Dogwood jam
Dogwood makes excellent jam: dark red, thick and tender. Dogwood jam turns out to be very concentrated; very little water is used, which is necessary for boiling the berries. The jam is conveniently packaged in small jars so that you can take it with you to work, on a trip, or on a picnic. The bread is spread with butter, dogwood jam is placed on top, the resulting dessert is tastier than any cake!
A thin layer of dogwood jam can set very well. If you spread it on the surface of the cake, after half an hour it will become a dense berry glaze. You can also lubricate pieces of baked meat with dogwood jam when a sweet and sour taste is appropriate in the dish.
Ingredients for making dogwood jam for the winter:
- dogwood – 1 kg
- water – 300 ml
- sugar – 400 g
Recipe for making seedless dogwood jam:
Dark soft dogwood becomes sweet, this is the right time to make jam. It is necessary to sort the berries: for harvesting for the winter, do not use limp dogwood and fruits with incipient rot. High-quality raw materials are necessary for tasty jam; berries with defects will definitely show their presence, adding a bitter taste.
Dogwood is washed in cold water.
Pour water into the pan and add berries. Boil the dogwood over low heat for 10 minutes. The pan should be covered with a lid.
Then the berries are rubbed through a metal sieve with small mesh, and the remaining liquid in the pan is filtered. The fine mesh of the sieve allows you to obtain seedless dogwood jam with a very delicate structure. If you like a grainy consistency, you can use a sieve with larger holes.
Add all the sugar to the pureed mass. Since the dogwood puree is still warm, the sugar will easily dissolve with vigorous stirring. Do not put the pan on the fire when the sugar has not yet dissolved, this may cause the jam to burn.
Dogwood jam for the winter is boiled over low heat for 25 minutes. The result is a thick, aromatic mass. The hot jam is poured into a sterilized jar and the sterile lid is screwed on. A kilogram of dogwood produces 350-400 ml of jam.
Dogwood jam is stored in a cool, dark room. The opened jar should be placed in the refrigerator.
The benefits of dogwood jam
The beneficial properties of dogwood jam have no boundaries. Preservation of this wild berry, long cultivated in our country, is a real natural “pharmacy”, as it can have a complex therapeutic effect on the entire human body.
Dogwood jam | ivona.bigmir.net
- Dogwood jam, the recipe for which is simple to the point of banality, will become indispensable for colds and infectious diseases that plague the population in the winter season. It perfectly lowers body temperature and relieves symptoms of acute respiratory infections, as it contains more ascorbic acid than black currants and even lemons.
- In addition, dogwood jam is very useful for hypertensive patients - this sweet and sour delicacy safely stabilizes blood pressure and prevents its sudden jumps.
- People suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract can appreciate the benefits of dogwood jam. Dogwood jam relieves stomach pain, normalizes intestinal function, helping with constipation and diarrhea.
- Dogwood jam, due to its powerful vitamin composition, is a natural immunostimulant for children and improves appetite in little “unwilling” ones.
- Dogwood jam is also very useful for the diet of pregnant women - with its help you can maintain the level of hemoglobin in the blood and naturally protect yourself from the risks of premature birth.
- For avid coffee lovers, dogwood jam will be an excellent alternative to an invigorating drink due to its high tonic and energy properties.
Fruit preparation
Dogwood should be sorted out and spoiled berries should be discarded. Next, remove the tails and rinse well. It is better to rinse in a saucepan, changing the water several times and turning the fruits over with your hands. It is not necessary to dry the dogwood - if there is a lot of it, enough water will drain from it so that when boiling it does not add new water. If the dogwood is dry, you need to splash a little on the bottom - until the berry gives juice, it can burn without liquid.
Benefits and harms
Dogwood is known not only for its pleasant taste and appetizing aroma - it is also very useful, as it contains a lot of minerals. The berry is rich in vitamins A, C, D, as well as other beneficial substances. Bones are also beneficial, but the jam is made without them.
Jam will help cleanse the body of toxins and improve metabolism. The use of dogwood is indicated for diabetics, but only in fresh form. The pleasant taste is also liked by pregnant women, who are constantly drawn to everything salty and sour. Doctors recommend adding a couple of teaspoons to tea and giving it to a child with a high temperature to drink - gradually it will begin to fall.
How to make dogwood jam at home?
The recipe for seedless dogwood jam for the winter is quite simple. It will only be difficult to separate the juice and pulp from the seeds and skin.
To prepare a beautiful, bright and tasty jam we take:
- dogwood - 1 kg;
- sugar - 800 g.
- Prepare raw materials. Place in a saucepan and pour in a quarter cup of water.
- Place on low heat and cook for about a quarter of an hour. During this time, the berries will release juice and soften.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the berries and grind them, pour their juice into the mixture, stir and add sugar. Boil until desired thickness. It usually takes half an hour to boil.
- Pour the finished jam into jars and seal.
Features of harvesting dogwood for the winter
When preparing, it is recommended to use some tips:
- supporters of proper nutrition can replace sugar with maple syrup or Jerusalem artichoke syrup;
- In order to preserve more vitamins during preparation, it is recommended to observe the specified heat treatment time.
How to collect dogwood?
Harvesting occurs in August-September, depending on the variety. It is necessary to collect when the berries have acquired a natural red color. Don't wait until they become soft or darken. Harvesting is done in dry weather; wet berries are poorly stored.
Harvesting is complicated by the fact that the berries do not ripen evenly, so several approaches are necessary. The collected berries ripen in a dry place for a week. The fruits darken, acquire sweetness, and their aroma intensifies.
Kitchenware
It is collected in wooden boxes or baskets and stored here until fully ripe.
Dogwood jam recipe
We will prepare regular berry jam, without adding any extraneous ingredients. For this we need dogwood and sugar, and that’s it.
It is best to take ripe dogwood for jam, or even overripe. I will make several blanks at once. Along with the jam, I will also make dogwood sauce. In both recipes you need to grind the berries on a sieve. But don’t worry, I will describe all the ingredients and steps in detail.
Let's start cooking by washing and sorting the dogwood. As I said, we bought a bucket of dogwood. I’ll select unripe berries for compote; it’s also a very healthy and tasty drink, but I’ll tell you about it in one of the following articles.
It’s just that unripe berries are more difficult to grind and they are not as fragrant, but we will make the compote another day, and they will have time to ripen.
The photo on the right shows that all our berries are ripe and there are even overripe ones. Now you need to put the berries on the fire to soften and evaporate the juice.
I just washed it and put it on the fire, we have a large volume, and the water that drained from the berries covered the bottom. If you have a small volume and will make jam, for example from one kilogram, then pour a little water into the container. There should be approximately one centimeter of water at the bottom. You can do more, but then it will take longer to evaporate the water.
Place on low heat and simmer the dogwood berries for about an hour. During this time, the berries will release juice and will be completely in their juice, becoming soft, ready for grinding.
Now take the dogwood and grind it into a sieve. I’ll say right away that it’s better to use a large sieve for grinding. Of course, we grinded on medium, but I’m already experienced and know how to do it faster. Use a whisk to grind.
From experience I will say this, I tried it with a spoon, and with my hand, and even with a mixer. I decided on the whisk.
When I had 1 kilogram of dogwood puree in the pan, I added the same amount of sugar. We use one to one proportions.
If you don’t have scales or you make in small proportions, then from one kilogram of dogwood you get about 800 grams of puree. I can’t say for sure, since dogwood varieties are different, and the size of the berries and seeds are also different. For example, this year we got about 250 grams of waste per kilogram of berries.
Put the puree on the fire and cook, stirring occasionally.
Be careful when boiling. Foam rises and if you take the container more than 2/3 full, you will smear the stove. We collect foam.
Recipes for jam with pits
There are many recipes without removing the pit, let's look at the most popular:
Option 1
We will need:
- dogwood: kilogram;
- boiled water: one and a half glasses;
- sugar: one and a half kilograms.
Wash the berries, sort them, put them in water at 80°C, hold for 5 minutes, then immerse in ice water to cool. Dip the berries into the prepared syrup, after the mixture boils, keep it on the stove for another 15 minutes, and then remove.
We repeat this procedure 5 times.
Option 2
- dogwood: kilogram;
- sugar: one and a half kilograms;
- boiled water: glass.
We wash and sort the berries, put them in water at 80°C, leave for 5 minutes, and then put them in ice water to cool.
Then drop the berries into the boiling syrup and boil for about 20 minutes after boiling, then remove from the stove.
The mixture needs at least 8 hours to cool.
Then pour half a kilogram of sugar into the cooled mixture and boil until fully cooked (20 minutes).
Option 3 (grandmother's method)
- dogwood: kilogram;
- sugar: 1.3 kg;
- boiled water: 50 ml.
In the largest aluminum basin, we wash and sort the berries, piercing the largest ones with a fork to release the juice better.
Add sugar, add water, and place on fire. After the mixture boils, turn off the stove and let it cool.
At least 5 more times the jam should be brought to a boil and left to cool. In this case, be sure to remove the foam that forms until the dogwood jam begins to thicken.
The finished mixture is poured into jars; for this type of preservation, sterilization of jars is at the request of the housewife.
