Blueberry jam
Blueberry jam
Recipe contents:
- How to make blueberry jam - individual production details
- How long does it take to make blueberry jam?
- Blueberry jam - a regular recipe
- Blueberry jam for the winter
- Blueberry jelly jam
- Video recipes
By going deeper into the forest at the end of July-August, you can find a huge amount of blueberries. Naturally, at first you need to eat your fill of it, and then make some tasty jam. Perfect blueberry jam is a product that is rarely found among housewives. But this berry, incl. and dishes with it, has a lot of medicinal parameters. Constant consumption of blueberries helps prevent heart disease, strengthen blood vessels, improve vision and memory, and completely rejuvenate the body as a whole. In addition, the berry prevents the occurrence of infectious diseases, has anti-inflammatory and antipyretic effects, and helps maintain normal weight. Jam is usually served on its own, but it can also serve as insides for cakes and pies.
How to make blueberry jam - individual production details
Blueberry jam can be made only with sugar, or with various additives, from water to various alcoholic beverages. Since berry picking does not differ in scale, housewives combine it with other products. A very popular jam made from equal parts blueberries and blueberries. In addition to blueberries, blueberry jam is also cooked with raspberries, cherries, strawberries or cherries. And to add flavor, vanillin, cinnamon, cloves or lemon zest are added to the jam.
Cook the jam over low heat, constantly skimming off the foam. It is better to use cooking utensils made of brass, steel or enameled. But here it should be borne in mind that stainless steel can impart an “iron” taste to the finished product, and a small chip of the enamel is not suitable for use. The shape of the container may not matter, but it is best to have a wide basin. It's not bad for several reasons. 1st - the lower layers of the fruit will not soften under the weight of the upper ones. 2nd - a large open surface provides powerful evaporation of water.
It is not recommended to use copper basins. Although they have been considered the most classic for making jam for many years, modern research has confirmed that copper is not suitable for making jam. Berries and fruits contain acid that can dissolve copper oxides and a black coating (patina) appears on the surface of the dishes. Duralumin utensils are also not suitable for jam. The acid of the berries on the walls of the container destroys the oxide film and aluminum molecules enter the product.
Package the jam into unstained and dry glass jars. They are first washed with hot water and soda and heated until completely dry in the oven at 60°C for 10 minutes. The same is done with closing or screwing tin lids. If the product is poured into a jar with drops of water, the jam will become moldy, ferment and will not be stored for a long time. For packaging, use a medium-sized ladle, because... The necks of the cans are narrow, and there is a risk that the product will spill. The jam is stored at 10-15°C in a dark place.
During cooking, sugar acts as a sweetener, preservative and thickener. When cooking jam, it is divided into glucose and fructose, which promotes rapid absorption by the body. It is usually consumed in a 1:1 ratio. By reducing the norm, the jam will have the least amount of calories. But there is a risk that the result will be a mixture of compote. It is permissible to replace sugar with food additives based on pectin.
How long does it take to make blueberry jam?
The heat treatment time may vary. But it should be taken into account that the shorter the cooking time, the more various vitamins are retained in the fruits. Therefore, of all the proposed recipes, it is better to choose those where the berries are cooked the least. Typically, the average cooking time for blueberry jam is 20 minutes.
There are also recipes for five-minute jam. Then the blueberries are sprinkled with sweet sand in equal parts and left for a day. The crystals begin to dissolve, juice appears and eventually a sweet syrup appears. After boiling, the jam can cook for up to 5-7 minutes.
The readiness of the jam is determined by the thickness of the syrup. A drop of the finished jam is applied to a flat surface; if it does not spill, it means it’s time to remove the product from the heat and roll it into jars. If the jam does not thicken, it is recommended to bring it to a boil again or add a little lemon juice.
There are also recipes for jam without cooking. Then 2 kg of sugar is taken for 1 kg of fruit, the products are crushed with a mixer or blender and the ground mass is stored in the refrigerator.
Blueberry jam - a regular recipe
- Calorie content per 100 g - 214 kcal.
- Number of servings - 1.5 kg
- Production time - 1 hour
Ingredients:
- Blueberries – 1 kg
- Sugar - 4 tbsp.
- Water - 1 tbsp.
Blueberry jam for the winter
Naturally, blueberries bring the greatest benefits when they are fresh. But since you can’t stock up on vitamins for future use, it’s better to make delicious jam for the winter with this berry.
Ingredients:
- Blueberries – 1 kg
- Sugar - 4-5 tbsp.
- Drinking water - 1 tbsp.
- Cinnamon stick - 3 pcs.
Step-by-step production:
- Sort the berries, discarding spoiled ones and wash them under cool water.
- Mix water with sugar, boil and cook until thick and syrup forms.
- Combine berries, syrup and cinnamon sticks. Place the products on the fire and cook after boiling for 20 minutes.
- Place the slightly cooled jam into jars and seal with lids.
Blueberry jelly jam
Blueberry jelly is an unforgettably fragrant and tasty dessert that will amuse all family members. It’s easy to prepare, but it’s great because you can cook it all year round, if, of course, you have the freshest frozen berries in the freezer.
Ingredients:
- Frozen or fresh blueberries - 500 g
- Gelatin – 25 g
- Sugar - 800 g
- Lemon - 1 pc.
Step-by-step production:
- Fill the fresh or frozen berries with water so that it slightly covers them. Place on the fire, boil and cook for 10 minutes until the blueberries are slightly softened.
- Place the boiled berries on a sieve and rub through it.
- Cool the purchased juice to 80°C and dissolve the gelatin.
- Combine the pureed berries with sugar, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.
- Pour dissolved gelatin into the mashed blueberries through filtration so that grains of gelatin do not get into the jam.
- Rinse the lemon, squeeze out the juice and pour it into the blueberries.
- Mix everything well and pour into sterilized 200 g jars.
- Place the jars in a pan with hot water and sterilize at 85°C for 3-5 minutes.
- Let the jam cool completely and seal with sterilized lids.
Blueberry jam: the best recipes for making it - how to make blueberry jam at home
Blueberries have become increasingly popular lately. This is due to the fact that, thanks to modern breeders, its feeding has become possible on one’s own plots. Having had your fill of the freshest fruits, you can think about winter preparations. We would like to suggest making blueberry jam.
You can read about the appearance of the berry, its places of growth and the necessary properties in the material on our website.
How to cook berries
The collected fruits are sorted from debris, twigs and leaves. Transfer the berries to a colander, and then lower it into a huge pan of cold water. Change the water and repeat the function 2-3 more times. The usual method of washing under the tap does not work in this case, because the blueberries may fall apart under the pressure of water.
Unstained berries are left in a colander for 15-20 minutes, allowing the remaining water to drain completely. If desired, the blueberries can be spread in one layer on a paper towel, but, in our opinion, this is already redundant.
Recipes for making savory jam
The most common and frisky option
First, boil the syrup. To make it, take a glass of water and 7 glasses of sugar. The ingredients are combined and boiled on the stove for 5-7 minutes. Place 5 cups of blueberries into the bubbling solution. The berries are washed, sorted and dried in advance.
Cook the jam over medium heat for a quarter of an hour. Stir the mixture constantly so that the berries cook more evenly, and skim off the foam with a spoon.
While the stove is running, prepare the jars for twisting. They are first washed and then sterilized over steam. Apart from steam treatment, jars can be sterilized in the microwave, oven or dishwasher. Read more here.
The jam is packaged immediately after turning off the heat. Hot jam in jars is covered with lids, and after cooling, they are put underground or in the refrigerator.
Five minutes
For this jam you only need berries and sugar in equal proportions. Blueberries are placed in a basin or pan with a wide bottom (you can also use a frying pan with high sides) and sprinkled with sugar. Lightly shake the bowl, cover it with a lid and put it in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours. During this period of time, the berry will give a lot of juice, the sugar will partially dissolve, and the blueberry itself will be almost completely immersed in the sweet syrup.
Soaked in their candied juice, blueberries require a completely insignificant cooking time, almost 5 minutes after boiling. Five-minute jam, due to the rapid boiling of the berries, retains the largest amount of vitamins.
Thick jam
Blueberries (1 kilogram) are covered with 1.5 kilograms of sugar, and the berries are crushed with a potato masher. They don’t try too hard, the main thing is that at least 1/3 of the berries have their integrity broken. The pan with the food is set aside for half an hour to allow the juices to separate.
After this, start cooking. To make thick blueberry jam, do not add water to the berries, but cook for 15-20 minutes at low heat on the burner.
The India Ayurveda channel will carefully talk about making jam from forest or garden blueberries
"Live" jam
In order to preserve the beneficial substances in the berries, they completely avoid boiling blueberries over a fire. It is ground with sugar in equal proportions and frozen. To grind the fruits, use a blender, meat grinder or wood masher. For freezing, you can use food-grade plastic containers or special disposable containers for freezing.
From frozen blueberries
If you collected quite a lot of blueberries, and some of them went into storage in the freezer, then in the winter, when you have more free time, you can make jam from frozen berries.
Read about methods and options for freezing blueberries yourself here.
When making jam, blueberries are placed in bubbling sweet syrup without defrosting. It is boiled from 150 ml of water and 1.2 kilograms of sugar. You will need 1 kilogram of frozen berries. Cooking time after boiling is 15 minutes.
With gelatin
This jam can be called jam-jelly. It comes out quite tender in the mixture. For production you will need the freshest blueberries - half a kilo, 25 grams of edible gelatin, 700 grams of sugar and the juice of half a lemon. Freshly squeezed lemon juice can be replaced with the finished product “Lemon Juice”, sold in stores.
Blueberries are poured with water so that the fruits are completely immersed in the liquid, but do not float in it. Over medium heat, bring the blueberries to a boil and cook for no more than 2 minutes. The ripened berries, together with the broth, are thrown onto a sieve. The blueberries are rubbed through a mesh, and the cake is left to be brewed into tea.
While the blueberry juice is cooling, dilute gelatin powder in 2 tablespoons of cool boiled water. The gelatin mass is introduced into the slightly cooled berries, and everything is thoroughly mixed. Then add the juice of half a lemon or 2 tablespoons of the finished product. The mass is filtered again to make sure that there are no undissolved pieces of gelatin or any lemon seeds that have fallen in.
At the final step, the jam is packaged in small, unstained jars, which do not need to be sterilized beforehand. In this recipe, the workpiece is completely sterilized in a water bath. The details of this process and the sterilization time for cans of various sizes are described here.
How to vary the jam
In all the recipes presented, you can combine blueberries with other berries. Wild strawberries, raspberries or blueberries are ideal. They partially replace the initial amount of blueberries.
Ground cinnamon, vanilla sugar or ginger powder are used as spices. When making jam, cinnamon sticks are also placed in the pan, but the spice must be removed before packing into jars.
How to store the workpiece
There are no special secrets for storing blueberry jam. The thermally treated preparation is stored underground or in the basement for no more than 1 year, and live jam is stored in the freezer. The shelf life of frozen products is 8-10 months.
In addition to blueberry jam, they prepare delicious marshmallows, the most delicate puree and cook various compotes.
Blueberry jam: recipes for the winter
Blueberry jam is an example of a healthy and tasty preparation for the winter. The usefulness of blueberries is obvious: blueberries contain a huge amount of vitamins, essential organic acids, and microelements. That's why almost everyone is interested in whether there is a blueberry recipe for the winter. The main amount of necessary substances is contained in the skin of the berries. Blueberries have a beneficial effect on the immune system, on vision, reduce eye strain, relieve constipation, have an antimicrobial effect, and improve food digestion. It has a positive effect on the pancreas and relieves swelling. And that's not all.
How to preserve blueberries for the winter
Blueberries are harvested in the summer. Then it is either frozen, dried, or made into jam. We will talk about this in more detail.
Blueberry jam is often combined with other berries, for example, raspberries. This is due to the fact that blueberry yields are low. It is not always possible to collect as many blueberries as needed for single-berry jam.
So, the most common blueberry recipe for the winter involves the following amount of ingredients. It will be useful for you:
- 1 kilogram of blueberries;
- 4 cups sugar;
- 1 glass of water.
Here we will give a calculation for one and a half kilograms of finished jam.
Manufacturing technique step by step
To make jam:
- You need to sort through all the berries, removing all the wormy and putrid berries. It is necessary to throw only the berries that are the most ripe and dense in the mixture.
- Next, you need to free the berries from forest debris and thoroughly wash the berries. Then dry slightly.
- Place the berries in a cooking container.
- We take another container - it will be needed for making syrup.
- Heat the container over the fire and pour sugar into it. We are waiting for the sugar to begin to melt. Boil the resulting syrup and turn off the heat.
- Pour the resulting syrup over the blueberries.
- Leave the blueberries to stand for 10 minutes.
- Place a container with blueberries filled with syrup on the fire and simmer over low heat.
- Boil for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and skimming off the foam.
- Pour the finished jam directly into sterilized jars when hot. We tighten the lids using a special key and, wrapping them in a blanket and turning them upside down, leave them to cool.
You can store the resulting jam either at home in a dark, cool place or in a cellar or pantry.
Gourmet options
If you have a creative nature, then the usual blueberry recipe for the winter will not satisfy you. You may want to improvise and add your own ingredients to this work. To get a real “masterpiece”, almost everyone adds raspberries, cherries, cherries, and currants.
Some especially creative people go further and even add alcoholic drinks, which add a certain “zest” to the taste.
To give an unusual aroma, blueberry jam is “enhanced” with spices. More suitable are:
- Carnation;
- Cinnamon;
- Vanillin;
- Lemon or orange zest;
- Cardamom;
- Nutmeg.
Fresh blueberries with sugar for the winter
In the end, lovers of the healthiest food prepare “live” blueberry jam; in other words, the berry is not thermally processed in it, which means all the beneficial substances are preserved.
- 1 kilogram of berries;
- 2 kilograms of sugar.
- Cover the berries with sugar.
- The resulting mixture is finely ground in a blender or mixer.
- “Live” puree is simply stored in the refrigerator.
Sugar acts as a preservative and prevents the berries from going to waste.
In any case, in winter, blueberry jam will become a beautiful table decoration, accompanying family tea parties and friendly companies.
Separately, it is necessary to note the benefits of blueberries for the female body:
- Blueberries normalize the regularity of the menstrual cycle.
- Improves the activity of the endocrine glands.
- It improves not only the color of the skin, but also its appearance.
- Removes bile and relieves swelling, including under the eyes.
- In small quantities, blueberries are very useful for pregnant women due to their calcium content, which is very important for the future development of the baby.
- After childbirth, a woman’s hair and nails will be perfectly preserved if she ate blueberries during pregnancy.
This berry has so many advantages that this could be the subject of not only a separate article, but also a scientific work. But the question is: how to preserve it for the winter, so that in winter you can get the right dose of the right microns, which this berry is full of? We hope you enjoy these simple winter blueberry recipes.
Naturally, to get the maximum benefit from blueberries, you need to eat them raw. But even in cooked form it is very useful.
As we see, blueberries are a true boon for those who like to prepare tasty and healthy dishes with their own hands. Cook for health, experiment and share your recipes!
Blueberry jam
Blueberries are a rich source of essential substances, vitamins and minerals; they are used against vitamin deficiency and almost all diseases of the intestinal tract. This wild berry improves heart function and strengthens blood vessels, prevents premature aging of nerve (an animal organ that serves to transmit important information for the body to the brain) . Apart from this, the main reason for its popularity is its narrow and unobtrusive taste. Taking these reasons into account, not preparing blueberries for the winter is simply a sin. The berries can be dried, prepared into compotes, juices or wine. But the most convenient and tasty choice would be jam.
Individualities of blueberry harvesting
Blueberries are not as common as other berries, for example, raspberries or strawberries. This is justified by the fact that most of this shrub grows in forests, which, in fact, is only an additional plus. There are also garden blueberries, which are no less tasty and fragrant, but in terms of beneficial properties they are slightly inferior to their forest “sister”. Jam can be prepared from any available variety; in order to obtain a tasty and high-quality product, you need to carefully prepare it.
- Individualities of blueberry harvesting
- Blueberry jam recipes
- Application and usefulness
First, before eating blueberries, you need to eat plenty of them in their freshest form. During the process of preservation and heat treatment, the berry loses some of the necessary parts, so it is better to replenish vitamin supplies in the summer. In general, jam retains a lot of necessary parameters.
If the berries were collected by hand in the forest, special attention must be paid to cleaning from forest debris. First, it must be lowered into a deep container of water; light twigs, leaves and dry berries will float out - they must be removed. If the blueberries are purchased and have already been cleared of excess, it is better to wash them in a colander, carefully so as not to destroy the fruit, since the berries are very delicate.
When sorting through the berries, it is necessary to remove rotten and dry fruits, so the jam may not last until cold weather. To ensure that the dessert retains a pleasant texture, it is better to eat berries with intact skin. It is better to cook such a twist in an enamel bowl, since such a coating does not react with the acids contained in the berry.
It is recommended to choose a container with a wide bottom, and prepare the blueberry jam itself in small portions. If you cook too much at once, the lower layers of the berries will lose their shape and turn into puree. In addition, the larger size of the dessert requires long-term cooking, and such processing will deprive the berry of most of the vitamins, essential salts and minerals.
It is better to dry the washed berries before the first step of production, this reduces the risk of getting an amorphous mass instead of dense and thick jam. The traditional recipe for blueberry jam contains no water at all, which makes it a fragrant and tasty preparation for the winter.
It is imperative to sterilize the container and all kitchen utensils that will be involved in seaming: spoon, lids, enamel basin. This can be done using steam or boiling water. The most common method to sterilize containers is to heat them in the microwave. Before pouring blueberry jam, containers and lids must be dried.
Blueberry jam recipes
The blueberry jam recipe is used in several variations. More precisely, there are a whole huge number of them, but we will look at the most common and not the least tasty of them.
The traditional jam recipe is prepared only with blueberry juice, which is why the product comes out thickest and retains more of the desired properties and smell. To make it you will need two ingredients: sugar and blueberries in equal quantities. Most often it is determined by glasses, for example, for 4 glasses of blueberries you need the same amount of sugar. In addition, you will only need utensils for production, containers and lids.
The manufacturing scheme is as follows:
- Carefully wash selected berries under running water. To make perfect blueberry jam, you need to dry the fruits; to do this, you can lay them out on a towel and let them dry on their own.
- Place dry berries in a cooking container and cover with sweet sand. Put the ingredients in a cold space for one night (that is, in the dark) . This way the blueberries will be saturated with sugar and give the desired juice, in which the future dessert will be cooked.
- The next morning, the container with the preparation must be placed on medium heat. When everything starts to boil, you need to slightly reduce the cooking intensity and cook for another 5-7 minutes.
- While the blueberry jam is boiling, you need to prepare jars with lids: sterilize and dry.
- The finished product should be poured into a container with a sterilized spoon and rolled up. You can pour it warm or cold. After this sealing, turn it upside down and cover it with a blanket, so the preservation process will continue in the jars.
This simple recipe for blueberry jam will not take much time and effort, but will delight you with its taste and smell on cool winter evenings. Experienced housewives also call it “five-minute jam.”
Blueberry jam comes out with a very thick texture and slightly less odor. It can be prepared from berries of any quality. Those that are not suitable for blueberry compote or jam are excellent for jam. So, for manufacturing it will be useful:
- 3 cups berries;
- 3 cups sugar;
- a tablespoon of gelatin;
- 1 medium lemon.
The blueberries must be filled with water and put on fire, and when the contents boil, cook for another 8-10 minutes. After this, you need to separate the berries from the water (do not pour out the broth), take 250 ml of the broth and cool it slightly. The berries must be crushed; you can use a sieve or blender. Combine the broth and crushed blueberries, cover everything with sugar and return to the heat. While the blueberry jam is boiling, you need to dilute gelatin in a glass of broth and pour it into the jam. Squeeze the juice out of the lemon and place it in a common container over the fire. Cook for another 5 minutes after boiling, place in jars.
Application and usefulness
- Why is it forbidden to go on a diet without the help of others?
- 21 tips on how to avoid purchasing stale products
- How to keep vegetables and fruits fresh: common tricks
- How to curb your sweet cravings: 7 unexpected products
- Scientists say youth can be extended
In terms of chemical composition, blueberry jam is slightly richer in useful components compared to jam. But even he will be just a godsend in winter. After heat treatment, wild berries retain many vitamins, which is why its use in folk medicine is entirely due.
This dessert will be useful for those who are concerned about the functioning of the heart. The composition of jam or jam includes potassium and magnesium, which strengthen the heart muscle (Designed to perform various actions: body movement, contraction of the vocal cords, breathing) and blood vessels. In addition, blueberries are rich in other useful micro- and macroelements: copper, cobalt, calcium, iron. From the vitamin composition here you can find PP, provitamin A, vitamins (a group of low-molecular organic compounds of relatively simple structure and varied chemical nature) B1 and B2, K.
Tannins and fiber cleanse the body of harmful substances, heavy metals, salts and radicals. Blueberry jam is useful for diseases of the stomach and intestinal tract, but before using it you should pay attention to contraindications. This dessert is contraindicated in case of high acidity of the stomach or acquired ulcers.
Pregnant women and nursing mothers can eat this delicacy only with the doctor's permission, because blueberries are an allergen. The calorie content of such a dessert will depend on the amount of sugar used, on average it is 229 kcal per 100 g of product. Therefore, those who are saving their figure should be more careful with this treat.
Blueberry jam or jam can not only be eaten during tea parties, although this use is also excellent. A spoonful of this ingredient will brighten up morning oatmeal or semolina porridge for children, muesli or ordinary biscuits. Jam will serve as a good interior for pies, rolls, and French tarts. Cake crusts are soaked in jam and eaten with pancakes and pancakes.
In winter, while enjoying the delicacy, leave one jar until spring. During the first warm weather, blueberry jam will prevent vitamin deficiency, and its berry smell will lift your spirits after a string of cool winter days.