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You can store cranberries at home in several ways, both well-tried and completely new. With proper storage, the northern berry can last for more than one month. This will allow a person to get a full set of vitamins in winter, since the northern beauty has a huge set of beneficial properties. But they are preserved only when stored correctly.
Shelf life of cranberries
The shelf life depends on the chosen method to preserve the northern berry. It can be a month or several years. For example, dried cranberries can last up to three years. It is important to correctly collect and prepare the berry for storage. If the cranberries have not undergone special processing and have not even been frozen, then the shelf life in the refrigerator is not more than two weeks. If the hostess is not sure that the product is being used during this time, it is better to either freeze it or preserve it in another way. In order to extend the shelf life, it is important to properly prepare the collected material before this, selecting strong and ripe berries.
How to prepare cranberries for storage
To prepare cranberries for long-term storage, you need to do the following:
- Go through and separate debris and leaves.
- Remove spoiled and crushed berries.
- Remove all unripe specimens, as well as white, green and overripe ones with signs of rot.
- After selection, wash the berries.
- Dry on a flat tray until the berries are completely dry.
Only after all the preparation is it necessary to quickly and correctly process or store the northern berry. If the berry is harvested after the first frost, then most often it does not need additional preparation. But you still have to weed out sick and suppressed fruits.
Experienced housewives, when checking for ripeness, act as follows: the berry is thrown on the floor. If she bounces like a ball, then she is in an ideal state of maturity.
How to keep cranberries at home
There are several popular methods for preserving berries and their vitamins for the winter. This includes freezing and canning, as well as drying. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. To preserve for a long time, you can take not only the harvested berry at maturity, but also slightly frozen. There is an opinion that after the first frost, cranberries are much tastier and contain more vitamins. But for frozen cranberries, not all storage methods are suitable. The ideal option is to freeze it even more.
Dried cranberries
Dried cranberries are successfully used in various dishes, as well as fresh. Drying the northern berry is easy:
- Go through and rinse the berry, getting rid of debris and defective specimens.
- Preheat oven to 93 ° C.
- Arrange the berries in a frying pan.
- Add sugar syrup and stir.
- Keep on medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Mix.
- Suffer for 10 minutes.
- Crush with a wooden spoon.
- Spread the berry out on permanent paper. In this case, it is important to make sure that the whole cranberry bursts.
- Place in the oven at 65 ° C for 7 hours.
- Change the paper towels a couple of times during cooking.
After cooking, the cranberries must be transferred to a tight cellophane or paper bag and stored in a dark place. Thus, in paper bags, the dried crop can last up to three years.
Cranberries with sugar
This is one of the oldest delicacies in Russia. It's easy to cook.First of all, it is necessary to properly prepare and sort the berry so that no crushed or sick material gets into the workpiece.
Then carefully rinse and dry large ripe berries. Then lay out in layers in a clean, sterilized jar. It is necessary to spread it like this: a layer of cranberries, a layer of sugar. The jar must be tapped periodically so that the cranberries lay down more densely. In any case, the last layer in the jar should be sugar.
As a preparation for the winter, you can use another recipe - cranberries, mashed with sugar... To do this, you need to do the following:
- Take sugar and cranberries in equal proportions.
- Grind with a blender or meat grinder.
- Put in jars and cover with parchment.
In this form, the cranberries should be placed in a cool place. Fresh vitamins will be on the table all winter.
There is another way, but in this form the berry is stored for no more than two weeks:
- Boil sugar syrup.
- Wash and pierce all the berries.
- Pour the prepared syrup over the cranberries.
- Put in a cold place overnight.
- In the morning, remove the fruit from the syrup and roll in sugar.
- Keep refrigerated.
The last recipe is very fond of children, who happily eat this delicacy instead of sweets. But the method is not very popular, since it is impossible to store this way for more than a month - the product deteriorates even in the refrigerator.
Cranberries in the fridge
Untreated cranberries do not last long in the refrigerator. But if the hostess does not want to freeze or soak her, then you just need to put dry and clean berries in a plastic container. It is important that such a container has openings to allow air to circulate.
In addition, most of the different types of harvested cranberries, other than canned varieties, can be refrigerated. This also applies to candied and soaked billets.
You can simply put cranberries in sealed containers on the shelves that are intended for fruits and vegetables, but in any case, such a berry should be used first.
Freezing fresh berries
The main and optimal way to stock up on useful raw materials for future use is to freeze it as a whole. The procedure is quite simple, and with proper storage, such a berry does not lose its valuable properties for a long time.
If the raw materials are harvested before frost:
- Sort out and rinse so that crushed and diseased berries, as well as too small ones, do not get into the freeze.
- Dry on a flat surface without using temperature.
- Spread out evenly in bags and release the air as much as possible.
- Arrange in the freezer in even layers so that frost evenly affects all portions.
If the cranberries are frozen correctly and have not been defrosted, then they will not solidify in one layer in the freezer, and the berries will be separate from each other. If after removing the cranberries froze in one red briquette, it means that either there was water in the package, or the berry was thawed several times.
So that the cranberries do not lose their properties, it is important to freeze them in portions and, after pulling out one bag, use it entirely. In this case, it will not constantly defrost and lose its nutritional and vitamin qualities.
If the northern beauty is too ripe, then it is better to freeze it just on a pallet, without packaging it in cellophane at the initial stage. After freezing, the finished product can be divided into sachets in portions. So it will not choke and freeze qualitatively.
Soaking in water
One of the oldest harvesting methods is the soaked product. In order to remove the sourness, the berries are soaked in sugar syrup. Step-by-step instruction:
- Wash and dry, pre-sort.
- For 1 kg of cranberries, add a tablespoon of sugar, as well as a pinch of salt and some spices to the taste of the hostess.
- Boil water and cool.
- Put the raw materials in clean, sterilized jars up to the level of the hangers.
- Pour with cooled boiled water.
- Store either in the basement or in the cellar, if not, in the refrigerator.
You can also store the berries on the balcony floor. The shelf life of such a workpiece is a year. It should be borne in mind that when soaking, the cranberries slightly change the taste and will not crunch as fresh, but all the beneficial properties are preserved, so the method is popular.
Conclusion
Every housewife dreams of storing cranberries at home so as to preserve all the useful properties. Northern berry has a huge range of vitamins, including a large amount of vitamin C. This will help to strengthen the immune system in winter. But the berry is not preserved fresh, and therefore it is advisable to freeze or dry it. You can also soak, as they did in antiquity. A cellar or basement is an excellent place to preserve the harvest, but a refrigerator or balcony is also suitable in an apartment. In this form, you can store useful raw materials for more than one year, but you should first select the best specimens for storage.
