French Secrets For Preparing Winter Food

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

It is almost autumn, the stalls are overflowing with juicy fruits and delicious vegetables, in abundance and at low prices. Now is the best time to shop and apply all sorts of tricks to preserve the taste of the products and enjoy them during the long winter months.

The preparation of winter food besides being economical, it is also a particularly good solution for anyone who strives to eat and cook useful. Home-stored products save us from reaching for their counterparts on the shelves in hypermarkets, which are often full of food additives of all kinds, and quality alternatives are significantly more expensive. Besides all this, the pleasure and feeling of personally prepared goodies are completely different. It is no coincidence that the tendency to use homemade jars of jam, pickles and marinades for Christmas gifts is becoming increasingly popular.

Closing jars of pickles and cooking lyutenitsa will never go out of style in our country, and only those who have not tasted pickles in the winter would doubt it.

But home-made winter food is not a Bulgarian patent. All over the world, ingenious housewives prepare traditional jars, which with just one turn of the cap remind of the warm days during the long cold months. Of course, each nation has its own small but priceless secrets when it comes to how to bring summer and autumn tastes intact to the winter table. Here is some advice from the French, who have been proclaimed world masters of the kitchen and masters of taste.

Dehydration

With the help of an oven, one of the most effective "dryers" in such cases, you can remove water from fruits and vegetables. Thus, it is possible to preserve products such as apples, grapes, tomatoes, as well as to prepare dried zucchini, edible almost all year round. And on the plus side - with a significant part of their nutritional value preserved.

Spices can also be dried in the oven, and this should be done at a low temperature (from 30 ° C to 40 ° C) for a longer time. The products are placed in the oven after they have been washed, blanched and cut. Keep in mind that although it is very effective, this method often takes a lot of time and energy and is not the most gentle.

If there is enough sun, the products can be dried naturally. It is enough to put the cut pieces on a board or in a tray, cover them with a very fine cloth and leave them in the sun under the sun, turning them periodically. This is how the drying effect is most natural and the taste is the best.

After drying, the food can be stored in bags or canned in jars with olive oil and spices.

Canning

Food canning in jars is a method that is applied equally to raw, cooked or prepared products. A prerequisite for the successful closing of jars is to observe strict hygiene. It is mandatory to properly clean fruits and vegetables before proceeding to sterilization.

To eliminate bacteria as much as possible, a little apple cider vinegar or soda can be added to the washing water.

After the products are washed, it is important to sterilize the glass jars by immersing them in boiling water and then drying them carefully.

When the preparation is over (the products are cut, mixed, stirred, etc.), the jars are filled so that there are as few air bubbles as possible that can spoil the food.

Then you need to pour the marinade (salt water) into the jars. Make sure the edge of the jar is perfectly clean and close. The can is ready.

The liquid for preserving the products varies according to the type of food. You can choose vinegar, vegetable oils, alcohol or syrup.

Freezing

The French often say that freezing has many advantages. It not only allows the products to be consumed throughout the year, but also has the ability to preserve the nutritional properties of fruits and vegetables if they are frozen soon enough.

However, not all products are placed in the freezer immediately. A large number of vegetables must first be blanched, ie immersed in boiling water for a short time - from one to four minutes depending on the thickness.

Blanching is a must for zucchini, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, beans, peas or even spinach.

Immersed in boiling water, these vegetables will be released from the enzymes involved in their decomposition and will retain their nutritional qualities in the freezer.

After blanching, the vegetables must be dipped in ice water and then dried in a towel. Only now it is possible to be frozen.

However, be careful! According to the Canadian Fruit and Vegetable Distribution Association (ACDFL), this method of canning is not suitable for all vegetables. Avoid freezing artichokes, chicory, eggplant, lettuce, radishes and potatoes.