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Perhaps the most popular among berry crops is red currant. It is considered a hypoallergenic product and has a pleasant sour taste. Even if you freeze red currants, a lot of substances useful to humans are preserved in its composition.
The juice of this berry perfectly quenches thirst, tones, restores the strength of people weakened by the disease, increases appetite. As a source of ascorbic acid and vitamin P, red currant is indicated for colds and as their prevention.
The benefits of frozen red currants
When frozen, the berry retains all its beneficial properties, as well as vitamin and mineral reserves, practically without losing its taste - that is why it is advisable to freeze red currants for harvesting for the winter. The advantages of freezing over heat treatment are obvious: although the jam is tastier, there are not so many benefits for the body in it, since when heated, most of the vitamins inevitably break down.
Preparing red currants for freezing
What steps should be taken to prepare red currants for freezing:
- In order for the frozen berry to be usable after defrosting, at the very first and most important stage, it is necessary to sort out and remove overripe, cracked or rotten berries, as well as leaves and insects that sometimes end up in the harvested crop.
- The next step is to rinse the currants. This is best done by folding it into a colander and placing it under cool running water.
- Then spread the red currants on a clean, dry cloth in order to remove excess moisture. Additionally, you can blot the berries on top with a soft cloth or paper towel.
How to freeze red currants in the freezer for the winter
Further, it is necessary to carry out preliminary cooling so that the currants do not suffer from the subsequent intensive freezing. In addition, this procedure will allow it to retain its juiciness and taste even after defrosting.
So:
- Dried red currants are folded into an open container, it is advisable to use something like a colander.
- Place in the refrigerator (not in the freezer!) For two hours.
- Lay out in containers or plastic bags.
- Freeze already thoroughly.
Dry freezing of whole berries
This is one of the most popular freezing methods, since it removes some of the hassle of drying currants and pre-cooling from the hostess. In order to properly freeze red currants in the freezer dry, you should:
- Blot washed berries with a cloth.
- Scatter on a flat surface, such as a tray, place in the freezer.
- After some time (no more than an hour), put the currants already seized by frost into bags or containers.
- Return to freezer.
Freezing berries on twigs
For harvesting, it is advisable to use fresh, recently harvested berries.
The sequence of actions is similar to the previous method. Here also:
- The washed branches are washed and dried.
- Pre-freeze.
- This is followed by the arrangement of the berries in containers and deep freezing in the freezer.
This method, of course, can be shortened and without drying: the currants are simply placed in a colander so that the water is glass, and after a few hours, spread out in bags or jars, they are immediately frozen. But then you need to be prepared for the fact that ice crusts may appear on the berries after freezing.
Red currant with sugar
This simple method of freezing raw berry raw materials is also called "raw jam". Of course, it cannot replace the usual one, but it is an almost natural chopped berry, only slightly sweetened. They don't take a lot of sugar - 1 kg (or less) is enough for 2 kg of currants.
Algorithm of actions for obtaining this product:
- The washed raw materials are covered with sugar and mixed.
- Let stand for several hours.
- Then passed through a meat grinder.
- The resulting mass is laid out in plastic containers (you can use yogurt bottles).
- Placed in a freezer.
Berry puree
Usually this product is made using a blender or meat grinder. The resulting mass is passed through a sieve. Sugar can be added to such a blank, but if then freezing follows, quite a bit: for 1 kg of berry mass, only 200 g of granulated sugar.
The procedure is as follows:
- Pure selected currants are chopped with a blender.
- Add sugar in small portions, stirring.
- The mixture is allowed to stand to dissolve the sugar.
- Grind again.
- Pass through a sieve.
- The finished product is laid out and covered with lids.
- The puree is placed in the freezer.
How to properly defrost berries
There are several ways. Here is one of them:
- The currants are removed from the freezer.
- Spread a thin layer on a flat surface and let the berries lie at room temperature on a clean dry cloth or just on a platter.
Jars of frozen puree are simply put on the table as needed.
For a slow, but most gentle defrosting, the container with berry raw materials is simply placed in the refrigerator. It usually takes at least 5-6 hours to defrost 1 kg of the workpiece.
Modern housewives, of course, prefer to put the container in the microwave oven, setting the "quick defrost" mode. It should be borne in mind that red currant is a small berry, so it is important that it melts and does not start to heat up.
Terms and conditions of storage
It is believed that any frozen fruits can be safely stored throughout the winter-spring season until the next harvest. In fact, a lot depends on whether high-quality ripe raw materials were taken for freezing, whether they were processed correctly, whether there was a premature defrosting. The storage temperature is also very important.
On the contrary, having passed the correct preliminary preparation, well frozen in deep freezing (not higher than -18 ° C), red currants are able to retain their taste and useful properties for up to three years. But mashed potatoes with sugar - no more than a year.
Conclusion
Freezing red currants is easy enough. It can be stored for a long time and then easily defrosted. The thawed berry is used to prepare a variety of drinks and dishes. But it is quite possible and just to feast on red currant - it perfectly retains all its useful properties.
