How to cook delicious and healthy currant juice?
Red currant drink is incredibly beneficial for the body. It contains vitamins necessary for humans and a large amount of ascorbic acid, which is an antioxidant. The health benefits of such a berry juice are invaluable.
Drink properties
The benefits of currant juice are revealed both in the summer heat and in winter. In summer, as a tonic and cooling drink that will give strength, freshness and vigor. In the cold season, currant juice will strengthen the immune system and will become an indispensable tool in the fight against annoying viral diseases. Redcurrant berries are rich in vitamin C, so a glass of fruit drink will allow you to satisfy the body's daily need for this element. Harm drink can bring only people with high acidity of the stomach.
In addition, currant berries contain violet acid, which helps to cleanse the body and remove toxins. The beneficial substances of the drink reduce the likelihood of diseases of the cardiovascular system. The use of currant juice will also make it possible to replenish the iron and potassium missing in the body.
Currant juice is an excellent tool that allows you to remove protein in the urine and generally normalize kidney function.We will share with you examples of simple and healthy currant drink recipes for all occasions, which you can easily prepare in your own kitchen.
Preliminary preparation of currants
For the future drink, we need fully ripened currant fruits. To make sure the berry is fully ripe, you need to pay attention to the twig, it should be slightly dried out and easy to pick. We recommend that you pick berries with branches for the integrity of the berries and ease of transportation. Particular attention should be paid to the processing of fruits, you should not postpone this occupation indefinitely, since the skin of the currant is very thin and easily deformed.
First of all, the collected berries must be thoroughly washed, for this you need a large container, from which it would be convenient to drain the water in several passes. We wash the berries 2-3 times, each time changing the water. Do not overdo it with "picking" the berries during water procedures, as the fruits are quite fragile, and it is important for us to maintain their integrity. After the berries have been washed, let them dry for about 20 minutes.
If you plan to use currants for subsequent freezing, the fruits must be dried more thoroughly and evenly distributed on a towel, which will absorb the remaining moisture.
Popular Recipes
Classic fruit drink recipe
We present to your attention a recipe that can rightly be called a classic. In fact, we have to cook the syrup. Consider the cooking process step by step.
- To begin with, take 300 grams of currants and grind it in any way convenient for you.The use of a blender is encouraged, if available, but you can also handle grinding with a fork or potato masher. The juice remaining after processing is drained into a separate container.
- Currant berries do not need pre-blanching (treatment with boiling water or steam), as the fruits have a very thin skin.
- Next, using an ordinary tablespoon, you have to bring the previously chopped currants to a state of homogeneous mass.
- We begin to cook syrup, for 300 grams of berries we use 1 liter of water. Add 5 tablespoons of sugar to the water and wait for it to boil, after which we add our pending crushed currant mass.
- Cook the fruit drink for 5-7 minutes over medium heat, constantly stirring the mass.
- Remove the syrup from the heat and strain the drink through a fine sieve. We are waiting for the drink to cool completely.
- In the resulting fruit drink, add the juice of the berries set aside at the first stage, which remained after grinding, and mix.
Raw fruit drink
The recipe, which we will present below, has established itself among the people as the most useful in terms of its vitamin content and the easiest to prepare. The main difference from the previous version is that you do not need to boil the syrup. The proportions are as follows: for half a glass of currant berries, we need one and a half glasses of cool water. Pay special attention to the quality of the water, as this factor will significantly affect the taste of the drink. We immediately add sugar to the water in an amount of 2 to 2.5 tablespoons, after which we mix everything in a blender.
After we have brought the drink to a state of homogeneous mass, mix it thoroughly again with a tablespoon and let the drink brew for about 15 minutes so that the sugar dissolves evenly and completely.Next, we have to strain the juice through a fine sieve. The drink is ready to drink.
Note that the cake remaining after filtering does not lose its useful properties, it would be appropriate to keep it frozen in order to prepare currant compote on its basis in the winter season.
Currant juice with honey
The basis of fruit drink with the addition of honey can be any of the two recipes listed above. The key difference from the recipes already mentioned above is that natural honey will be used instead of sugar. The amount of honey in the drink you add to your taste. When preparing a drink, it is important to remember that honey should never be added to a warm liquid, since in this case it loses all its beneficial properties.
That is why the addition of honey must be carried out at the very end of the preparation procedure, when the drink has already cooled down enough in a natural way. Currant juice with honey can be safely attributed to drinks that increase immunity, as well as to the means of preventing viral diseases.
Currant juice from frozen berries
There is no practice among the people of "rolling" currant fruit drinks for the winter, but this does not mean that in winter you cannot please yourself with a vitamin drink. In order to meet the cold and please yourself with the taste of summer berries, you only need to pre-prepare these very berries and leave them in the freezer of the refrigerator to wait in the wings.
To prepare a drink based on frozen berries, it is necessary to defrost currant fruits. At the same time, do not rush to thaw, let the berries thaw on their own at room temperature. Remember that any heat treatment will only kill the beneficial properties and make the drink tasteless, depriving it of its natural vitamin filling.
After the defrosting procedure is successfully completed, it is necessary to chop the berries. Of course, a blender is best suited for this, but do not despair if there is no such device on the farm. Thawed berries are pliable and can be finely crushed even with a regular fork. After that, the pulp of the berries and the juice must be rubbed through the grate. The remaining currant cake must be transferred to a separate container and covered with sugar to taste.
Candied cake must be filled with water at room temperature. Let it steep for 10-15 minutes. In equal proportions, we take thawed berries, which we do not chop, but use for cooking. Cook the syrup for about 10 minutes over medium heat. Then we pass the drink through a fine sieve and combine it with the previously left infusion liquid based on crushed candied berries. Mix thoroughly and let it brew for 10-15 minutes, after which the drink is ready to drink.
Winter currant juice without cooking
There is also a recipe that does not involve boiling syrup and is quite simple and quick to prepare. For the preparation of the drink, we will use frozen berries and will not defrost them. Pour the berries into a blender, pour boiling water over, and add sugar to taste. Thoroughly grind the contents of the blender bowl - the drink is ready. The drink recipe partially loses its vitamin properties and serves more as a quick option.
Usage Tips
In order to properly use the currant drink and preserve all its beneficial properties, we strongly recommend that you drink it immediately after preparation. If it becomes necessary to leave part of the drink in the refrigerator, then be sure to tightly close the container. It is not recommended to store currant juice for more than a day.
See the recipe for currant juice below.