Sweeten during the cold period of the year can be superb jam, it is so tasty and pleasant with a warm drink or toasted bread.
Although many consider jam a given, in reality it is a very sophisticated dish. For example, gooseberry jam, as a rule, was served to the royal table.
If you have the opportunity to cook this type of preservation, you have an excellent opportunity to diversify your own menu.
Just follow some tips to make jam the best for your taste.
Careful selection of raw materials
First, you should decide on the raw materials, that is, the berries or fruits that you want to use.
The main rule here is: take raw materials that are evenly ripe, that is, each berry or fruit of identical degree of maturity.
Observed such advice in order to get an identical degree of readiness.
As you understand from the name, jam is cooked.
Accordingly, if you cook raw materials of different degrees of maturity, then you end up with a completely dissimilar mass. Some berries (for example) will be hard and textured, while others will become a complete porridge.
Of course, for experienced chefs, it makes sense to use this effect. For example, overripe berries (again, for example, there may be fruits and even vegetables) become a kind of background, and less mature ones interestingly intersperse over the surface of this background with hard and slightly crunchy details.
However, for this option requires a deep understanding and even some artistic taste, so it is better to take the raw materials of identical maturity.
To make this selection look at the color and consistency of the raw material. Take only evenly colored and slightly soft berries and fruits - they are fully ripe.
By the way, pay attention to the size, because it is ideal when the raw material has an identical size, so to speak, a berry to a berry.
Wash fruit properly
Gentle berries can be damaged during the washing process, so care should be taken.
Use a colander and a light stream of water, you can take, for example, a shower.
After that, you need to leave the berries in order to allow the water to drain and dry out a bit.
If we are talking about something more dense and durable, then a simple stream of running water will also fit perfectly. You can even help with your hands in order to make washing more efficient.
Before starting to wash, it is sometimes necessary to carefully sort out the available raw materials, to clear from twigs and dirt.
Selection of dishes
First, you should dispel a couple of myths that were previously perceived normally and actively used. Let's start with copper.
We strongly advise you not to boil jam in a copper container.
First, fruits and berries will dissolve copper oxides, eventually you will get a patina on the dishes and some copper in the jam itself, and secondly copper ions destroy ascorbic acid, which means that the product is obtained without this vitamin.
As you can see, this noble metal, although it remains useful, is not the best option for jam.
We continue with aluminum, which is also not needed for jam. The matter is again in oxides, but now aluminum, which is destroyed by the action of fruit and berry acids. As a result, aluminum is in your jam, and there is clearly nothing to do there.
What is the best option - you ask. This option is:
- enamelware - but without chips;
- stainless steel dishes.
The second important question regarding the dishes is the choice of capacity, and here you should advise the pelvis, which is optimal from all sides.
Tazy regarding cooking jam much better pans, they warm up better and give a thinner layer of jam, which eventually becomes more dense and uniform.
In addition, in order to mix in the pelvis, you can move the dishes themselves, and in the pan you will have to climb something and as a result it is possible to damage the berries or fruits.
Therefore, if you choose dishes, take a stainless steel or enameled basin that has a thick bottom. Just do not take too deep.
Nobody canceled the rules
The basic rules to be followed, if the recipe does not imply otherwise:
- proportions - about a kilogram of sugar per kilogram of raw materials so that the jam is stored and not sour;
- stages - jam is cooked not by boiling alone, but in 2-3 boiling;
- paper or parchment - when the jam is “resting”, use parchment to keep berries or fruits from overwhelming;
- flame - after boiling the flame is reduced in order to control the foam;
- only jam - do not cook other dishes nearby, jam actively absorbs odors.
Follow these tips and you will get the perfect recipe.
Special approach
There are special tips that are valid for particular raw materials. These tips are:
- pre-boil - quince, apples, pears require preliminary not long boiling before the main process;
- black Rowan - pre-cooked for a couple of minutes in boiling water and in the process of cooking the jam itself add citric acid;
- black currant - pre-blanched in boiling water for 40-50 seconds;
- apricot - requires pre-soaking in water, where they added soda, per liter of water, one and a half spoons, hold the apricot there for five minutes to preserve the form;
- apples - first cut slices keep for a couple of minutes in water, where they add a couple of tablespoons of salt, then an identical amount of time in boiling water, so they do not darken;
- berries - To keep the shape, pierce with a toothpick.
Choosing a cooking method
In general, there are two main ways: classic (long) and modern (short). In the classic version, you first boil the syrup, then add the raw materials, then perform a couple of cooking and boiling steps. Manipulations are long and laborious.
In the modern version, you first put raw materials and sugar in a container and leave for five hours, and then perform one cooking. After that, immediately laid out on the banks.
Jam can not be digested
The easiest option: take a saucer and drop the prepared jam into it. If the drop spreads, then you need to cook further, if the drop remains and solidifies in a convex shape, the jam is ready.
In addition, the finished jam becomes visually transparent, and the froth is located closer to the center of your enameled pelvis or copper pan, if you have not followed the previous tips.
Correct packaging
In order to obtain the optimal composition in banks, you should only lay out the cooled jam.
If not pre-cooled, then the banks will have layers that consist of syrup and the main product itself.
In addition, banks do not need to immediately roll upbecause warm jam can give off steam, which in turn gives condensate, which remains in the container in droplets and mold can appear from there.
By the way, the banks must first be sterilized, and for this there are lots of ways from the oven to boiling.
Only after sterilization need to carefully dry the jars.
Proper storage
You should cook the jam for no more than a year and a half and use for the most part jars no more than two liters.
Probably, you know about it, but again, storage should be organized in a cool space, where the temperature does not rise by more than 15 degrees Celsius.
Tips experienced
In conclusion, we will give you some valuable time-tested tips. For example, if the jam began to burn, it is possible to correct the dish, if it is poured into another container and it is normal to finish it. Citric acid, which is added in a small amount five minutes before the end of cooking, will help you to jam the jam.
