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Everyone should make sure that the vitamins from the garden are on the dinner table for a whole year. You can easily and quickly freeze lingonberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries and other gifts of nature, while maintaining the entire chemical composition. How to do it correctly, we learn from the article.
Is it possible to freeze lingonberries for the winter
Freezing is the most gentle way to store food, leaving it fresh and healthy. Sometimes it is not possible to freeze lingonberries correctly. Vitamins, original appearance, aroma are lost. Consider how to properly freeze lingonberries at home.
Do I need to wash lingonberries before freezing
When the fruits are harvested, you need to pay attention, first of all, to the presence of debris, immature, rotten specimens, leaves, tails, insects in them. To freeze lingonberries for the winter, all this should be carefully sorted out. Rinse with running water.
The next step is thorough drying. Spread on any moisture-absorbing surface, remove excess liquid. To do this, you can use:
- a napkin;
- paper;
- towel;
- cotton fabric.
The benefits of frozen lingonberries
The fruits contain a lot of water, the amount of which reaches 80%. The rest of the mass falls on:
- carbohydrates - 8-10%;
- organic acids (citric, malic, benzoic, quinic, tartaric, salicylic, lactic, succinic) - 2–2.7%;
- pectin substances - 0.63%;
- polyphenols;
- vitamins (C, PP);
- essential oil;
- minerals (phosphorus, iron);
- other substances.
Frozen lingonberry and recipes from it have long been used for treatment, prevention, and strengthening of the body. Fresh berries, including frozen ones, have a number of therapeutic qualities:
- An excellent diuretic that can also suppress inflammation. The combination of these two qualities makes this berry necessary in the treatment of pyelonephritis, cystitis.
- A treasure trove of vitamins and minerals. With the help of lingonberries, you can strengthen the body during winter colds.
- It has a cleansing effect on the blood composition: it removes cholesterol, normalizes the level of glycemia, increases hemoglobin, coagulability.
- Heals the heart, improves its rhythm, lowers blood pressure.
- Improves digestion, appetite, increases stomach acidity.
- Restores visual function.
- Accelerates wound healing, makes the skin elastic.
As you can see from the above, frozen lingonberries and their beneficial properties can be a way to treat and prevent various diseases.
Calorie content of frozen lingonberries
The energy value of fresh berries and frozen ones is practically the same if stored without added sugar. Due to a number of chemical processes that take place during freezing, the calorie content may drop slightly. So, fresh berries have 46 kcal, harvested for the winter - 43 kcal.
How to freeze lingonberries in the freezer in portions
You can freeze lingonberries for the winter in the refrigerator with whole berries, without extraneous additives. Many people like to add sugar.To prevent the fruits from sticking together, freeze lingonberries for the winter in stages:
- Spread a thin layer of berries on a pallet, put in the freezer compartment.
- When the fruits harden, pour into a container (bag) and store at -18 degrees and below.
How to properly freeze lingonberries with sugar for the winter
The berries are quite bitter, so you can freeze the lingonberries with sugar to improve the flavor. For freezing sugar and berry mass, it is taken equally. Everything is ground in a blender, meat grinder. Poured into containers, plastic cups.
Shelf life of frozen berries
The suitability of frozen foods depends on several factors. It is advisable to have a refrigerator or freezer in the house equipped with a modern No Frost cooling system. In contrast, conventional old refrigerators cannot provide quick and deep freezing, in which the structure of the product is completely preserved.
The temperature in the chamber must be maintained at a constant level and not rise above -18 degrees. If it is within -10 degrees, as in old refrigerators, then in this case the shelf life is significantly reduced.
Lingonberries, unlike other berries, can be stored for a rather long period - from 12 months to 2-3 years. But this is in the event that it is frozen in its entirety, in its pure form. Cooked in other versions, for example, with sugar, ground, can be stored for up to a year.
What can be made from frozen lingonberries
An excellent tincture is prepared from the fruit. And the fact that they are frozen is even on hand. In this case, the berry mass releases more juice. And this gives the final product a brighter color and a rich flavor range.
The juice has a whole bunch of wonderful features. It relieves hypertension and can increase the child's appetite. It is necessary for gastritis with low acidity, for strengthening blood vessels, and also as a choleretic, anti-sclerotic, hypoglycemic and cardiotonic agent.
How to properly defrost lingonberries
The surest way to defrost food is to place it in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf. Then the process will take place gradually, which will save vitamins. Sometimes the time rushes with the preparation of food. In this case, it is allowed to dip the bag of lingonberries into cold water. The defrosting process will speed up and you can start using it in ten minutes.
You can defrost in the microwave at the appropriate setting at the lowest power. Otherwise, the berry balls will be frozen on the inside and soft on the outside. But this should be done immediately before cooking or eating the product.
What can be made from frozen lingonberries
Any culinary experiments can be carried out on the basis of berries. They are commonly used in:
- jelly, compotes, teas, fruit drinks, etc .;
- sweets (pastries, fruit salads, casseroles, cottage cheese products, preserves, etc.);
- salads;
- sauces;
- meat;
- seasoning;
- porridge.
A lot is prepared from frozen lingonberries. It can be soaked, canned, etc.
Conclusion
Freezing lingonberries will not take long, anyone can do it. And then there will be no lack of vitamins, and there will be no colds. Freezing lingonberries for the winter at home is a reliable way to strengthen the immune system and prevent many health problems.
