How to cook blueberry compote?
In winter, the body especially needs vitamins that support it during the cold period. Each housewife tries to prepare compotes from various berries for the winter, given their beneficial properties. Blueberry compote is very tasty and rich in healthy ingredients. Its main wealth is the presence of antioxidants. They bind free radicals and thus prevent cancer.
Blueberries have a lot of useful trace elements that have a positive effect on the body. The berry has anti-inflammatory properties, lowers blood sugar, which is very valuable for diabetics. We will talk about various blueberry compote recipes.
General cooking advice
Since blueberries do not have a pronounced taste and do not have acid, citric acid or fruits with high acidity are added to compote with blueberries. Keep in mind that the berry has coloring properties. It is advisable to work with it with gloves, because hands can become blueberry in color. Do not choose aluminum cookware because the useful components contained in the berries can react with the metal of the container and collapse.
It is better to use a dark enamel pan, since the white will immediately darken, it will be very difficult to wash it out later. If you are making compote for the winter, then try to wash the jars with soda, not detergent. After all, harmful elements can remain from it, which, even with thorough rinsing, leave their smell.Lids should be boiled.
You will have to drink blueberry compote through a straw so as not to spoil the white color of the tooth enamel.
Selection and preparation of berries
You should definitely know the place where the blueberries were collected. Berries are capable of greatly accumulating radiation. To do this, it is necessary to exclude fruits collected in contaminated areas.. The berries should be saturated in color, without a waxy coating, and not have spots. Ripe fruits are odorless, rather sweet, dense, round in shape. Only from such berries compote will turn out transparent.
Rinse them thoroughly, then dry well. From fresh blueberries, the uzvar will turn out to be the most useful. If you are going to make compote from freshly picked berries, then make it right away or store it in the refrigerator for no more than 5 days in an open container. Before that, they cannot be treated with water, as they will lose their density. At the same time, the frozen berry loses many useful trace elements.
Recipes for every day
There are many recipes for making blueberry compote, but they all contain sugar or honey. The presence of acid due to fruit or lemon is mandatory, since the berry is not acidic. Freshly brewed compote is served chilled or with ice in summer and warm in winter. You can cook it with any other fruit.
With lingonberries
To prepare blueberry and lingonberry compote, you need to prepare the following ingredients: for 3 liters of water, take 300 grams of blueberries, 5 tablespoons of sugar, 300 grams of lingonberries, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of grated lemon zest. Boil water, add sugar, pour in lemon juice and pour in the zest. When the syrup is ready, pour in the fruit, boil for 5 minutes, you can turn it off.Let the decoction brew well, for this, wrap it in a warm blanket for a couple of hours, then you can cool it. Strain all the berries, the compote is ready to eat.
With raspberries
To prepare this drink, you need to prepare for 3 liters of compote, a glass of raspberries, a glass of blueberries, 300 grams of sugar and 1 lemon. Boil the syrup and add all the fruits. Peel the lemon, it gives a bitter taste, cut it into slices and combine with berries. Boil all components for 15 minutes and wait for complete cooling.
The prepared broth is well served with pieces of ice.
with apples
Compote of blueberries and apples turns out to be very tasty and interesting due to the combination of sweet and sour berries. For 3 liters of water, take half a kilogram of blueberries, 2 apples, 1 lemon and 300 grams of sugar. Core the apples and cut them into random pieces. Put them first in the boiling syrup, and after 10 minutes add blueberries and peeled, sliced lemon. After cooling, the compote can be drunk immediately.
If you are going to cook compote from frozen berries, then it is not necessary to defrost them. They can be poured immediately into boiling water, like fresh berries. Just need to let it brew for 20 minutes.
How to prepare for the winter?
Preparation of compotes for the winter is possible in two ways: with sterilization of compote in jars and without sterilization. In any case, it is quite easy to do, even a beginner can handle it., and the cooked compote will be tasty and rich, with a lot of useful properties.
Sterilized
The method of such preparation of compote is a little longer than the others. In this case, it turns out to be much richer, because the berries warm up longer and give off all their flavor. For such a method We take berries and sugar in a ratio of 1: 1. We take 3 liters of water 1 kg blueberries, 1 kg sugar. In this ratio, the knot will be sweet. If you prefer a more sour taste, then reduce the amount of sugar by 200 grams. We wash the berries, wait until the water drains from them, put them equally in jars and cook the syrup.
After the sugar has dissolved in water, pour the hot syrup into jars with blueberries and cover with lids. We pre-prepare the pan, put a towel on its bottom, put out containers with syrup and berries. Fill the jars in a saucepan with water so that 2 centimeters remain from the top. Bring to a boil and wait 20 minutes. After this time, we take out a jar, roll up the lid and cover with a warm blanket, leave it all night. After cooling, we put it in the cellar.
Without sterilization
To prepare compote in this way, it will take much less time. To do this, take 3 cups of blueberries, 3 liters of water, 1.5 cups of sugar. We select the most dense and whole berries and dry them from water. Arrange blueberries in jars about 1/4 full. Boil water and pour it boiling into jars with berries. After 10 minutes, strain it into a saucepan, add sugar, bring to a boil and again pour the fruit. We twist the lids, turn over to check the tightness and cover with a warm blanket. After cooling, we take it to a cool place.
To prepare a concentrated compote for a 3-liter jar, we take the following ingredients: 1 kg of blueberries, 800 grams of sugar and 1 liter of water. We carefully sort the berries, wash them in several waters. We sterilize the jars over a steam bath or in the oven, at the rate of 5 minutes per 1 liter of sterilization. We put the berries in jars and fill them with cold water. We drain the water from the container and calculate how much volume the berry takes. We calculate the need for sugar and make syrup.Pour the hot syrup over the berries twice. The first time we wait for complete cooling, the second time we roll up the lids. Turn upside down and wrap. After complete cooling, we take it to the pantry or cellar.
If you have a small family and you do not need to seal the compote in 3-liter jars, you can use liter jars without double filling. In a liter jar, you can put 1/3 blueberries and 150 grams of sugar.
To do this, first select good berries and warm the jars for a couple. Put the berries with sugar in a container and pour boiling water. Boiling water should be strong, bubbling. Seal immediately with sterilized lids. In this case, one pouring of boiling water is enough, because there are very few berries. It is imperative to wrap in heat until completely cooled, so re-pasteurization will occur.
Blueberry drink, prepared in any way, is very beneficial for human health. The berry restores vision and supports immunity in the winter. Helps to survive the winter in a good mood and prevents beriberi. Blueberries are appropriate in combination with almost all fruits.
Fruits with a high acid content are especially suitable for her. They will dilute the sweet taste of the berry and emphasize its aroma with their sourness.
How to cook a delicious blueberry compote, see the following video.