How to keep lingonberries for the winter at home
Lingonberries are appreciated for their beneficial qualities. Ripe dark red berries contain many vitamins, which are used throughout the winter with proper storage of the fruit harvest. Each housewife has her own secrets of lingonberry harvesting. But you still need to know how to store lingonberries so that the benefits remain in the product until the next harvest.
When to pick berries
Red lingonberry berries begin to appear on low-growing bushes in August - September. But even in October, you can find glades with ripe berries in the forest. It is necessary to collect forest fruits, those that are red or deep pink. The brown berries are already overripe and tasteless. It is not advised to pick lingonberries after the onset of frost. The value of the berry decreases, and it will not be possible to store it intact.
Sometimes they pull out all the berries, still whitish, unripe, in order to have time to prepare it. But in this case, you will have to work hard, bring the crop to ripeness.
What if the fruits are not ripe: how to ripen at home
Unripe lingonberry contains a lot of acid and is bitter. With the acquisition of ripeness, the taste disadvantages decrease, and the berry is quite suitable for fresh consumption. In order for it to mature, you need to know what fruits to take from the bushes. They always collect the whitish fruits of the plant, hoping that they will ripen at home. But more often than not they do not wait. Fruits that are just beginning to turn pink turn red after 4-5 days.
You need to pick berries in sunny weather. If you are caught in the rain during a harvest campaign, you will have to dry the fruits. When storing wet lingonberries, it will become moldy.
We prepare the crop for long-term storage
The collected berries must be prepared for storage so that the work is not wasted. For this, a number of activities are carried out related to:
- cleansing the fruit from dirt and dust;
- rejection of rotten, spoiled copies;
- rinsing under running water.
It is imperative to carry out the procedures. After all, lingonberries are not always harvested in ecologically clean places.
Rinsing with water
A large number of collected fruits are difficult to clean from dust. It is advised to use a large sieve, into which berries are placed and poured over with water. The dirty liquid drains away, and clean fruits remain on the surface.
You can put lingonberries in the bath and fill with water, then drain it. But with this method, part of the crop leaves along with the liquid.
It is better to rinse with boiled water cooled to room temperature.
Cleaning
Cleaning from debris, leaves and twigs occurs in different ways:
- Lingonberries are sifted in the wind, pouring them from one container to another. At the same time, the container with the harvest is raised to a height of 1-1.5 meters.
- Debris is blown out with a fan or vacuum cleaner. In this case, the berry is scattered on an inclined surface.
- The long chute is installed at an angle. The berries roll over it, and the vacuum cleaner pulls in light debris. The net crop rolls into the basin, where the end of the chute abuts.
The cleaning method is chosen depending on the amount of the harvested crop. A small amount of berries can also be peeled by hand.
Where and how the harvest is most often stored
Harvesting forest fruits is not difficult. Sometimes it's harder to save them. There are many ways to do this. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. It is better to keep the berries fresh, but you can freeze them, canned with sugar, in your own juice.
Indoor conditions
If the lingonberry crop is small, then it can be stored in an apartment. He will not have time to deteriorate as he will be eaten. Fresh fruits do not remain ready for consumption for a long time, for 2-3 months.
It is better to place the berries at home in a glass jar or paper bag. A room with a temperature within 15 degrees is suitable for harvesting. Without freezing, lingonberries are used to make fruit drinks, compote.
In a private house for storage, you can use utility rooms, in apartments, places where it is cool and low humidity.
In the basement or cellar
Cellar conditions are most suitable for preserving the harvest. The temperature in it is at +2 degrees. With it, the decay processes are suspended, and the lingonberry will remain in excellent condition for a long time.
During the winter, the harvest of berries is examined so that it does not spoil. Damaged fruits are harvested so that they do not ruin the entire crop.
Freezer or refrigerator
It is useful to feast on frozen lingonberries, as they retain their useful properties. For cooking, sprinkle the berries on a baking sheet and put in the freezer. After a week, you can put the fruits in plastic bags and leave on the shelf of the freezer.
If lingonberries can last a long time in the chamber, then in the refrigerator - 1-2 months.
Methods and technology for harvesting lingonberries for the winter
Lingonberry preparations for the winter are different. They are no different from canning other berries. But a distinctive feature of the product is that it does not deteriorate for a long time. It contains a lot of acid, which prevents the fruits from souring, and the dense skin protects from damage. Therefore, it is possible to keep lingonberries without sugar. And its conservation does not seem to be a laborious process.
Drying fruits
It is necessary to dry lingonberries after harvesting, carefully sorting and washing them. Pour the berries in a thin layer on a baking sheet and put in the oven. It is necessary to keep the product at a temperature of 60 degrees. Leave the door slightly ajar and make sure that the fruits are completely dry.
Suitable for drying and a special chamber used according to the instructions.
Storing soaked lingonberries
The most popular way to preserve lingonberries is by dipping. Sorted and washed berries are poured into bottles, jars, sterilized in advance. It remains to pour the fruits with boiled water. In this way, you can store a tasty product for a long time.
Housewives add sugar and spices to the water. This creates a delicious dessert that is stored corked in the cellar.
Steamed berries
Lingonberries are kept in the cellars, steamed in the oven. For cooking, the washed fruits are poured into a saucepan and placed in the oven. It should be kept in a heated oven for 2-3 hours. Then they are laid out in jars, covered with a lid.Use the steamed mass for making pies, fruit drinks, jelly.
Lingonberries in their own juice
It is best to cook the fruit in its own juice in a wooden barrel. After washing them, they are laid in a small layer and tamped, sprinkling with sugar. Then continue to pour the next layer and so on until the end. Finish laying with a layer of berries and seal the container with a tight lid. The sugar will produce lingonberry juice. For quick cooking, leave the product warm for 2 days. Then put it in the cold.
Making jelly
This blank is prepared from berries and sugar taken in the same quantity. After pouring lingonberries into a saucepan with a thick day, press down so that juice appears. Then put on fire for 10 minutes. After that, rub the mass through a sieve, wring out. The juice is mixed with sugar. Cook over low heat without letting it boil. The workpiece will turn out to be jelly-like when the volume is boiled down to 2/3 of the original. Berry dessert is used to decorate pies, cakes and pastries.
Canning with sugar
Lingonberries are used to prepare jam for the winter. It is prepared like this: fruits are poured into sugar syrup and cooked over low heat. You can add apples to the syrup.
Put the jam in jars, well sterilized. Store the workpiece in a cool place under lids.
Tasty from the fruit of jam, jam. Sugar for blanks is taken 2 times more than fruits. It is necessary to boil the product so that it is thick. Store the jam in the refrigerator under nylon lids. Jam is prepared in the same way. Such blanks are useful and do not deteriorate for a long time.
Shelf life of fresh berries and winter preparations
Not every year, nature pleases with lingonberries. Therefore, sometimes you have to feast on blanks for more than one year. Fresh berries cannot be stored even for six months, so you need to cook berries in different ways in order to feast on vitamin jelly or jam in winter, spring.
Such products can be consumed 2-3 years from the date of preparation. But they keep better in the refrigerator and cellar.
