How To Save Chokeberry For The Winter

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

Aronia is a small fruit bush, which is known for its high fruit yields and its many health benefits. The fruits of chokeberry have a special taste, so it is not very pleasant to eat them fresh. Therefore, the use of their direct consumption is not very common. They are eaten as a filling for pies, chokeberry jam and chokeberry jelly, often with the addition of other fruits. Dishes with only chokeberry are very rare.

Methods for storing chokeberry fruit

For the long term storage of chokeberry fruit are collected before frost, you need to make sure they are ripe and easily removed from the branches. If you have harvested a large crop, then part of it can be dried, part can be frozen or canned. All possible known ways of canning - tinctures, chokeberry wine, chokeberry juice, sauces, can be used for chokeberry.

Freezing of chokeberry

This method is more convenient, it will not take you long. To do this, the collected fruit should be washed and cleaned of leaves and branches, and then dried from excess moisture. The finished fruits are arranged in small plastic boxes and placed in the freezer. It is desirable that the portion is not too large, up to about 200-300 grams. This will make them more convenient to use. When removing frozen fruit from the freezer, do not put the rest of you back inside. You can prepare compote, juice or jelly with them.

Drying chokeberry

If you have a lot of chokeberry fruit, drying is the best storage option. It is better to dry chokeberry using a household electric dryer or in the oven. Chokeberry drying temperature should be up to 60 degrees.

You can dry the fruit naturally on a newspaper or baking sheet, while at the same time the room should be ventilated. It is important to stir the fruit often to avoid the growth of mold. Dried fruits should not stick to your hands. This method will take a lot of time and effort. After drying, it is necessary to remove the black fruit, as there is no use of them.

Dried chokeberry fruit are best stored in glass or plastic containers with tight-fitting lids. This is necessary so that moisture does not get into them. Jars of dried fruit should be stored in a closet where light does not penetrate. It can also be stored in small canvas bags or paper bags. The shelf life is up to 2 years.

Preservation of chokeberry

Aronia is often used to make jams and marmalades. You can add a certain amount of fruit in other jams to give it a beautiful rich color. Chokeberry compote is prepared in the standard way, but is little used method of preserving chokeberry.

Universal way to store chokeberryto preserve all the beneficial properties of the fruit is to make wine. It is stored for a very long time, has a beautiful ruby color and a pleasant taste. The main thing is that it contains all the healing properties of chokeberry. We will consider this method separately in the article homemade chokeberry wine.

Chokeberry jam

Need chokeberry fruit - 1 kg, water 1.5 cups and granulated sugar - 1.2 kg. Put the washed fruits in a saucepan, fill with water and put them on the fire under a lid until completely soft. Then rub through a sieve. Return the fruit puree to the pan, add sugar and cook until done.

Chokeberry jam

Photo: Christian Alexandrov

Despite all the astringent and astringent properties of chokeberry, the jam turns out very sweet and fragrant. For the recipe we need: chokeberry - 1-1.2 kg, 400 ml of water and 600 g of sugar. Put the fruit in a saucepan of water over medium heat. Heat the contents and cook until the fruit softens. Then rub through a sieve, obtaining fruit puree about 600 g. Now the sugar is poured into the puree (1: 1) and put back on the stove. This mass is cooked until thickened. Then you need to prepare a tray on which we will spread marmalade. You need to moisten it with ice water and only then spread the thick mass on it. Distribute the mass evenly with a knife and dry it naturally.

Chokeberry saver

Aronia - 10 tablespoons, granulated sugar - 5 tablespoons and 2 proteins.

Pour the fruit into a metal pan and mash. Sprinkle with granulated sugar, cover with a lid and place in an oven preheated to about 160 ° C. The use of a glass lid is recommended to facilitate "peeking". Once enough juice is added to the pan, stir the mass to distribute it better and dissolve the sugar. The mixture then acquires a jelly-like appearance, is rubbed through a sieve and allowed to cool.

Add the raw egg whites to the no longer hot mass and beat until the mass turns white. It must now be dried. Prepare a heat-resistant glass container and fill it to 1/3. Preheat the oven to 80 ° C, put the dishes and watch the spatula so that it does not dry out. After reaching the desired state of the first layer, the next part is placed on top. We do the same with the other third of the table. When all the layers are ready, cover the dish with white paper and then cover. Store the delicacy in a cool, dry place.

Chokeberry jelly

Photo: Sevdalina Irikova

You need 1 kg chokeberry, 700 g sugar and 0.5 liters of water.

Rinse the fruits and put them in a bowl, pouring hot water. Bring to the boil until the fruit is completely soft. Then filter the fruit mass and squeeze it with gauze or cotton cloth. Add the sugar to the broth and put on the stove over low heat. Boil the mass for 15 minutes, then pour the hot broth into sterilized jars and cover with gauze. When the jelly cools, cover the jars with parchment paper and tie tightly.

Ground chokeberry with sugar

If you want to store the fruit without heat treatment, you can try this method. The chokeberry is passed through a meat grinder or blender, then mixed with sugar in the same or slightly smaller amount. Mix this mass again in the blender, put it in small hot sterile jars and close it tightly with lids. Such blanks can stay for a long time in the cellar or in any cool dark place.

Photo: Diana Kostova

Chokeberry juice

Aronia rinse, then mash and sprinkle lightly with sugar. So the fruit is left for several hours, you can leave it overnight. In the morning, squeeze the juice from the fruit, fill in bottles and sterilize.

Raisins and chokeberry syrup

Another good solution for storage of chokeberry for the winter is to make raisins. You will need 1.5 kilograms of fruit, 1 kilogram of sugar, 2 glasses of water and 1 teaspoon of citric acid.

First, it is necessary to boil syrup from water and sugar, then the fruit and citric acid are dipped in it and cooking continues for 20 minutes. After the allotted time, the fruits are removed, transferred to a colander and cooled. Once all the syrup has drained, you need to place the fruit on parchment paper, which is spread on a baking sheet.

Photo: Mariela Hristova

As with conventional drying, future raisins should be stirred periodically, continuing to dry for 3-4 days. As soon as they reach the desired state, pour into a paper bag or glass jar covered with cloth.

The remaining syrup can be stored in sterile jars. Then in the winter you will be able to make a delicious fruit drink by diluting with water or flavor cakes, jellies and oshav or you can just sweeten a cup of tea with a spoonful of it.

Storage of chokeberry in the cellar

Finally, another simple one method of storing chokeberry for the winter, based on the usual suspension like grapes. We hang it in a cellar, attic or similar place bunches of chokeberry on a ropeso that they do not touch each other.

To keep all the benefits of chokeberry, it is important to properly prepare it for winter storage. Knowing the properties of these fruits is also considered very important. Because excessive use can lead to unwanted consequences.