Wild strawberry jam: cooking secrets - how to make homemade strawberry jam
The phrase “wild strawberry” makes us picture a small red berry with an amazing taste and aroma. The forest beauty cannot be compared with cultivated garden strawberries. It contains much more vitamins and has a brighter, rich taste and aroma. The only downside is the size of the fruit. Wild strawberries are slightly smaller.
Time to bookmark: Summer
The most common preparation made from this berry is strawberry jam. A vase with such a delicacy will delight any family member at a tea party, and semolina porridge, flavored with a spoonful of berries boiled in sweet syrup, will make a child’s breakfast the most delicious.
You can read about the beneficial properties of wild strawberries here.
Content
Rules for collection and pre-processing
Of course, wild strawberries are quite difficult to pick. More precisely, it is easy to assemble, but it takes a lot of time. If you still managed to resist eating the entire harvest right in the forest, then you can make delicious jam from the collected berries.
So, the basic rules for collecting and processing strawberries:
- Berries should be picked in the forest from late June to mid-July. At the same time, fresh strawberries can be found in local markets.
- The collection container should be small, preferably with a wide bottom. This will protect the berries from deformation.
- You can bring some green strawberry leaves from the forest. When cooked, they will give the dessert a special flavor note.
- You should start cooking the jam immediately after picking, until the berries become sour.
- Before cooking, strawberries are washed in plenty of cool water. To do this, lower a colander with berries into a pan filled to the brim and shake as many times as possible. When the debris and small leaves rise to the surface, the top contaminated layer of water is drained, and the colander with the berries is taken out.
Strawberry jam recipes
Cooking in syrup
This option can be called classic. In the finished dish, the berries retain their shape.
So, to implement this recipe you need half a kilo of fresh dense (not soggy) strawberries, 200 grams of sugar and 100 milliliters of water.
Water is combined with granulated sugar and boiled on medium heat until smooth. As soon as the syrup becomes transparent, add strawberries to the cooking pot.
By shaking the berries (without stirring), ensure that the strawberries are completely immersed in the syrup. Cook the jam for 7 minutes. Afterwards, cool the mass, covering it with a clean towel.
After 6-8 hours, cooking is continued. To do this, the sweet preparation is slowly heated and boiled, shaking occasionally, for another 7 minutes.
The finished jam is placed in small jars or glass packaging cups with a screw-on lid. Before filling the container with jam, it is sterilized. Our selection will help you choose the method that suits you best to sterilize jars. articles.
The “Let’s cook” channel has prepared for you a video instruction for making strawberry jam
Five minutes without adding water
500 grams of fresh berries are sprinkled with 1.5 two-hundred gram glasses of sugar. It is better to do this in layers at once, so as not to injure the strawberries again. The candied fruits are placed in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours, but the best option is to leave the berries alone overnight. During this time, the sugar will draw a large amount of juice from the berries, which will be enough for an express version of making jam.
The name “Five Minute” is directly related to the time of heat treatment of strawberries. However, it should be borne in mind that the countdown should begin from the moment the berry mass boils.
After five minutes of boiling, the strawberry jam is poured into prepared clean jars and closed with sterile lids. “Five Minute” is not intended for long-term storage.
Instructions for preparing five-minute strawberry jam here.
With citric acid
500 grams of wild strawberries are sprinkled with sugar (400 grams) and left for 3 hours. If a lot of juice has been released and the berry is completely immersed in the syrup, then there is no need to add additional water. Otherwise, another 50-100 milliliters of clean water are added to the workpiece.
After 6-8 hours, continue cooking the dessert. Boil the jam for 10 minutes and then add a solution of citric acid. To do this, dissolve 1/3 teaspoon of powder in a spoonful of warm boiled water. The transparent preservative is poured into the jam and simmered over low heat for another minute.
This preparation can be stored for a year at room temperature.
A step-by-step recipe for making strawberry jam with lemon juice is presented in our article.
Ground jam
This preparation is very convenient to serve with pancakes or pancakes. Berries (half a kilo) are crushed in a blender and then sugar is added. You need at least two glasses. If a cloyingly sweet taste is not your thing, then you can add a little less granulated sugar.
Boil the paste for 20 minutes and then wrap it tightly into sterile jars.
Watch a video from the “Simply Tasty” channel about preparing strawberries for the winter
No cooking
A great way to preserve the taste of fresh berries is to make “live” jam. To do this, strawberries are crushed in equal proportions with sugar in a meat grinder or blender.
This dessert is stored in the freezer and, if necessary, slowly defrosted in the main compartment of the refrigerator.
With wild raspberries
All wild berries are very aromatic, so the best partner for strawberries is raspberries. To make jam, take 500 grams of aromatic wild strawberries and raspberries. The berries are sprinkled in layers with a kilogram of sugar. After 30 minutes, the fruits are mixed. After 2 hours, the workpiece is put on fire.
Boil the jam in a one-time boil for no more than 20 minutes, and then put it into pre-prepared jars.
With blueberries
A glass of fresh blueberries and a glass of wild strawberries are placed in boiling sugar syrup. The base is prepared from 100 milliliters of water and 300 grams of granulated sugar.
Cook the jam over low heat, stirring continuously and skimming off the foam with a spoon. The readiness of the dish is determined by a drop of syrup dropped onto a chilled saucer. The drop should hold its shape and not spread. On average, dessert is considered ready in 15-20 minutes.
Strawberry jam in a slow cooker
Place two glasses of berries in a multicooker bowl and add the same amount of sugar.Using a wooden or silicone spoon, carefully mix the fruits and then leave to infuse for two hours.
Before turning on the unit for making jam, add 150 milliliters of water to the candied strawberries.
Prepare the dessert using the “Stew” mode. The lid of the multicooker is not closed, and the mass is stirred every 15 minutes. An hour of work from the kitchen assistant - and the jam is ready!
Methods for storing workpieces
Strawberry jam is quite unpretentious. It can be stored like regular preparations in the underground or refrigerator. The only exception is raw jam. It can be stored in the freezer for no more than 8 months.
In addition to preservation in the form compotes and wild strawberry jam dried And freeze. This information may also be of interest to you.