Chokeberry juice: the most popular recipes - how to make chokeberry juice for the winter at home
Chokeberry pleases with its magnificent harvest, regardless of what weather conditions were in the summer. This shrub is very unpretentious. The berries remain on the branches until late autumn, and if you did not have time to pick them, and the birds did not covet them, then the chokeberry, along with the fruits, goes under the snow.
There are quite a lot of recipes for making chokeberry juice (this is another name for chokeberry). From our selection you can choose the one that suits you, depending on what kitchen equipment you have.
Content
Collection and preparation of chokeberry fruits
The berries begin to be picked in late autumn, when the fruits on the clusters darken. When squeezed, dark burgundy juice appears from them. The taste of ripe chokeberry is not very attractive - sour, with pronounced astringency.
The berries are removed from the bush directly in clusters, and the branches are removed before processing. The sorted chokeberry is rinsed with running water and placed on a sieve to get rid of excess moisture. There is no need to completely dry the berries.
We invite you to watch the video from the Medicinal Plants channel, which talks about the beneficial properties and dangers of chokeberry
Cooking options
Using a juicer
This method is the fastest and least labor-intensive, but requires the use of an additional device - a juicer. Berries (2 kilograms) are placed in parts into the unit and the juice is squeezed out of them. Not much of it will stand out, since chokeberry is quite “dry”. The resulting concentrated product is covered with a lid and placed temporarily in the refrigerator.
The remaining cake is poured with boiling water so that the water lightly covers the skins. Cover the container with gauze or cotton cloth and leave on the table for 3 hours. After this, the mass is filtered, and the resulting ruby infusion is added to concentrated rowan juice.
Place the bowl on the fire and add sugar. Its quantity depends on the juice obtained. For each full liter, take half a two hundred gram glass of sand and ¼ teaspoon of citric acid powder. After the product has boiled for 5 minutes, it is poured into bottles and screwed on with a lid. Container before packaging is required sterilize, and the lids are scalded with boiling water.
The channel “Valentin Pelmeni” shares its experience of preparing chokeberry juice using an electric juicer
Using a juicer
Another kitchen assistant for making natural juices is a juicer. The device can be either electric or heated by external sources.
The lower part of the juice cooker is filled ¾ of the way with water and sent to the fire. A net is placed on top to collect the juice, and a bowl of berries is placed on it. 2 kilograms of chokeberry are sprinkled with 2 cups of sugar. Cover the pan with a lid.It is important to make sure that the juice supply hose is covered with a special clothespin.
After the water in the lower compartment boils, the heat is reduced to a minimum. After about 45-55 minutes, the juice can be transferred into sterile bottles. After filling the containers, they are screwed down and insulated for a day.
Through a sieve
Place 1.5 kilograms of washed chokeberry berries in a saucepan with a wide bottom, put on fire, and pour 2 cups of boiling water from a kettle. Using a spoon, stir the berries vigorously so that they blanch evenly. Heating time 5-10 minutes. If the fruits soften faster, then the fire can be turned off earlier.
The hot chokeberry along with the liquid is transferred to a metal sieve (grid), and they begin to grind with a spoon or wooden pestle. This procedure is quite painstaking and lengthy, so you need to be patient.
The remaining cake is again filled with water so that it lightly covers the remaining berries. Leave the mass in this form for 3 hours, and then filter again.
If desired, you can “steam” the cake a third time, but the resulting juice does not need to be used for preservation. You can drink it immediately, flavoring it with sugar to taste.
200 grams of sugar and a pinch of citric acid are added to the juice collected from the chokeberry after two strainings. Place the bowl of juice on the stove and simmer over low heat for 5-7 minutes. The time is counted only after boiling.
In the meantime, containers and lids are sterilized. Hot rowan juice is poured into bottles, and then kept warm for a day.
Using gauze
If there is no sieve with a fine mesh, then you can use gauze to prepare black rowan juice. It is best to use a large piece of paper folded in half or three. Cover a colander with any grid size with gauze.The quantity of products taken is the same as in the previous recipe.
The chokeberry is blanched and then drained along with the liquid into a colander with gauze. After this, the berries are thoroughly squeezed. It is very appropriate for this to involve the male half of the family to help.
The cake is poured with boiling water, the mixture is allowed to stand for several hours, and then the thorough squeezing procedure is repeated.
200-300 grams of sugar are poured into the juice and put on fire. After boiling for five minutes, the product is packaged in bottles or jars that have undergone a sterilization procedure.
We recommend watching a video from the channel “At Agafya’s Dacha” with a detailed recipe for making rowan juice from black fruits with citric acid
Using a three-liter jar
You can take a smaller jar, but since the harvest of chokeberry berries is usually significant, it is best to take a larger container.
The container is sterilized in any way, and then filled with fruits to approximately 2/3 of the volume. Visually this is a little more than half.
Boil water separately. Two liters will be enough. Fill the jar with boiling liquid up to the neck. A gauze mesh is placed on top instead of a lid.
In this form, the chokeberry should stand for a day. Temperature: room temperature.
After a while, the juice is poured into a saucepan. You can leave the berries in the jar and pour boiling water over them again. But this juice should not be preserved. You can drink it instead of vitamin compote.
The pan with black rowan juice is placed on the stove, and after the liquid boils, the 5-minute countdown begins.
The finished product is poured into jars or bottles and sent for long-term storage.
From frozen berries
The hot harvesting season often leaves no free time, so chokeberries prepared for juice preparation are frozen.The main thing is to dry the berries well before placing them in the freezer. To do this, thoroughly washed fruits are laid out on cotton cloth in one layer. Do not forget that chokeberry juice stains very strongly, so you need to choose a towel or cloth taking this factor into account.
To prepare juice from frozen chokeberries, the berries are not first defrosted. They are poured with boiling water in the amount specified in the recipe, and then brought to a boil over low heat. As soon as the liquid boils, turn off the stove, and leave the juice to infuse for a day.
To strain the fruits, use a fine sieve or gauze. Sugar is added to the resulting juice at the rate of 200 grams per kilogram of frozen fruit. Before sealing the preserved food in bottles, it is boiled over low heat for 4-5 minutes.
In addition to juice, frozen chokeberries are used to prepare syrups, boil jam And compotes.
Options for storing and using juice
Chokeberry juice is stored in the refrigerator, frozen in cups or placed in a cool cellar. Use the juice for its intended purpose, diluting it with water and adding sugar or honey to taste. Syrup is also prepared from the canned drink for impregnation of confectionery products or for serving with pancakes or pancakes.