A beautiful low-growing shrub grows, which in early autumn bursts into flames with hundreds of small rubies. This is a cranberry - a berry rich in all kinds of vitamins and microelements, healthy and simply very tasty. The “internal vitamin” world of this berry is incredibly diverse: ascorbic and benzoic acid, citric and quinic, ursolic and malic, vitamin PP, B (the whole group), K, pectins and glycosides, sugars and much more.
Benefit
Perhaps it is this rich combination of vitamins and organic substances that has allowed cranberries to take a leading place among garden and forest berries. It was its beneficial properties that allowed it to take the pedestal and be known as a natural cure for many diseases. For weakened and sick organisms, this berry is simply irreplaceable, mandatory and indicated in all recipes.
However, for an ordinary healthy person, cranberries will not be superfluous in the diet. It boosts immunity, removes harmful substances from the body, helps fight colds and prevent more dangerous diseases. But few housewives know what can be done with cranberries in order to stock up on medicinal berries for the winter and preserve the benefits hidden by nature inside them. Today we will tell you how to properly harvest this berry and what reserves from it can be preserved for the winter.
Storage without preservation
First, let's figure out what you can do with fresh cranberries, besides canning. Our ancestors simply stored cranberries in a cold cellar, carefully sorting out and removing rotten berries and drying the good ones. It is recommended to scatter the berries in a loose layer so that they are well ventilated. Previously, the berries were stored in senets, scattered directly on the floor. But in urban housing conditions, of course, this option will not work. And in this case, you won’t have to expect long-term storage. Cranberries with this method tend to wither and dry out, which is completely undesirable.
Freezing
What can you do with cranberries if you have a large freezer? Of course, deep freeze the berries. This is the second, but most popular way to preserve all the benefits nature contains in this berry. For storage in the freezer, it is better to choose those berries that have already been exposed to frost under natural conditions. As a rule, experienced gardeners wait until the first light frost catches the cranberries, and only after that the berries are picked.
Before freezing, it is recommended to sort out the cranberries and carefully inspect them for rotten spoiled berries. Then rinse, spread on a clean kitchen towel in a thin layer and let dry naturally. After this, we pack the clean and dry berries into bags and store them in the freezer. If you have very ripe berries, then for freezing it is better to choose not cellophane bags, but a plastic container with a lid.
Frozen berry jam
What can you make from frozen cranberries? There are a lot of options: compotes, juices, fruit drinks, jam and purees. But today we will prepare an amazingly tasty and incredibly healthy cranberry jam. It will not contain any unnecessary ingredients. Sugar and berries - that’s the whole secret of making a tender, melt-in-your-mouth and amazingly aromatic jam.
The proportions of the products in this recipe are 1*1, that is, per kilogram of sugar you will need to take the same mass of berries. Frozen berries should be given time to thaw on their own. No microwave ovens!
Place the berries in a large container with a thick bottom and stacks (it is best to take a cauldron for pilaf) and pour in the required amount of granulated sugar. Place the blender into the mixture and grind until smooth. Next, dissolve the sugar by placing the pan on the stove and letting the berry mixture simmer over low heat for five to seven minutes.
All that remains is to remove the container from the heat and, carefully transferring with a spoon, rub the hot berries through a sieve. We no longer need cranberry peels and seeds. The result should be translucent cranberry jam. When it hardens, it will resemble a pliable aromatic jelly.
Soaked cranberries
If you have large supplies of healthy berries, then you can not only dry or freeze them, but also soak them. Since ancient times, people have known what can be made from lingonberries and cranberries. The berries were sorted, poured into large ones and filled to the top with ice-cold well water. Some heavy weight was placed on top and the berries were left alone for a month or two.
Nowadays, of course, no one uses tubs and barrels to store berries, but the method of soaking cranberries still exists today. For storage, ordinary glass jars with a capacity of three liters are used. The berry is sorted, washed and poured into a jar. Pour in water or special syrup (1 liter of water, a pinch of salt, a spoonful of sugar, 2 cloves, a pinch of cinnamon).
Dried berries
What else can you do with fresh cranberries? A very popular option is drying. The process is carried out using a special kitchen unit for drying berries, vegetables and mushrooms or the old fashioned way - in the oven. To dry the berries in the oven, you must first rinse them and then boil them for a couple of minutes in boiling water. Next, spread the foil on a baking sheet, scatter the berries and put them in the oven for 4-5 hours. Remember that the layer should not be very thick. Every 30-40 minutes you need to monitor the berries by turning them over.
When the drying is finished, don’t hesitate to remove the berries. At room temperature, it should cool down and “reach” within another 1-2 hours. And after all these manipulations, we put the cranberries into glass jars for storage.
Cranberry compote
If you are a fan of canning and are wondering what you can do with cranberries for the winter, then you will like the option of making compotes. The task is simple, quick and does not require any special expenses.
The classic recipe for cranberry compote is characterized by the following set of products:
- Berry - one kilogram.
- Granulated sugar - 550-650 grams.
- Water - 1.5 liters.
Preparation
As with other storage methods, before cooking the compote, it is recommended to carefully sort out the cranberries, removing bad berries. We rinse them under running water using a colander. Now put the berries in a saucepan, add water, add sugar and do not turn on the heat, but let it sit. Ten minutes is enough for the cranberries to swell. Now you can turn on the heat and cook the berries for compote. It will quickly release all the beneficial juice contained inside and, therefore, useful substances and vitamins.
As soon as the water begins to boil, time it for five minutes. Then turn off the gas and let the compote cool slightly. During this time, you can prepare the jars. It is recommended to wash them thoroughly with soda and sterilize them. If you like berries in compotes, then you can leave them. If not, then remove the cranberries with a slotted spoon, pour healthy water into the jars and roll up the lids.
What can you do with cranberries if you are a lover of compotes? There are a lot of options and combinations:
Jam
What can you do with cranberries for the winter if you are a lover of sweet preparations? Of course, jam. We suggest you prepare very healthy and fortified jam from berries, walnuts and apples. It can be served with pancakes, pancakes, or used as a filling for pies, pies, bagels, croissants, sweet pizza, etc.
Required Ingredients
- Cranberries - 1 kg.
- Two glasses of water.
- 1.5 kg of sugar.
- One large green apple.
- A handful of chopped walnuts.
How to cook
As in the case of making jam, the berries for jam need to be clean, processed, free from rotten or unripe “brethren”. To make the cranberries soft and release their healthy juice faster, they should be blanched in hot water for ten minutes.
While the berries are “resting” in boiling water, prepare the syrup. Pour two glasses of water into a deep saucepan, add sugar and place on medium heat. Bring to a boil, wait for the sugar to dissolve. Turn off the heat and add the berries to the pan. Cook over low heat for about ten minutes. This will be enough for the jam to harden later, and for the berry not to lose its beneficial qualities due to exposure to high temperature. At the last stage of cooking, you can add a few slices of apple and a handful of chopped walnuts. Also, lemon zest or even a whole fruit, cut into large pieces, will work great in this jam.
What can you make from twisted cranberries?
A very popular recipe is grated or ground cranberries with sugar. Such a preparation will be perfectly stored for a long time, and the berry will not lose its beneficial qualities, since it will not be subjected to heat treatment at all.
The recipe requires one kilogram of granulated sugar and the same amount of washed and dried berries. Cranberries should be pureed. A meat grinder, food processor or blender can help with this process. The twisted cranberries are covered with sugar and left for two hours at room temperature. All that remains is to put it in jars and store it in the refrigerator or cellar.
What can be made from cranberries. Preparations for fighting colds
We have already talked a lot about what can be made from cranberries. There are still a lot of recipes left in stock. Very quick to prepare and healthy, the preparation is made from cranberries and honey. A jar of such natural medicine will be just a lifesaver during the period of colds. Two or three spoons of cranberries with honey at breakfast and tea, and your immune system will say a firm no to the flu and ARVI.
The cooking process in this case is very similar to the previous one, only instead of sugar, honey is added to the twisted cranberries in a 1/1 ratio. You can grind the berries using a blender, gradually adding honey. This way the mass will be more homogeneous. Pour it into jars. Store in the cold.
Juices
Another option for preparing cranberries for the winter is making juice. The berries must be thoroughly washed. It is recommended to sort them out, discarding bad cranberries. For preparation, take two kilograms of berries and 0.5 liters of water. Pour the berries into the water and, after bringing to a boil, immediately turn off. This is done so that the cranberries soften, and it is easier and faster to squeeze the juice out of them.
Press the juice using regular gauze. It will quickly separate the pulp. Bring the resulting healthy liquid to a boil again, cook with sugar (to taste) for three to five minutes. Pour the resulting juice into sterilized jars and seal with metal lids using a key.
Pouring
In conclusion, I would like to offer you a healthy and very tasty drink, which is obtained from cranberries through fermentation. This is the answer for those who don’t know what can be done with cranberries, for those who don’t like sweet jams or preserves.
The liqueur is prepared from 750 g of sugar, a liter of water and a kilogram of berries. The fruits should be mashed with a spoon or masher, put into a bottle with a narrow neck, pour water and add granulated sugar.
Mix the ingredients in a bottle and wrap it with gauze. Leave the drink for several days. After 48 hours, making sure that the fermentation process has begun, we put a medical glove on the neck. We make several holes in it that will allow air to escape. In this state, the liqueur “rests” for another 40-45 days. Next, we filter the liquid, removing the berry pulp, and pour it into storage containers.
Now you know what preparations you can make from cranberries for the winter. If you have the opportunity to buy this most useful berry at the market or pick it up in the nearest forest, then do not neglect this opportunity. It will take you minimal time to prepare, but the benefits will be enormous.
Cranberry recipes with photos on the site will help you choose the dish you like based on the picture. Recipes for cooking with cranberries are not limited to fruit drinks and compotes. Cranberry dishes are much more varied. For example, if you add sauce or jam made from cranberries to meat, the dish will acquire a completely new unusual taste. Fresh and dried cranberries are widely used in baking recipes. In Rus', cranberries were called “swamp grapes”, but in terms of the content of useful substances, cranberries are many times superior to grapes. Cranberries are an excellent source of vitamin C, which our body needs so much during the season of colds and infections. In addition, cranberries contain a rather rare vitamin PP, which promotes the absorption of ascorbic acid, and therefore cranberries have almost no equal as a means of increasing immunity. The berries are unusual in that they are harvested twice a year: in the fall before the snow and in the spring before it melts. The unusually sour taste of the berries will determine their usefulness and healing properties. Alas, by the time chemists began studying the composition of cranberries, all the names for the acids had already been sorted out. The sour taste of the berry is mainly determined by three acids - ursolic, benzoic and chlorogenic. The last two are antiseptics, their presence makes it impossible for cranberry juice to ferment, so we won’t see cranberry wine. But jam, jelly, syrup, cranberries in sugar, if desired, can take their rightful place on your table.
The recipe for these oatmeal cookies has only two main ingredients - oatmeal and a ripe banana. It is prepared so quickly and simply that even a child can cope with this task. And the end result is a delicious dessert that is in no way inferior to anything else.
chapter: Oat cookies
Stollenki are small cookies that are similar in shape and content to the Christmas stollen cake. They also contain a lot of nuts and dried fruits, pre-soaked in rum. If you wish, mix any candied fruits into the dough. B closed
chapter: Stollen
Turkey with cranberry sauce is a delicious and quite popular dish that is often prepared during the winter holidays. The ease of preparation and incredible taste have made this dish one of our favorites among the many holiday treats. Intact
chapter: Turkey dishes
Cottage cheese casserole with dried cranberries prepared according to this recipe is moderately sweet, aromatic and can serve as both a light snack during the day and a hearty dessert. To prepare the casserole, use high-fat cottage cheese. Dried
chapter: Curd casseroles
The weekend is the time to bake something delicious for tea. Apple charlotte with cranberries prepared according to this recipe is a great occasion to gather everyone in the household for a cup of tea. The tender and fragrant biscuit will melt in your mouth. Cranberries when biting lo
chapter: Apple pies
The salad was first served at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which explains its name. The hotel itself has been built. The owner of the hotel in Manhattan in New York is the descendants of immigrants from the German village of Waldorf John Jacob Astor IV. It is not known for certain whether
chapter: American cuisine
Dried, slightly sour cranberries go well with rye baked goods. Even an inexperienced cook can bake such homemade bread, since the dough recipe is very simple. There is no need to beat the rye dough with your hands for a long time. Everything that is recommended with
chapter: Bread
Recipe for cruffin puff pastry (kruffin) made from false puff pastry. Those. The cake really turns out airy and flaky, although we don’t bake it from properly kneaded puff pastry. It turns out that the same effect (or approximately the same) is obtained
chapter: Kulichi
A muffin with the addition of cranberries and orange zest, prepared according to this recipe, turns out soft, tender, with an incredible orange flavor and a slight sourness that cranberries add to baked goods. Thanks to the cranberries, this cupcake turns out really well.
chapter: Cupcakes
Persimmon and cranberry sauce is served with meat both hot and cold. When cold, the sauce resembles a spicy chutney and can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. If desired, the pork neck can be replaced with lamb in this recipe. It turns out delicious too.
chapter: Fruit and berry sauces
To make pate (or terrine, as you prefer), you need to remove the skin from the duck breasts. This is a must. I tried making duck breast pâté with the skin on and it ended up with too much fat after baking. Instead of cranberries you can use
chapter: Duck recipes
Apple pancakes can be made very small, like a dessert or a one-bite cake. If desired, you can add cocoa powder to the pancake dough, then you will get thin chocolate pancakes in which you can also wrap the apple filling.
chapter: Pancakes
Feta Cheese and Dried Fruit Muffin – a sweet pastry topped with chunks of salty cheese. A very interesting flavor combination. The cake turns out crumbly, but not dry. If you put it in a closed container, it will keep well for almost a week.
chapter: Cupcakes
Cranberry and apple pie is quick and easy to prepare. The dough turns out incredibly airy, porous and crumbly. The filling pleasantly combines the sweetness of the apple with the sourness of cranberry. This pie can be an excellent occasion for a family tea party.
chapter: Apple pies
I baked this cake in a slow cooker. It’s very simple and just right for those who like not-too-sugary baked goods with sour splashes of cranberries. After being removed from the multicooker, the cake cracks a little on top, that is, on the former bottom. It seems that this is generally special
Cranberries are one of the healthiest wild berries.
This week, according to the folk calendar, is the Crane Assembly. Since ancient times, it has been believed that cranes, having gained strength before a long flight, gather together and hold advice on how to fly south and when is the best time to set off. And at this time, cranberries - one of the most useful wild berries - ripen. In this material you can find recipes for several delicious and interesting cranberry dishes.
Cranberry juice
To prepare it, the berries are washed in boiled water and the juice is squeezed into a porcelain or glass container. The pomace is poured with cold water at the rate of 3-4 liters per 100 g, boiled and filtered. Add squeezed juice and sugar (to taste) to the resulting broth. Store in the refrigerator. It is useful to drink fruit juice 2-3 glasses a day, warming it to room temperature.
Cranberry jelly
Take 100 g of berries, 3-4 tbsp. l. sugar, 1 tbsp. l. starch and 3 glasses of water. Rinse the berries with cold water and grind them with a wooden pestle. Separate the berry juice and place it separately. Place the rest of the crushed berries in a saucepan and fill with hot water. Bring the broth to a boil and cook for five minutes. Strain it through a sieve. Add granulated sugar to the broth, heat to a boil and remove the foam from the surface.
Separately, dilute the starch in a small amount of cold water. Pour starch into the boiling compote in a thin stream, stirring continuously. Bring the jelly to a boil. If you want to get a thicker jelly, the amount of starch needs to be increased. At the very end, you need to add the previously squeezed cranberry juice to the jelly. Pour the finished jelly into glasses.
The drink is ready! Kissel is a very nutritious, high-calorie dish due to the starch content in it; it retains many vitamins.
Cranberry Sauce
Take half a kilo of fresh or frozen cranberries. Place it in a small enamel pan, add 50 ml of water, 200 g of sugar, a pinch of allspice and about a third of a teaspoon of chopped nutmeg. The resulting mixture must be brought to a boil over very low heat (10-15 minutes), and then cook the sauce for another 5-7 minutes, stirring continuously. You should remove the pan from the heat when you see that the berries have become soft and begin to intensively release juice. Then set the pan aside to cool.
Peel the orange and squeeze out the juice, which is poured into the cooled cranberry mixture. mix everything thoroughly and put the sauce back on the fire, bring it to a boil and cook for at least five minutes. You can add a couple of teaspoons of chopped orange zest to enhance the taste. Top the zest with another five minutes of cooking time.
All that remains is to cool the sauce slightly and beat with a blender until smooth. Pass the sauce through a sieve. When finished, it should have the consistency of sour cream. Chicken breasts fried in butter, baked rabbit, pork chops, poached fish - the sauce goes with everything.
Cranberry-apple chutney (savory sauce for roast pork, turkey)
You will need onions, finely chopped (0.5 cup), garlic, chopped (1 clove), ginger, grated (1.5 tbsp mixed with garlic), apple cider vinegar (1 cup), apples, peeled and chopped (3 cups), red bell pepper, seeded and chopped (1 piece), brown sugar (1 cup), mustard beans (1 tbsp), allspice (0.5 tsp), cayenne pepper (0.5 tsp), dried cranberries (200 g) and salt (0.5 tsp).
Blend onion, garlic and ginger with 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar in a blender. In a large saucepan over medium heat, simmer all ingredients except cranberries until mixture thickens. Throw the cranberries into the saucepan and simmer for another 15 minutes.
The chutney can be stored in the refrigerator in sterilized jars and screwed on with lids. This type of sauce can be eaten simply by placing it on toasted bread, or as an addition to cold meat and poultry. A complete and very tasty dish.
Chicken breast stuffed with cranberries and cranberry sauce
You will need: 3 chicken fillets, 0.5 cups of cranberries, 2 tbsp. l. honey, 2 tbsp. l. with a heap of ground crackers, 2 tsp. butter, salt, egg, flour, ground crackers for breading. For the sauce: 1 tbsp. l. starch, 0.5 cup cranberries, 2 tbsp. l. honey
Beat the fillet into a large pancake (beat it, wrapped in film so that the fillet does not tear).
Salt and pepper, add 1 tablespoon of the following filling: mix softened butter with cranberries, breadcrumbs and honey.
Roll the fillet into a Kyiv cutlet. Breaded in flour, egg, ground breadcrumbs.
Fry quickly on both sides until golden brown. Place in the oven and bake at +220 degrees for 20 minutes.
Make the sauce: put the cranberries in a saucepan, put on the fire, stir a little, stirring, boil, add honey. Dilute the starch in 100 ml of water and pour over the cranberries. Stir. Once it boils, remove from heat and cool. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Pickled cranberries (storage method)
Sort and wash the berries, discard crushed and damaged ones, pour them into clean jars and fill with cold boiled water. Place a weight on top of a wooden circle and place it in a cool place. With this storage method, vitamins are not destroyed.
Cranberries soaked in sugar syrup
Boil syrup from sugar, salt and water (for 1 liter of water, 4 tablespoons of sugar and 0.5 teaspoon of salt). Cranberries are prepared in the same way as in the recipe for ordinary pickled cranberries. Fill the jars and add chilled syrup.
If desired, you can put some Antonov apples in the cranberries, as well as spices - cinnamon, cloves and allspice.
Cranberries prepared in this way are used as a seasoning for meat and fish dishes, and are also added to vinaigrettes and salads.
Cranberry jelly
The sorted and washed cranberries are mashed with a wooden masher in a non-oxidizing container. Squeeze out the juice and put it in the refrigerator. The pulp is poured with hot water and cooked in a sealed container at low boil for 5-10 minutes. Add sugar and soaked gelatin to the strained broth, stir the mixture until it is completely dissolved and bring to a boil (but do not boil!). The squeezed juice is poured into this sugar-gelatin syrup, then the mixture is filtered, cooled to 15-20 degrees and poured into molds. For 150 g of cranberries - 150 g of sugar, 30 g of gelatin. For syrup: for 100 g of sugar, 50 g of cranberries.
Cranberry tincture ("Klyukovka")
Vodka - 0.5 l; sugar - 1 glass; cranberries - 1.5 cups.
Crush the cranberries with sugar and place in a jar (1 liter), then pour the mixture with vodka. Close with a lid (polyethylene can be used) and hide in a dark place where it remains at room temperature for two weeks. The liquid needs to be shaken once every two days.
After 14 days, hide the jar in the refrigerator for one night. After the settling process, strain the resulting drink through four-layer gauze and carefully squeeze out the cranberries.
This version of “Klyukovka” is perfect for consumption by men, and a lighter version is recommended for ladies. Boil syrup from 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar. Pour the cooled syrup into the “male” version, slightly diluting the strong drink. It is not necessary to pour in all the syrup at once. Add it little by little and taste the drink.
Consume Klyukovka carefully, as the high alcohol content is practically unnoticeable to the taste, and the tincture is drunk like a rich fruit drink. Don't get carried away.
Curd-cranberry ice cream
You will need: cranberries (225 g), sugar (225 g), five percent cottage cheese (450 g), 35% whipping cream (400 ml), honey (2 tbsp.), chopped almonds or chopped walnuts ( 3 tbsp).
Wash the cranberries and dry them on a towel. Add half the sugar. Crush the berries with sugar into a soft paste. Add the second half of the sugar to the cottage cheese, beat with a mixer until creamy. Combine cranberries and cottage cheese with sugar. Mix well. Whip the cream into thick foam. Stir into the cranberry cream.
Take a pudding mold (with high sides) and grease the entire inner surface of the mold with honey. Sprinkle with chopped almond crumbs (peeled and shaved almond “petals”) or walnut crumbs. Pour the curd-cranberry cream into the mold.
Cover with cling film and place in the freezer for 4-5 hours.
Before serving, immerse the pan in hot water for a few seconds and invert the contents onto a plate. Can be decorated with whipped cream and berries.
What will happen? This... This... In general, this is never forgotten.
What to make from cranberries: salad, sauce, fruit drink, mousse, jam, sweets and cranberry baked goods.
From time immemorial, cranberries were considered a traditional Russian berry. True, in America and the Scandinavian countries they love her even more than here. For example, in the United States there is a tradition: on Thanksgiving Day, many families serve turkey with cranberry sauce, and in Finland they often prepare sweet berry soup with cranberries.
A variety of drinks are prepared from cranberries - fruit drinks, kvass and jelly, delicious desserts - mousses, jellies, sweets, delicious sauces for poultry, fish and meat dishes. Cranberries are added to salads and various pickles, and jams and medicinal preserves are prepared from them.
A separate discussion is baking with cranberries. Puff pastry pies, muffins, and cottage cheese casseroles with small red berries are incredibly tasty and beautiful. A simple, familiar and beloved delicacy from childhood is cranberries in sugar. All desserts with this autumn berry have something special, festive and Christmassy. It seems like I just took a cranberry pie with apple slices out of the oven, but there’s already no trace of it...
What can be prepared from cranberries: recipes
Recipe 1. Festive salad with cranberries and chicken
You will need: 400 g of boiled chicken fillet, 100 g of cranberries and walnuts, 1 bell pepper, 1 stalk of celery, a pinch of sweet paprika, 100 g of mayonnaise, 2 stalks of green onions, spices to taste.
Cut the meat into cubes, celery into strips, bell pepper into small slices. Finely chop the nuts and green onions. Combine all the ingredients in a salad bowl, add mayonnaise and spices, mix carefully so as not to damage the berries, and put in the refrigerator for an hour. This salad can be stuffed into tomatoes or served on plates decorated with lettuce leaves.
Recipe 2. Cranberry sauce for baked poultry
You will need: 500 g of fresh cranberries, a cinnamon stick, 2 apples, 140 g of powdered sugar, 100 ml of water.
Sort the cranberries and rinse. Peel the apples, remove the cores and cut into thin slices. In a saucepan, combine cranberries, apples, powdered sugar with water, add a cinnamon stick and simmer over low heat until the apples become soft, the berries burst, and the sauce thickens. Remove the cinnamon stick from the finished dish and leave it to cool. Excellent sauces are made from cranberries with ginger, grapefruit, Dijon mustard and pomegranate.
Recipe 3. Vitamin cranberry juice
You will need: 1 liter of cold water, honey to taste (about 1-2 tablespoons), 1 glass of cranberries.
Cranberry juice, prepared with honey, without boiling, is an excellent tonic drink, especially useful for people weakened after illness. Sort the berries, rinse, dry on a sieve and mash 
wooden spoon, squeeze out the juice, add water to the skins and boil. Combine the cooled broth with cranberry juice, add honey and let it brew for 3-4 hours. You can boil the berries without squeezing the juice, then strain the broth, and add sugar instead of honey, but in this case the fruit drink will not be as rich in vitamins as in the proposed recipe.
Recipe 4. Cranberry jam with honey
You will need: 1 kg of cranberries, 2 cloves, 1.5 kg of honey, 500 ml of water, a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg.
Prepare a syrup from honey and water: mix the ingredients and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Sort the berries, rinse, add to honey syrup, add spices, bring to a boil and keep on low heat until thickened. Remove the cloves from the prepared jam, place them in jars and seal with iron lids. Jam prepared according to this recipe will be useful not only as a dessert. It can be served hot, as a sauce for baked poultry - chicken, turkey, duck, goose.
Recipe 5. Cranberry mousse
You will need: 200 g of cranberries, 4 tablespoons of semolina (without a slide), 0.7 liters of water, sugar to taste (about one glass), mint leaves for decoration.
Squeeze the juice out of the berries and put them in the refrigerator for an hour. Place the cranberry pulp in a saucepan, add water and boil for a few minutes. Strain the resulting liquid through a fine strainer, return it to the saucepan, let it boil again and gradually add the semolina in a thin stream. Cook over low heat until thickened. Add sugar at the very end and stir until it dissolves. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and when the semolina has cooled, pour in the cranberry juice and whisk until the volume of the mixture doubles. The pan with semolina can be immersed in a slightly larger bowl filled with ice water, then the mousse will turn out more airy. Place the finished dessert in the freezer for half an hour, then put it in bowls and put it in the refrigerator for another 40 minutes.
Recipe 6. Cranberry Peanut Pie
You will need: 2 cups of cranberries, 100 g of butter, 1 cup each of sugar and flour, half a cup of walnuts, a pinch of salt, 2 eggs, a glass of whipped cream for serving, 1 teaspoon of almond essence.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease a pie pan with butter. Finely chop the nuts. Beat the eggs lightly. Melt the butter. Combine flour with salt and sugar, add nuts, cranberries and stir so that they are evenly distributed in the flour. Add almond essence, beaten eggs and melted butter to the resulting mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 40 minutes. Prick the center of the pie with a toothpick: if it's dry, it's ready to take out of the oven. This aromatic dessert is best served warm, with ice cream or whipped cream.
Recipe 7. Brownie with cranberries and cashews
You will need: 200 g of sugar, 100 g of dried cranberries, cashew nuts, flour, cocoa powder and butter, 2 eggs, a pinch of vanilla sugar or 1 dessert spoon of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt.
Melt the butter, mix well with sugar and cocoa, add beaten eggs, vanilla extract, add salt, flour, cranberries and nuts. Place the chocolate mixture in a square baking dish and place in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for about 30 minutes. The dough should not rise during baking, so it should be carefully mixed with a spatula, and not beaten with a mixer. The combination of cashews, cranberries and chocolate is a win-win. The result is a delicious chocolate-nut pie with a unique sourness that the berries add to the sweet dough.
Recipe 8. Vitamin candies with cranberries
You will need: 100 g of dried cranberries, 150 g of dried apricots, a piece of fresh ginger the size of a cherry, 70 g of almonds, 150 g of your favorite chocolate, a pinch of cinnamon and vanilla sugar, corn (nut) crumbs.
Wash and dry dried fruits. If the dessert is not prepared for children, you can pour homemade liqueur over them for 15 minutes. Grind almonds in a coffee grinder. Peel the ginger root and puree it together with dried apricots and cranberries using a blender, add vanilla sugar, almond crumbs, cinnamon and mix everything thoroughly. Make balls from the resulting sweet mass, put them in the freezer to harden, and in the meantime melt the chocolate in a water bath, adding a little water or milk to it. Remove the candies from the freezer, dip each one in melted chocolate, use toothpicks to coat in the corn crumb “breading” and place on a nice plate.
Porridge, cocktails, sorbets, ice cream, muffins, baked meat - it’s difficult to find dishes that cranberries cannot make friends with. Cranberry recipes will diversify your home menu, because these juicy berries, with their pleasant sourness, can make any culinary masterpiece even more refined and appetizing. Have delicious cranberry dishes and bon appetit!
Recipes for preserving healthy and tasty cranberries for the winter are simple and won’t take much time. And the best of them, such as cranberries in sugar, have been tested by the centuries-old experience of our ancestors. Without cooking, you can make compote and puree from cranberries for the winter. Cranberry jelly or fruit juice will help your home easily and tasty get rid of annoying colds during the cold season.
General information about cranberries
Cranberry is a small golden-green shrub that grows in swamps in cool areas of Europe and America. It bears fruit from August to September. Its small berries look like rubies that flash on silvery leaves. This berry is amazing in the amount of nutrients it contains:
- organic acids (ascorbic, malic, quinic, citric, benzoic, ursolic);
- Sahara;
Cranberries are known for their high levels of vitamin C.
- glycosides;
- pectin substances;
- vitamins (PP, K and group B).
The unique composition of cranberries makes it one of the best berries for therapeutic and dietary nutrition. Cranberry helps improve immunity, prevents vitamin deficiency and vascular sclerosis, and easily cleanses the body of harmful elements and substances - that is, it significantly improves a person’s health and makes their life better.
Trends in the use of healthy nutrition methods over the past few decades have increased the frequency of cranberry use both in dietetics and in simple daily cooking. This wonderful berry is added to drinks, as well as meat and vegetable dishes. Therefore, it is useful for all housewives practicing canning to learn how to make simple and healthy preparations for the winter from cranberries to enrich their daily diet during the cold season.
Recipes for preserving cranberries for the winter without preservation
In village houses, red berries were often stored in winter, simply laid out in a cold, dry room. This was done in this way: the cranberries, which are naturally preserved due to their benzoic acid content, were sorted, ventilated until dry and scattered in a thin layer in a cool, dry place. After a certain time, the berries were sorted again to remove dried and wilted ones. However, it is unlikely that it will be possible to store cranberries so easily in an apartment due to lack of space.
The following methods are more suitable for conditions in modern city apartments.
Attention! When using one of them, you should remember: it is better to process cranberries quickly, without delaying the matter, so that the berries do not become wrinkled or wither.
Frozen cranberries
This method is the fastest and easiest. It is ideal for cranberries that have been “grabbed” by frost. To begin with, the berries should be disassembled and damaged and wilted removed. Then rinse the remaining ones, sparing no water, and spray with a stream of clean, cool moisture. When it drains, spread the berries on a cloth in a thin layer and dry. Then separate the ripe raw materials from the “strong” ones. Place the first in plastic containers, the second in plastic bags (form in the form of briquettes).
Frozen cranberries retain all their beneficial properties
Place the containers and bags in the freezer and turn on instant freezing, which will preserve the beneficial properties. At temperatures from -18 degrees, cranberries can be stored for two or more years. Thawed cranberries must be consumed immediately.
Pickled cranberries
When there were no refrigerators yet, cranberries were preserved for the winter according to the following recipe. Fill the berries in oak barrels with cold water from the spring, press down on top with a heavy wooden lid and place in a cool part of the house. It is clear that doing this in the city is at least problematic. What to do?
- Method one. Sort the cranberries, get rid of all imperfect berries. Wash the remaining raw materials thoroughly, pour in cool, purified moisture and transfer to pre-sterilized jars. Fill the vessels with clean water (higher than the level of the berries), close the lids and place in a cool place.
- Second recipe. To prevent the cranberries and the water with them from being so sour, a weak sweet syrup is added to the preparation. For 1 kg of raw materials you will need 1 tbsp. l. granulated sugar and a pinch of salt. Dissolve the prepared ingredients in 2 glasses of water, boil and cool. Pour syrup over the berries and place in a cool place. To give the taste a piquant note, you can add cloves, a little cinnamon or allspice peas to the cranberries.
Cranberry preparations for the winter
Today, women don’t just preserve cranberries during the cold weather, but use them to create delicious preserves with added sugar. Drinking tea with cranberry jam with your family on a cold winter evening - is anything better possible? And cranberries in their own juice or puree from these berries perfectly help cope with autumn and winter colds! How to prepare these useful things? Very simple!
Cranberries with sugar
Cranberries with sugar
Take large ripe cranberries, wash them, sort them, and dry them. Place layers of sugar in chilled sterilized jars, shaking the jars and tapping them to better fill the space. The top layer in each jar is sugar. Cover the finished cranberries with a lid and place in the refrigerator.
Cranberry puree
This version of winter cranberry preparations is simple. Selected, washed and dried berries should be crushed in a blender and mixed with sugar in a one to one ratio (you can put a little more sugar than berries). Wait a day for the sugar to dissolve. After time, place the puree in glass containers and find a place for it in the refrigerator.
Cranberries in their own juice
For this recipe for preparing cranberries during cold weather, it is best to take raw materials that have been “hit” by frost. These berries are riper, release juice better and will not lose their beneficial properties from heat treatment.
- First way. Wash the raw materials, sort them, separate small berries from large ones. Mash small cranberries with a fork, warm them slightly and squeeze out the juice. Dry larger berries, place in an enamel bowl, add juice (ten glasses of cranberries - half the juice) and heat without bringing to a boil. Place raw materials in heated, dry, sterilized containers. Close the jars with boiled lids and heat in a water bath (liter jars for a quarter of an hour, half-liter jars for ten minutes). After rolling up the cranberries, turn the vessels over and cover with a warm cloth.
Cranberries in their own juice
- Second way. Sort out the ripe large berries, wash and dry them, and then place them in a steel or enamel pan and heat over low heat or in a sauna until the juice releases. In the process, there will be more juice, and fewer berries. After completion, place the mass into hot, sterilized, dry jars, sterilize and roll up.
Advice. All of the above recipes for cranberry preparations can be an excellent basis for making jelly, fruit drink or cocktail, as well as for desserts - jelly and mousses.
Cranberry compote
It’s quite simple to prepare an unsweetened, sour cranberry compote for the winter, which perfectly wards off thirst at any temperature. To make a three-liter jar of compote, you need to follow these steps.
Disassemble the cranberries, rinse and let dry. Place in heated jars and fill with sugar syrup (water and sugar - proportions one to one). Preserve and sterilize the jars at one hundred degrees temperature (liter - a quarter of an hour, half-liter - ten minutes).
Cranberry compote
That's all! All that remains is to put the jars of compote in a dark, cool place - and then take them out in the dead of winter and enjoy the sour, but so summery taste of ripe berries.
Another recipe for cranberry compote. You will need:
- 1 kg cranberries;
- 600 g sugar;
- 1 liter of water.
Sort the berries, sort through them, get rid of imperfect ones. Wash the raw materials with a powerful stream of water (the easiest option is to use a colander).
Place clean raw materials in a saucepan, sprinkling with sugar. Wait until it settles and turn on the stove. Boil until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add water and cook for another five minutes.
Frozen cranberry jelly
Ingredients:
- 1.5 stack. frozen berries;
- about a glass of sugar;
- 2 liters of water;
- 4 tbsp starch.
Kissel can be made from frozen berries
Thaw cranberries and grind in a blender. Place the resulting mass in cheesecloth and squeeze the juice out of it. Do not throw away the leftovers. Boil water, add the cake, boil for five minutes, remove from heat and filter. Return the broth to the stove and at the moment of boiling, add sugar along with cranberry juice.
Reduce the heat level, carefully add starch, which must be diluted with a small amount of water in advance. Boil for two to three minutes, then remove from heat and cool. Close the jelly to prevent a film from forming. You can drink it both hot and chilled.
All of the above cranberry winter preparations will be needed to fight ARVI and create a wide variety of goodies. Sugared cranberries are a wonderful base for tonic drinks, fruit drinks, and also a filling for baked goods. The easiest way to store cranberries is frozen or soaked. But regardless of the storage method, the result will please everyone in the household and the housewife herself.
Cranberry preparations for the winter: video
Cranberries for the winter: photo
