What is the best way to store red and chokeberry for the winter?

It is necessary to collect the fruits of red and black rowan at the end of the first autumn month. The berries can withstand freezing well; the cold makes their taste even more pleasant, but when frozen they last less.

How to preserve the suitability of unprocessed rowan at home

The optimal place to store red or chokeberry fresh is a cellar, basement or refrigerator.

In a cellar or basement

Having collected a medicinal harvest, it must be carefully sorted, removing all leaves, twigs, insects, spoiled and crumpled specimens. You cannot wash the berries before storing them, otherwise their natural protective cover will be damaged.

Then, the rowan bunches must be strung on twine, so that they do not touch each other, and hung from a dry ceiling.

Another harvest of fresh rowan berries can be placed in balls in boxes made of cardboard or wood, making a layer of paper between each one.Holes must be made in the container in order to create good ventilation.

Taking into account temperature indicators, rowan berries can be suitable for consumption:

• until spring at 0 °C;
• for 3-4 months at 7-10 °C;
• up to one month (black) and up to two months (red) at 10-15 °C.

It is very important to monitor the air humidity in the room, which should not exceed 70%.

See the video “Preparing red rowan berries Drying and freezing”:

See also: how to dry rowan.

In a refrigeration device

If there is no suitable room, rowan berries can be successfully stored in the refrigerator compartment. To do this, they should be picked from the brushes, sorted, dried and placed in a clean, dry form in a paper or plastic bag and sent to the compartment where vegetables and fruits are usually stored. In this condition, rowan will be suitable for consumption for 1 month.

You can extend this period using granulated sugar. You need to sprinkle the bottom of a plastic container with it, then lay out the rowan berries and thus alternate the ingredients to the very top.

You can preserve rowan berries by sprinkling them with sugar:

• in the area between the refrigerator compartment and freezer for up to six months;
• in the compartment where it is customary to keep fruits and vegetables for up to 3 months.

You can also extend the usefulness of the rowan harvest if it is ground with sugar (2:1). The resulting puree must be transferred to sterile dry jars, tightly closed with lids and placed on the middle shelf of the refrigerator. This dessert can be stored for no more than 1 year. It’s better to do this with chokeberry; it’s juicier and sweeter.

If there are other plans for rowan, but there is no time to implement them yet, then the non-wet bunches can be placed in a plastic or paper bag and the fruits can be placed in the refrigerator on the shelf for fruits and vegetables. They will be valid for 30 days.

In the freezer

The ideal way to preserve the beneficial qualities of fresh rowan is “shock” freezing (-18 °C and below). Under such conditions, the amount of carotene (it is found in red rowan) even increases. After sorting and washing the fruits, they should be laid out on a towel to dry at room temperature, and then placed in one ball on a tray and placed in the freezer. After 4 hours, the berries must be put into bags and stored in the freezer for a whole year.

Frozen puree can also be stored for 1 year (the proportion of berries and granulated sugar is 1:0.5).

Several tasty ways to protect rowan for the winter

Having made a lot of preparations from chokeberry and red rowan for the winter, you can enjoy it until the new harvest. The berries can be dried (the finished product should be stored in an airtight container in a room where it is dry and cool, the temperature should not exceed 20 ° C) and withered (the fruits are stored well in a glass container with a tight lid at room temperature).

Watch the video:

The following rowan delicacies can remain suitable for 1 year: jam, jam, confiture, candied fruit, jelly, canned juice, wine, even adjika and sauces for meat dishes and others.