Blackberry jam: calories, properties, cooking options
Blackberries are not yet very popular among summer residents and gardeners. This berry is closely related to the more well-known and common raspberries in the areas. Blackberries differ from it, first of all, in the color of the fruit, as well as in their aroma and taste with a characteristic sourness. From blackberry berries you can cook excellent jam, very tasty and healthy. It will appeal to both children and adults.
Dessert calories
The berries themselves contain little sugar and are low in calories. For 100 g of freshly picked fruits, there are only 43 kcal. Blackberry jam is prepared with the addition of sugar. Sometimes it also includes other components: citrus fruits, various berries. Therefore, the calorie content will depend on the ratio of ingredients. Blackberry jam, cooked according to the classic recipe, in the proportion of berries and sugar 1: 1 contains approximately 200 kcal per 100 g of the finished product. The content of carbohydrates in a similar amount of such a dessert is 46 g, fat 0.6 g, protein 0.42 g.
Benefit and harm
Like all berries, blackberries are very useful. In its composition, it has a valuable set of trace elements and vitamins. Most of them are preserved in fruits even after heat treatment. Useful, and sometimes even healing properties of blackberries are due to the content of the following substances in the berries:
- magnesium;
- phosphorus;
- sodium;
- potassium;
- calcium;
- gland;
- zinc;
- salts of manganese;
- a large complex of vitamins of groups A, B, C, PP, E, K;
- pectin;
- fiber;
- organic acids.
The use of blackberries in various forms has a beneficial effect on many systems and organs:
- during the period of weakening of immunity, the fruits of this shrub help to strengthen the body's defenses;
- berries increase the overall tone, relieve chronic fatigue;
- blackberry is recommended for many diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
- due to the fiber content, berries are useful for people prone to constipation;
- the fruits have an antipyretic, diaphoretic effect, therefore they are widely used in the treatment of colds;
- trace elements contained in blackberries perfectly strengthen the vascular walls and heart muscle;
- high content of vitamins and antibacterial properties of blackberries are used by doctors in the treatment of diseases of the genitourinary system;
- berries are part of the diet for weight loss.
A very big advantage is that blackberries do not cause diathesis and allergic reactions. Because of this, it can be safely given to children.
There are also restrictions on use:
- blackberries, like other fresh berries, should not be eaten with a severe degree of intestinal dysbacteriosis, in which case the fiber contained in the fruits can provoke attacks of flatulence;
- during the period of exacerbation of ulcers and gastritis with high acidity, blackberries should also be refrained from;
- people with diabetes should be wary of blackberry desserts.
Preparing berries
For the preparation of jam, garden or wild berries can be used. Frozen will work too. At the first stage of preparing blackberries for cooking, you need to sort it out and remove unsuitable fruits.An overripe berry becomes too soft, and after heat treatment, such fruits lose their shape. The dessert will turn out liquid, similar to gruel. Therefore, sorting through the berries, give preference to ripe, but elastic fruits.
Unripe blackberries are too acidic and have a less intense flavor. Much more sugar will have to be added to the jam. And the finished dessert will not emit such a bright, pleasant and appetizing smell. Remove berries that show signs of decay, mold, or damage. If the blackberries were collected on their own, you must also select all the garbage, blades of grass and leaves. Tear off the stalks that remain on the berries.
Harvested or bought blackberries should not be put off for a long time. She tends to quickly lose elasticity and wither. A lying berry will wrinkle when washed and lose its juice. After selecting suitable fruits, they must be carefully rinsed with running water, let it drain and dry the blackberries.
Best Recipes
Classic variant
Let's start with a simple, affordable and well-proven way to make blackberry jam. Berries and granulated sugar should be taken in a ratio of 1: 1. Place the fruits in an enameled container or in a large non-stick pan. Pour sugar there and gently but thoroughly mix the whole mass. In this form, we leave the candied fruits for about half an hour.
During this time, juice will stand out from the berries. After that, put the container with blackberries in syrup on a slow fire and bring to a boil.
In the process, the mass must be mixed and remove the foam from it. After boiling, cook the dessert for another 30-40 minutes.
Preparations for the winter
For long-term storage of blackberry jam, you need to prepare clean jars in advance.After thorough washing, they should be sterilized with hot steam or dry heat in the oven. For additional sterilization, you can put rolled up jars of jam in boiling water for 15-20 minutes.
A simple recipe for five-minute jam allows you to save the greatest amount of vitamins in the berries. The name of this cooking method is due to the fact that the fruits boil for a very short time, only 5 minutes. To cook blackberry jam - "five minutes" you need to take 1 kg of sorted and washed berries, 850 g of granulated sugar and about 3 g of citric acid. You can also use freshly squeezed lemon juice in the amount of 1 tbsp. spoons.
Cooking a sweet dessert at home begins with the fact that blackberries sprinkled with sugar are left for 4-5 hours. During this time, a large amount of fragrant juice will stand out from the berries. Please note that keeping blackberries in sugar should only be done in enamelware. The acid contained in the fruits, in contact with metal surfaces, enters into an undesirable chemical reaction.
After the above time has passed, the container with the berry should be put on a slow fire and gently mixed. Heat the mass to a boil, removing the resulting foam in the process. After boiling over low heat, cook for five minutes. Approximately one minute before turning off the gas, put citric acid in the jam or add squeezed lemon juice. Delicious "five-minute" is ready. Without waiting for cooling, put the dessert in prepared clean jars.
In a cool place, you can store such jam under plastic lids or under thick paper.
Another blackberry dessert for the winter can be prepared in a slow cooker. Berries and sugar are taken in a ratio of 1: 1.For example, 1 kg of blackberries and 1 kg of granulated sugar. Fruits are placed in a bowl for cooking. They need to be sprinkled with sugar in layers. After 1 hour, a large amount of dark juice will stand out. After that, you can start heating. It is best to cook jam in a slow cooker in the "Extinguishing" mode. It is necessary to make such jam correctly in two stages. In this case, it turns out thick and rich in taste.
First, set the languishing time to 20 minutes. Remember to open the valve in the lid of the multicooker so that steam can escape from the bowl. After turning off the heating, leave the jam with the lid closed for about half an hour. Then we start the Extinguishing program again, now for 40 minutes. During the cooking process, it is desirable to mix the whole mass several times and remove the foam. Pour the finished product into sterilized jars and close with plastic lids or cork.
To prepare pitted puree-jam, you need to take 500 ml of water, 1 kg of ripe berries, 1 kg of sugar. Place blackberry fruits in water heated to 70-80 C. Without bringing to a boil, heat over low heat for about 3 minutes. Then carefully drain the hot liquid. Rub the berry mass through a fine sieve. Transfer the resulting blackberry puree to a saucepan with an enameled surface, add granulated sugar. Mix the ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer until reduced by about a third. Pitted blackberry puree is ready. An interesting and unusual way to prepare a blackberry dessert is without cooking.
Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the finished product retains the beneficial properties of fresh berries. To make such a jam, you will need half a lemon, 1 kg of blackberries, one and a half kilograms of sugar. Selected and well-washed berries, along with half a citrus, pass through a meat grinder.Put the mass in an enamel pan, add all the sugar and mix. Leave the contents of the pan at room temperature for 5 hours. Periodically, the mass must be mixed for better dissolution of granulated sugar. Pour the fragrant jam into sterile jars and roll up.
In this form, you can store it in a cool place for no more than six months.
If you are too lazy to prepare jam in the summer after picking berries, you can resort to stocks in the freezer. Frozen blackberries are also suitable for cooking a fragrant sweet dessert. Remove 1 kg of berries from the freezer, put them in a saucepan and cover with the same amount of granulated sugar. Leave the container with the contents for several hours at room temperature. When the berries are thawed, juice will stand out from them. About half of its amount must be drained, otherwise the jam will be too watery.
Bring the remaining mass to a boil and pour in 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Stirring, cook for 5 minutes. Jam made from frozen berries is in no way inferior to analogues from freshly picked blackberries. Enjoy your meal!
Jam with additives
Blackberries go well with the fruits of other berry and fruit crops. Thus, you can get a completely new, unusual taste of the finished product. Don't be afraid to experiment and make different variations of the blackberry dessert.
If you want to add an orange to the jam, you should use 1 kg of blackberries and granulated sugar, 1 lemon, two medium ripe oranges. Peel the zest from the citrus and grate it. Squeeze juice from an orange. Put half of the sugar, juice and orange zest into a cooking container. Heat the whole mass over low heat, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar.This will be the syrup - the basis for the jam.
He needs to be allowed to cool a little, then put the berries in the pan, mix the whole mass. Leave blackberries in orange syrup for 1.5-2 hours. Then put the pan back on low heat. After the start of boiling, cook for about half an hour. 5 minutes before turning off the heating, add the juice squeezed from a fresh lemon to the jam. Fragrant blackberry dessert with orange is ready.
In the recipe with apples, both types of fruits are very fragrant, so the jam is amazingly tasty. To cook a dessert, you need to prepare the following products: 1 kg of apples, previously peeled from the core and seeds, 1 kg of sorted blackberries, 1 lemon, 1.5 kg of granulated sugar, 100 g of liquor, 300 ml of water, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of refined vegetable oil.
Cut apples into thin slices, put in a bowl for cooking and pour water. Blanch for about 10 minutes until soft. Add squeezed lemon juice and blackberries to apple slices. Stir the mass and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly. 3 minutes before readiness, add liquor to the jam. After turning off the heating, pour 1 tbsp. a spoonful of oil and mix all the contents again. Unusual and fragrant apple-blackberry jam is ready to eat.
In combination with a banana, blackberry jam is more satisfying. To prepare such a dessert, you need to take 1 kilogram of blackberries, bananas and granulated sugar. Sprinkle blackberries with sugar and leave for 5-6 hours to extract juice. Then put the container with candied berries on the fire and bring to a boil. While the blackberry mass is heating up, cut the bananas into thin circles. Boil the boiled jam for another half an hour.About 5 minutes before the end of cooking, add chopped bananas to the pan, mix everything. Turn off the fire after five minutes. Pour hot dessert into clean jars, cork.
For a plum and blackberry delicacy, you will need 0.5 kg of blackberries and pitted plums, 1 kg of sugar, two lemons, and ground cloves. Blackberries and plums put in a bowl for cooking, add lemon juice and clove powder to taste. Bring to a boil over low heat and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally. After the end of the cooking time, let the contents of the pot cool and wipe everything through a sieve. Add sugar to the puree, heat to a boil and cook for another half hour.
Blackberries combined with gooseberries will provide you with a boost of vitamins for the whole day. Required ingredients: 1 kg of blackberries, 1 kg of gooseberries, 2 kg of sugar, 150 ml of water. Gooseberries carefully sort out, remove the tails and green legs, pass through a meat grinder. Place the resulting mass in a saucepan, add sugar and mix. Leave the gooseberries for 5-6 hours, then put the pan on a slow fire and bring to a boil. Immediately after boiling, turn off the heating and let cool. Then add blackberries and again bring the entire contents of the pan to a boil. Boil for half an hour. Pour hot jam into jars.
For a blackberry delicacy with raspberries, you should take berries in equal amounts. Sort and wash the fruits. Sugar is required as much as the weight of the berry mass. Put raspberries and blackberries in different containers, sprinkle each berry with sugar, dividing it approximately equally. Leave the candied fruits for 5-6 hours. After draining the juice from both pans into an enamel bowl, put on fire, heat and boil for about 10 minutes.
Pour all the berries into the boiling syrup, mix and cook for 5 minutes. After allowing the berry mass to cool to room temperature. Repeat the cooking procedure for 5 minutes, stirring and removing the foam. Arrange the aromatic jam in prepared jars. Store in a cool place.
Dessert from blackberry with lemon is similar to the above method of making classic blackberry jam. For him, you also need to take berries and sugar in a ratio of 1: 1. The addition is juice squeezed from 1 lemon. Pour the washed berries with sugar and let stand to extract the juice. Drain the resulting syrup and boil for 10 minutes. Cool the mass a little, then add blackberries and lemon juice, mix everything. Put back on the fire, bring to a boil, cook for 10-15 minutes. A delicious blackberry delicacy with a pleasant lemon sourness is ready.
Jam with the addition of blackcurrant will bring great benefits to the body. Both berries are rich in vitamins, so this dessert is prepared without cooking and boiling the ingredients. Pass 1 kg of currants and the same amount of blackberries through a meat grinder. Pour 3 kg of granulated sugar into the berry mass, mix. Leave the contents for several hours, stirring occasionally. After the sugar is completely dissolved, cold jam can be laid out in sterile jars.
The product is stored only in a cool place: in the basement, cellar or refrigerator. You need to use this healthy vitamin dessert within six months.
For assorted cold-cooked berries, you will need to take several types of your favorite berries in equal parts. Currants, strawberries, blackberries, strawberries are well combined. Grind all fruits with a blender or pass through a meat grinder. Put the mass in an enamel bowl, add sugar.It must be taken 1 kg more than the total weight of berry fruits. You can also add 2-3 tbsp to the rest of the ingredients. spoons of lemon juice. Mix all the contents of the pot. Leave until sugar is completely dissolved.
Roll the cold dessert into sterilized jars, after mixing well again. Store strictly in a cool place.
See the homemade blackberry jam recipe below.