Blackberries are forest and garden, as well as raspberries, to which they resemble externally and in the way they grow. Differences are blue color, sour taste, weaker aroma and smoother skin. The berry is unpretentious, ripens from the end of June... The last berries on the bushes can be found at the end of September. Thanks to such long-term fruiting, blackberries can be prepared for the winter with strawberries, gooseberries and even Antonov apples. In this article, we'll take a closer look at what can be done with blackberry fruits.
What can be made from blackberries
Like all berries, blackberries are healthier fresh. Any heat treatment reduces the content of vitamins and minerals... Berries prepared for future use in the form of preserves, jams, compotes can be used in the same way as fresh berries for preparing a variety of desserts.
You can cook a wide variety of dishes from blackberries:
- Jams, jams, confitures;
- Drinks - fruit drinks, compotes, cocktails, jelly:
- Desserts - mousses, yoghurts, sorbets, jelly candies, baked goods;
- Sauces for meat and fish.
The berry tastes sour, therefore, it can be used not only for cooking sweet dishes, but also to give meat and fish a unique taste.
Jam made from whole, freshly picked berries
- The berries must be sorted out, peel off the stalks, select the worms.
- Wash the berries better by dipping a colander with berries in a bowl or a large pot of water. Under the pressure of running water, the berries will crumple, and some of the juice will be washed off with the water.
- Washed berries are laid out in enameled or copper dishes.
- Sugar is poured on top at the rate of 800 gr. for 1 kg. Berries.
- If the berry is not overripe, then you can add a couple tablespoons of waterso that the berry does not burn, it releases the juice faster.
- The pan is sent to a high fire... The sugar should darken from the juice of the berries. You can mix it with berries only after boiling the jam from the edges.
- Uniform boiling of the entire berry mass - a signal to reduce the fire to a minimum.
- With occasional stirring berries are brought to a strong thickening within 3-4 hours.
To make the jam fragrant, 15-20 minutes before the end of cooking, you need to add 5-6 cherry leaves to it. They are taken out of the finished jam before placing it in the jars.
Five minutes
- Washed berries laid out in an enamel large bowl, a saucepan or a copper container.
- Before the berries boil, as they release juice, sugar is added to the jam... The approximate ratio for 1 kg of berries is 700 gr. sand.
- The boiled jam is left on gas for another 5 minutes and turn off the gas.
- The cooled mass is again sent to the fire and boiled for another 5 minutes... This procedure is repeated three times.
- After the third boil, hot jam is laid out in jars and hermetically closed with plastic lids or rolled up with metal ones.
Berry acid is incompatible with aluminum and steel, therefore, to stir the berry mixture, we use a wooden (not painted) spoon or spatula.
Jam
Jams are made on the basis of applesauce. Considering that most of the berries are harvested in summer, you will have to use summer apples to make blackberry jam.... They are sweet, which means that less sand will be required ≈ 500-600 gr. for 1 kg of fruit and berry mixture.
- For 3 kg of apples required 1 kg of berries blackberries.
- Apples are peeled, rubbed into a cooking container on a coarse grater. So that the apples do not brown quickly, they must be sprinkled with granulated sugar. While all the apples are rubbed, there will already be juice in the pan.
- The berries are preferably passed through a manual juicer.so that the blackberry seeds are not in the jam.
- All the ingredients in the pan are you can send it to gas.
- After boiling jam, the gas decreases.
- Periodic stirring will not let the jam burn. You need to simmer it until it thickens.
How to check the readiness of the jam? After stirring, syrup remains on the spoon. If you drop it on a metal spoon or table surface, you can determine the readiness of the jam, jam. The drop does not spread - the jam is ready!
Confiture
The peculiarity of jam in adding to it:
- Gelatin;
- Liqueur;
- Vanillin;
- Cinnamon.
Except for gelatin, all ingredients are optional. You don't have to add them at all.
- For cooking 1 kg of blackberries, you need 1 kg of sugar and 3 tablespoons of gelatin.
- Whole or squeezed from berries the juice is sent to the pan... All sand is added at once.
- While the mixture is boiling over the fire gelatin is soaked in a glass of water.
- The berries have boiled, the sand has completely dissolved - it's time to add gelatin to the mixture.
- Bring to a boil, and immediately turn off... If desired, add 50 ml of liqueur or spices.
- We lay out the confiture in containers for storage, tightly closed.
Beverages
Blackberry compote
The peculiarity of making blackberry compote is that it does not need to be boiled. The most acceptable way of pouring berries with sugar syrup... This keeps the berry in shape. When cooking, it will simply fall apart, bones will settle at the bottom of the pan, and the pulp will turn into an incomprehensible shapeless mass. We'll have to filter the compote.
Cooking compote in a jar does not require additional manipulations - the berries will not lose their shape. An additional advantage of this preparation is that the compote closed with a lid will be stored longer.... This means that it can be prepared for future use. For long-term storage of sand, a little more is required.
Summer compote
Calculation of products for a 3-liter can
- Blackberries - 2 cups;
- Granulated sugar - 1 glass;
- Water - 3 liters.
The berries are poured into the jar. Pouring is prepared from water with sugar. The jar is filled with boiled syrup, covered with a lid... During cooling, the compote will acquire a uniform color and taste.
Pure blackberry compote has a pleasant aroma; the taste requires addition of raspberries and red currants. The flavoring bouquet will become much richer.
Blackberry juice
The berry practically does not lose either its taste or vitamins during shock freezing. Vitamin "C" in it is less than in cranberries, but with a severe cold, fruit juice from this berry also helps. It is better to freeze berries in special bags with fine perforations on one side... The washed and dried berries are laid out in containers or bags and sent to the freezer. If it is not possible to dry the berries, then they can be sprinkled with granulated sugar. Depending on how the berries were frozen, the method for their further use depends.
Fruit juice without sugar is prepared as follows:
- Sand is poured into boiling water at the rate 2 tablespoons to 1 liter of water.
- After complete dissolution of granulated sugar, a colander or sieve is placed on the panso that water gets inside it.
- Berries are poured into a colander... They should warm up and give juice. For quick cooking, stir them with a wooden spoon. Blackberries in boiling water quickly release juice, but you can also crush the berries a little while stirring.
- The colander has wide openings, so fruit drink should be drained... When using a sieve, this cooking step is omitted.
Berries frozen with sugar will have to be boiled in a saucepan. Then strain through a sieve, or through a gauze put in a colander in 2 layers.
Kissel
The most pleasant drink for the gastric mucosa. For diseases of the digestive system, doctors often recommend it... There are two main ways to prepare this dish.
Kissel on oatmeal
Kissel of this type is more likely to be a dessert than a drink.
- 1 cup oatmeal or rolled oats
- 1.5 liters of water;
- 100-150 gr. blackberries.
- 2-3 tbsp sugar or honey
- A pinch of salt.
The preparation of medicinal jelly begins in advance.
- Soak oatmeal for 6-8 hours in the full volume of water.
- The resulting liquid is drained into a saucepan... The remaining grain can be squeezed out through a strainer, but its hard parts should not fall into the bucket.
- The jelly base is heated... Honey blossoms in it. If sugar is selected for cooking, then it and salt can be added at any stage of cooking.
- Into a boiled herculean broth chopped berries are added or squeezed juice from them.
- The mixture is brought to a boil, the gas is reduced to a minimum. You can move the saucepan to the sauce plate for simmering. The purpose of languishing is to evaporate excess moisture, to allow the dish to thicken.
- You will have to eat this jelly with spoons, so for cooling it is better to pour it on plates, immediately dividing into small portions.
Quick jelly
- 1 liter of water;
- 3 tbsp. l. potato starch;
- 250-300 gr. blackberries;
- Granulated sugar to taste.
Cooking method:
- Into warm, not boiling water, using a sieve, starch is added in small portions... It is necessary to bring the water to a boil with constant stirring so that the starch does not settle to the bottom of the pan and does not form clots.
- Sugar and berries should be close at hand so that during cooking not for a second keep stirring.
- Berries are added to the boiling starch base... It is better to wipe them in jelly through a sieve or replace with freshly squeezed blackberry juice.
- Sugar is added with berry raw materials... After boiling, the jelly must be removed from the heat. Prolonged boiling will only worsen the taste.
Desserts with blackberries
Drinks, cocktails, yoghurts with the addition of blackberries tone up no worse than those containing lemon balm... But these two components are well combined with each other.
Yogurt
- 0.5 liters of kefir;
- 7.5 g vanilla sugar;
- 2 bananas;
- 0.5 cups blackberries;
- A pinch of ground cinnamon;
- A sprig of lemon balm.
The bananas are broken into pieces and placed on the bottom of the beating container. The rest of the ingredients are added. Until a homogeneous mass is obtained, the mixer is started at the first speed, only after that the whipping function starts.
Mousse
Traditionally, mousse is made from strawberries or raspberries. Blackberry mousse will turn out to be more sour with a mild taste. The berry is in good harmony with both strawberries and raspberries. When using all three ingredients, the dessert will turn out to be more delicious and aromatic. To prepare the mousse you will need:
- 3 egg whites;
- 1 cup granulated sugar;
- 0.5 kg of berries.
Separate the whites into a glass for beating, add a little sugar and begin to beat. The rest of the sugar is added gradually. As a result, you should get a thick mass, as for baking "meringues"... Add the berry mixture in small portions and beat, bringing the mass to a homogeneous state. Although, small pieces of berries will not spoil the dessert. Before serving, the mousse must be cooled by placing it in bowls or tall glasses, garnished with whole berries and a sprig of mint.
Sorbet
Sorbet is a dietary, lean ice cream, it contains no animal fats, and the amount of sugar is minimized. To prepare it you will need:
- 3 cups blackberries
- The juice of one orange;
- 100 g honey.
All ingredients are wiped in a blender until smooth, which is sent to the freezer until completely frozen. Before serving, balls are formed from the mass, using a heated tablespoon, are laid out in a bowl.
As a decoration, you can use almonds or walnuts, grated chocolate. Using fruit syrup is overkill for this type of ice cream, and whipped cream is a great addition to the treat.
Alcoholic sorbet
Alcohol does not freeze well, so you need to dilute it with water to make sorbet. Blackberries harmonize well with almonds and cherries.... Based on this, we choose a liquor. Proportions:
- 300 gr. blackberries;
- 30 ml of liqueur;
- 50 ml of vodka;
- 100 g granulated sugar;
- 1.5 teaspoon lime juice.
Cooking method:
- Pour berries and sugar into a saucepan. Cook until smooth.
- Rub the berry mixture through a sieveto prevent seeds from getting into the ice cream.
- Chilled mix berry puree with the remaining ingredients, we send to the freezer.
The alcoholic sorbet will not be hard. You don't need to heat the spoon to put it in the bowls. For decoration, you can take chopped nuts, chocolate or cherries, which will help to emphasize the taste of the liqueur chosen for the dessert.
Blackberry Jelly Candies
To prepare this delicacy, you need a quince... It will act as a gelling agent. This will give a longer shelf life than a gelatin-based dessert. In this recipe, for 1 kg of berries and quince, you need 600 gr. sand.
Cooking method:
- Peel the quince, rub the pulp on a grater.
- Add berries... Quince 1/3, berries 2/3. We fill the mixture with sugar, leave for several hours to extract juice.
- Bring to a boil, cook until the quince pieces begin to disintegrate.
- Wipe puree through a sieve.
- Preheat the oven to 170 °... We reduce the gas to a minimum.
- We line the baking sheet foil.
- On foil with an even layer of 1.5-2 cm spread the puree.
- We put in the oven... Cooking can take from 8 to 16 hours. The bottom line is to evaporate excess moisture.
- The finished layer is sprinkled with a thin layer of potato starch, overturned, processed from the second side.
- Cut into plates, put into a plastic container and put away in the refrigerator.
In the absence of quince, it can be replaced with apples. The amount of sand in a dish is determined by the acidity of berries and apples. By using sweet apples, the amount of sugar can be reduced.
Blackberry baked goods
You can bake an open blackberry pie with yeast dough. When using jam, there are no special problems, and jam or raw berries wiped with granulated sugar will surely boil and flow... Therefore, we choose a deep form so that the sugar syrup does not burn in the oven. After baking, remove the pan and let the cake cool down so that the jam will thicken again. Only then can the cake be removed from the mold.
Cooking a pie with berry filling is also inconvenient because the dough itself, when wet, is not baked and does not increase in volume. To reduce wetting under jam or berries, a layer of potato starch is applied... This baking method is common but very time consuming. Prepare yeast-free treats faster.
Blackberry Curd Cookies
The test will require:
- 300 gr. cottage cheese;
- 3 eggs;
- 3 glasses of premium wheat flour;
- 1 cup granulated sugar;
- Baking dough.
Cooking method:
- Cottage cheese, eggs and sugar are ground until a homogeneous mass is obtained.
- Flour is mixed with baking powder and added to the mass.
- Flour is poured on the table... The dough is laid on it.
- In several stages roll out the dough to a thickness of 5-7 mm.
- The dough can be cut with a knife on squares or a glass on mugs.
- For filling better to take jam or confiture.
- In the middle of each mug spread out half a teaspoon of blackberries.
- We fold the circle in half and again in half - you should get a triangle.
- On a preheated, greased baking sheet spread the resulting cookies... We send them to the oven, heated to 220 ° C, cabinet for 10-15 minutes.
- To make the cookies brown, a couple of minutes before the end of baking, you can grease with creamy margarine.
Blackberry sand cake
To prepare the dough you will need:
- 200 gr. creamy margarine;
- 3 cups flour;
- 1 egg;
- 1 cup granulated sugar.
Step-by-step instruction:
- Mix the sand with flour.
- We make a deepening.
- Drive in the egg and lay out a pack of softened margarine.
- Pour flour into the margarine... The process continues until a homogeneous lump of dough is obtained.
- Even though the egg is added to the dough, it will not be tied. Therefore, divide the dough into two parts, one of which is twice the second.
- We warm up the oven and a baking dish.
- We get shape, grease her vegetable oil.
- Big part of the dough is evenly distributed over the bottom of the mold... Pressing down the middle a little with our fists, we get the dough coming out to the edges of the mold - this is ideal so that the jam does not flow out.
- Pour filling ≈1cm thick.
- We take dough leftovers, a coarse grater and evenly cover the berries with a loose layer.
- We send the cake to 20-25 minutes into the preheated oven.
- The finished shortbread cake should cool downto thicken the jam. After cooling it can be taken out of the mold entirely, or cut into pieces.
Berry sauce for meat
Meat goes well not only with vegetables, berries and fruits are also used in its preparation. For duck, prunes and apples are suitable, for beef and lamb - cherry plum ("tkemali" sauce), pork is often served under "Krasnodar" sauce, where, in addition to tomatoes, there is apple puree. Blackberries are great for any grilled meats.
For the sauce you will need:
- A glass of blackberries;
- Half a glass of dry red wine;
- A couple of garlic cloves;
- A teaspoon of honey;
- A pinch of salt or a tablespoon of soy sauce (optional)
- A mixture of peppers on the tip of a knife;
- Several seeds of cumin (cumin);
- Table vinegar to taste.
Step-by-step instructions:
- Washed berries are boiled in wine... Three minutes is enough for the blackberries to juice.
- The mixture must be filteredto make the sauce beautiful.
- Spices are added except for garlic and honey... The sauce must be simmered over low heat for 15-20 minutes, until thickened.
- Garlic and honey are added 1-2 minutes before turning off... This will make the sauce more flavorful.
If you replace red wine with dry white wine and use a mixture of herbs for cooking fish, then such a sauce will complement crab stick salad, shrimp and other seafood.
Blackberries are also used in the preparation of first courses. It will be an excellent substitute for vinegar when cooking borscht. An excellent solution would be when preparing borsch dressing for the winter, put a metacarp of sour berries instead of vinegar... After a couple of weeks, canned dressing, if done with cabbage, will give a pleasant jelly. Vinegar is simply not required.
Blackberries are not the most semantic and expressive berry in taste. But having tried the pastries, fruit drink, desserts made from it at least once, it is difficult to resist not preparing several jars of pancake jam for Shrovetide. Frozen berries will help give the taste of summer... And in summer, you can combine blackberries not only with fruits and other varieties of berries, but also with vegetables - zucchini, pumpkin, tomatoes.