary to thoroughly dry the berries before preparing the delicacy. Banks under it, too, need to be sterilized, and after waiting for them to dry. If you put the jam in wet jars, it will quickly become moldy.
- An enamel basin is most suitable for making jam. Enamel does not react with berry juice, does not make the billet toxic and does not give it a metallic taste. The shape of the pelvis helps to quickly warm the whole berry, thereby shortening the cooking time and, consequently, the usefulness of the blueberry is preserved. In addition, a large area of the pelvis allows to reduce the intensity of the pressure of the upper berries to the lower ones, due to which they retain their shape better.
- It is possible to reduce the heat treatment time and reduce the pressure of the upper layers of the berries on the lower ones, if you make jam in small portions, from one kilogram of berries (this is about 6 glasses).
More delicious and healthier blueberry jam will be obtained if you combine it with other berries. Most often it is blueberries, which simply replace part of the blueberry specified in the recipe. For taste and aroma, cinnamon, cloves and some other spices can also be added to blueberry jam.
Simple Blueberry Jam Recipe
The composition (1, 5-1, 75 liters):
- blueberries - 1 kg;
- sugar - 0, 8 kg;
- water - 0, 2 liters.
Method of preparation:
- Select blueberries suitable for making jam: ripe, firm, intact. Clean it from debris, gently rinse, let it drain and place in a bowl for boiling jam.
- In a saucepan, heat the water and, pouring sugar in pieces, boil a thick syrup.
- Fill the blueberry in the pelvis with boiling syrup and leave to infuse for at least a quarter of an hour (maybe half an hour).
- While the blueberries are infusing, sterilize the jars and boil the lids suitable for them.
- Place the present berry on the stove, on a low heat bring to a boil and then boil, carefully but often stirring and removing the foam, for 20 minutes.
- Pour the hot jam over the prepared jars and close them tightly. Turn the plates upside down, cover with a blanket and leave to cool under it for additional preservation.
- Remove jars of blueberry jam on the pantry shelves.
Preparation of jam according to this simple recipe takes from the hostess no more than one and a half hours in total. For jam it is very little.
Blueberry jam with five minutes
The composition (1, 5-1, 75 liters):
- blueberries - 1 kg;
- sugar - 1 kg.
Method of preparation:
- Iterate, wash the berry, dry it, pour it on a towel.
- Put the berry in the bowl, add sugar and put it in a cool place for the night. During this time, the berry will give a lot of juice and immersed in syrup, soaked them.
- Put the berry on fire. After the boil of jam, boil it for 5 minutes. After the specified time, remove the pelvis and jam from the heat.
- Spread the jam in pre-sterilized jars, close tightly with the lids, let cool.
- Remove cooled banks to a place of permanent storage. It is better if it is cool enough (up to 20 degrees).
Due to the fact that blueberries have time to soak in syrup, it requires only five minutes of cooking. This allows you to save the maximum beneficial properties of blueberries.
Thick Blueberry Jam
Composition (1 l):
- blueberries - 0.5 kg;
- lemon - 1 pc .;
- sugar - 0, 8 kg;
- gelatin - 25 g.
Method of preparation:
- Prepared blueberries (you can use both battered and frozen) place in a basin and cover with water so that it completely covers the berries.
- Put on low heat and boil 10 minutes after boiling water.
- Pour a glass of broth and cool it to 60-80 degrees.
- Rub the berry through a sieve, return it to the pelvis for boiling jam.
- Pour blueberry puree into sugar, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.
- In the broth, dissolve the gelatin and strain it through a sieve. Pour into the bowl with berry puree, stir.
- Cut a lemon in half or 4 parts, squeeze the juice out of it. Add lemon juice to blueberries.
- Cook the blueberry for a couple more minutes and remove from the heat.
- Spread jam over small prepared jars.
- After placing the jars in a large saucepan with water, sterilize for 5 minutes if their volume does not exceed a quarter of a liter, 10 minutes if they are half a liter, or 15-20 minutes if you decided to put all jam in one jar.
- Remove the jars, cover them with clean lids and wait for the jam to cool.
- Spin the caps so that the cans are sealed and clean for the winter. It is better to keep jam in a cool place, although practice shows that it does not deteriorate even at room temperature.
Thick jam prepared according to this recipe can be used instead of jam or confiture for making sandwiches and various desserts.
Blueberry jam with honey
Composition (1 l):
- blueberries - 1 kg;
- honey - 0, 2 l;
- rum - 40 ml.
Method of preparation:
- Put prepared blueberries on medium heat and warm until berries burst and juice is not allowed.
- Melt the honey, pour it into a bowl of blueberries and mix thoroughly.
- Bring the jam to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.
- Pour in the rum, stir, boil for half a minute and remove the bowl of jam from the heat.
- Spread the healing delicacy over the clean cans, close them with metal or nylon covers. After cooling, move to the refrigerator, where the jam and should be stored so that it does not deteriorate.
This recipe makes fragrant and very useful jam, which can be eaten in a spoon for the prevention or treatment of colds, strengthening the immune system.
Blueberry jam recipes are simple, cooking it does not take too much time, meanwhile it is a very tasty, fragrant and, most importantly, healthy dessert.