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Frozen strawberry jam, also called garden strawberries, is a great option for those who have not had a berry season, as well as for those who have frozen their surplus harvest. But many housewives are afraid to make jam from frozen berries. It seems to them that the taste of such a delicacy will be much worse than jam made from fresh berries. In addition, thawed berries can become sour and fermented. In fact, making jam from such berries is not difficult at all. The main thing is to carefully choose strawberries and carefully follow the recipe.
How to choose frozen berries
In order for the varenytsya to succeed, you need to carefully choose the frozen strawberries. If these are homemade berries, then there should be no problems. But purchased berries can be an unpleasant surprise. To avoid this, you need to choose them correctly:
- The packaging should be transparent. This is the only way to see that the package contains berries, not a piece of ice. If the package is closed, then the strawberries in it should be felt as individual berries, and not protrusions of ice;
- When shaking the package, the berries should knock against each other. If this does not happen, then they have stuck together as a result of defrosting and re-freezing;
- The strawberry color should be either red or slightly burgundy;
Frozen berries should not be subjected to sharp heat treatment in hot water or in a microwave oven. They should be given time to thaw. Depending on the degree of frost, this can take from several hours to a day. You can thaw them on a shelf in the refrigerator or at normal room temperature.
Classic recipe
This recipe is very similar to the usual way of cooking a strawberry treat, but it also has its own subtleties. For him, you should prepare:
- 2 kilograms of frozen strawberries;
- a kilogram of granulated sugar;
- sachet of citric acid.
After all, with its help, the thawed berries of garden strawberries will be able to maintain their shape.
It is necessary to start cooking only after the frozen berries have completely thawed. To do this, it is best to leave them at room temperature overnight. The defrosted berries must be washed, put in an enamel pan and covered with granulated sugar. In this form, the strawberry should stand for 3 to 12 hours. The aging time depends on how quickly the berries begin to release their juice.
When the juice covers at least half of the berries, you can start cooking. To do this, put the pan on a small fire, immediately adding citric acid to it. After the start of the boil, you need to cook the future strawberry delicacy until the first foam, stirring constantly. Advice! As soon as the foam appears, the pan is removed from the heat, and the foam is removed with a slotted spoon. After removing the foam, the strawberry mass must be allowed to cool down, then boil it until the first foam again.
The finished product is closed in pre-sterilized jars and put away in a dark place until it cools completely.
Frozen strawberry five minutes
Making strawberry jam according to this recipe will not be difficult, and a short cooking time will allow you to preserve the integrity and shape of the berries. To prepare it you will need:
- a kilogram of strawberries;
- a kilogram of sugar;
- half of one lemon.
Thawed and washed berries are covered with sugar for a period of 4 hours.
When the berries give juice, the pan or bowl with them must be brought to a boil over low heat. As soon as they boil, the fire must be increased and cooked for 5 minutes. In this case, one must not forget to constantly and carefully stir the berries and remove the foam from them.
When the strawberry treat is ready, add the juice of half a lemon to it. After the jam has cooled, it must be poured into jars and stored in the refrigerator.
Frozen strawberry jam in a slow cooker
You can even cook jam from frozen garden strawberries in a slow cooker. The Milk Porridge mode is best suited for cooking it, but if it is not there, you can try it on the Multipovar, Soup or Stewing modes.
For this recipe you will need:
- 300 grams of frozen strawberries;
- 300 grams of granulated sugar;
- 40 milliliters of water.
Before boiling the jam, you need to defrost and rinse the berries. Then they must be put in the multicooker bowl and covered with sugar. When they begin to give juice, add water to them and mix gently.
The cooking time for strawberry treats will depend on the selected mode on the multicooker:
- in the "Milk porridge" mode, the jam is cooked until the sound signal.
- in the "Multipovar" mode, set the temperature to 100 degrees and cook for 30 minutes;
- in the "Soup" mode, the cooking time will be 2-3 hours;
- with the "Extinguishing" mode - 1 hour.
Before closing in pre-sterilized jars, remove the foam from the finished jam.
Jam made from frozen berries according to any of the above recipes can be stored for up to 3 months and is in no way inferior to a fresh strawberry delicacy.
