TOP 9 recipes for making royal gooseberry jam for the winter
If the hostess has the patience and the desire to pamper her household, she will choose for cooking several recipes for gooseberry jam, called royal: with currants, with lemon, kiwi. Gooseberries contain a lot of natural gelling agent, so you don't need to add pectin. And the color of the treat can be either emerald green or deep red. Often cherry leaves, walnuts, citrus fruits are added to the berries.
Why is jam called royal
This jam was a favorite of Empress Catherine II. One day, getting up early in the morning, she sat down at her desk to deal with matters of state importance. I accidentally looked out the window and saw an elderly woman running around the yard for a chicken. She asked the valet who she was. He replied that the old woman comes to her grandson - a cook in the royal kitchen. He treated grandmother to a bird.
Taking pity on the old woman, the queen ordered the beaten chicken to be given out to that daily. The elderly woman really wanted to do something pleasant for the empress, so she came up with an unexpected gift: through her grandson, she passed gooseberry jam - with clear juice and precious stones-like berries.
The Empress appreciated the taste of the jam. They began to call him Tsarist a little later.
Features of making royal gooseberry jam for the winter
Thanks to several recommendations, the dessert will delight the whole family:
- Use enamel dishes. If there is none, you can take stainless steel dishes.
- The cans must be sterilized so that the dessert does not become moldy and sour. Pour the jam into dry jars.
- In the process of boiling, you need to remove the foam.
- Use a wooden or plastic spatula for stirring.
- The cooking time indicated in the recipe must be observed. But after its end, do not forget to check the dish for readiness - perhaps there was not enough time. To check the dessert for readiness, pour a drop of jam on a plate: if it does not spread, everything is ready.
Requirements for the main ingredients
Choice, large gooseberries are needed for royal jam.
You do not need to choose overripe gooseberries, because during cooking, the fruits will boil and lose their shape.
If you intend to take gooseberries from your own garden, you must collect them two weeks before they are fully ripe.If the berries are purchased, you should pay attention to their appearance: red - already overripe, they will not work; need bright green, firm to the touch.
Wash the selected berries and put in a colander to glass the water. Then remove the ponytails with a knife or nail scissors. Tearing off is not recommended so as not to violate the integrity of the skin.
Immediately before cooking, it is better to pierce each berry a couple of times - this way it is sufficiently saturated with syrup, becomes juicy and will keep its shape.
How to cook emerald gooseberry jam at home?
We offer several options for cooking dessert.
Classic recipe with cherry leaves
Thanks to cherries, the dessert will have a special aroma; you can also achieve an unusual green hue.
We take:
- a kilogram of fruit;
- a handful of cherry leaves (for soaking);
- 2 tbsp. water;
- 1.5 kg of granulated sugar.
The jam is prepared like this:
- Select the densest berries. Make a small incision at the stalk, select seeds. Wash the gooseberries and drain off any excess liquid.
- Put the berries in a bowl, layer the cherries. They must stand for six hours.
- Drain the liquid into a separate saucepan (you will need it for the syrup). The berries must be dried. And discard the leaves.
- The syrup is cooked with added sugar. Boil the liquid, stir the sugar until it dissolves.
- Put berries in boiling syrup. Remove from heat for three to four hours so that the fruits have time to soak in the syrup.
- Boil the jam again. When it boils, timed the time: you need to cook for five minutes, turn off the gas and leave to cool and soak. This should be done three or four times for 5 minutes.
Vodka option
We take:
- 1 kg of gooseberries;
- 100 g of leaves;
- a kilogram of sugar;
- a teaspoon of citric acid;
- 5 tbsp. water;
- 50 ml of vodka;
- ½ tsp vanillin.
Preparation:
- Remove seeds from berries and cover with water for about six hours, then put in a colander.
- Pour the required amount of water into a saucepan, add lemon and leaves. When it boils, wait five minutes and turn it off.
- Take out the leaves, add sugar. Stir and boil.
- When the sugar is completely dissolved, pour in vodka and add vanillin. Pour this syrup over the berries, wait a third of an hour. Cook for about 10 minutes.
With walnuts
The dessert will acquire an unusual taste with the addition of nuts. It is advisable to select larger and green berries.
You will need:
- a kilogram of berries;
- 1.5 kg of granulated sugar;
- a handful of nuts.
The jam is prepared like this:
- Wash the fruits and cut at the stalk. Take out the middle, rub it through a sieve, discarding the seeds.
- Put the resulting puree in a small saucepan, which should be placed in a saucepan with more hot water. Pour sugar into it and warm it up in a bath. After dissolving the sugar mass, the gas can be turned off. The syrup is ready.
- Place a piece of nut in the shell of each gooseberry berry. Put the fruits in syrup. Boil in several approaches. It is necessary for the jam to boil, boil for five minutes. Then turn off the heat and let cool and nourish. Better to make three or four boils to make a delicious emerald dessert.
A simple recipe without cooking
Delicious jam is made without cooking. The secret is simple: you need to twist the gooseberries in a meat grinder and mix well with sugar. Wait a few hours until the sugar is completely dispersed. Stir occasionally.
When everything is ready, transfer to jars and roll up the lids.
With lemon and orange
You can make not only tasty, but also very healthy jam without heat treatment, that is, in a cold way.
In winter and chilly autumn, a couple of spoons of this drug can protect against colds. And the whole secret is in a combination of gooseberries with citrus (you can use one if you want), because the body is saturated with vitamin C.
For cooking we take:
- a kilogram of gooseberries (any variety will do);
- a kilogram of sugar;
- one piece of orange and one lemon (you can take two pieces of one thing).
Cooking steps:
- Wash all the berries, cut off the tails.
- Twist the fruits in a blender bowl or in a meat grinder.
- Pour boiling water over the citrus and cut it together with the peel into pieces, which also need to be ground.
- Mixtures - berry and citrus - are mixed with the addition of granulated sugar.
In this form, the resulting mass can be frozen in special containers or bags for making ice.
You can do it in another way. Leave the mixture on the table for 5-6 hours, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. If there is no time to wait, you can heat the saucepan a little so that the mixture does not boil, and stir for about a third of an hour. This will melt the sugar much faster.
Transfer the mixture to half liter jars and roll up. To make it more reliable, you can pour a spoonful of sugar on top of the product, and then close it.
Keep in a refrigerator or basement out of the sun.
With currants
If you add currant fruits to the dessert, you get a beautiful shade. And in order to preserve the emerald color of the gooseberry, it is better to take its white appearance.
We take:
- 1 kg of gooseberries;
- 300 g of currant berries;
- 1.8 kg granulated sugar;
- 250 ml of water.
Wash the gooseberries and cut off the tails. Wash the currants and put them in a sieve to drain the water.
Make syrup from water and sugar: boil it until the sugar melts.
Put all the berries here. Let it boil and boil for 5 minutes. Let cool for 6 hours and boil for the same amount again.
With kiwi
Kiwi will not only give an additional green hue to the jam, but also add an interesting sourness.
Required products:
- 1.5 kg of gooseberries;
- 4 pieces of kiwi;
- 2 kg of sugar.
You need to cook like this:
- Peel the kiwi. Wash the gooseberries, sort out, cut off all the branches.
- Twist the kiwi and gooseberries together. Add sugar to the mass in a saucepan, mix everything. Put on low heat and cook until all the crystals are melted.
- Stir constantly, collect the foam and wait for the mass to thicken. It will take about 40 minutes. When it cools down, the jam will be even thicker.
With orange
Gooseberry jam with the addition of orange turns out to be emerald with a shade of red. To cook it, you need to twist a kilogram of berries with orange pulp. Pour the resulting puree with a kilogram of sugar and add the grated zest. Put on a small fire. When it boils, you need to boil for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, turn off the heat and leave on the stove for 15-20 minutes.
Red gooseberry
Dessert is prepared in just an hour, taking into account the preparatory process. From a kilogram of berries, about 2.5 liters of a delicious treat are obtained.
We take:
- 1 kg of gooseberries;
- 0.5 l of water;
- 1 kg of sugar.
First you need to wash the berries, remove the stalks and tails. Fold into a saucepan with a thicker bottom. Cover with water and turn on high heat. After boiling, mark for one minute, reduce heat and simmer until the berries are soft. It will take no more than a quarter of an hour.
Add sugar and wait until the jam boils again. Skim off the foam and cook for another 15 minutes. It is easy to determine the readiness of the jam: dip a spoon in it and put it in the freezer for 5 seconds. Then slide your finger over the spoon. If the film is wrinkled, the jam can be turned off. If not, boil for a few more minutes and check the same way.
Rules for storing the royal delicacy
Jars of gooseberry jam are placed in a cool place. Usually this is a cellar where the temperature does not rise above + 3-5 degrees. If the delicacy is simply closed with plastic lids, then the containers must be placed in the refrigerator.