Blackberry is a subshrub with tasty and healthy berries. The fruits ripen in August-September and have a rich black or black-purple color. Outwardly, blackberries resemble raspberries, although they are inferior to them in popularity. However, it doesn’t hurt to stock up on berries, since they not only taste good, but also contain many useful elements.
How to store fresh blackberries
Blackberries are tender and juicy berries. When fresh, it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to four days. It can take longer, but then most of the berries will lose their shape, become moldy or sour.
When storing fruits in the refrigerator, please note that:
- You cannot wash them: the blackberry skin is easily damaged and juice begins to flow out of the berries;
- you need to place the fruits in a tray or container in one layer;
- It is advisable to place a napkin at the bottom of the container: it will absorb excess moisture that covers the berries - this will help the fruits not to turn sour.
If you place a container of blackberries in a part of the refrigerator where the temperature does not rise above 0 °C, the berries can remain edible for about a week.
When you want to enjoy fresh blackberries even longer, you can wash them, remove the stems and beat them with sugar. In this form, the berry will last up to three weeks at zero temperature. The taste and vitamins will remain with it.
How to prepare blackberries for storage
Blackberries picked unripe will remain that way. The berries will not be able to ripen after they have been picked from the bush. Therefore, blackberry fruits should be picked only after they are fully ripened.
The harvested crop is needed:
- Remove twigs, leaves, and insects that could easily be on top or inside the berries.
- Take a good look at the fruits. Those berries that have begun to deteriorate or are too crushed should be discarded.
- Rinse carefully with running water. To preserve the fruit as much as possible, it is better to use a shower rather than a regular tap stream.
- Place the blackberries in a colander and leave for a while to drain.
- Remove the stems from each berry. The fruits should not be allowed to burst. Damaged blackberries will have to be eaten within 24 hours.
- Place on paper towels and wait until the blackberries are completely dry.
Prepared fruits can either be frozen or completely dried. There are also many recipes for canning blackberries.
Freezing blackberries
Freezing is the best way to preserve blackberries. It helps preserve almost all the healing qualities of the berries and their excellent sweet taste.
Blackberries are frozen in one of two ways.
First - quick freezing:
- Blackberries should be laid out on a clean vessel (dish, tray, cutting board) in one layer.
- Place the berries in the freezer set to the minimum temperature.
- After an hour or an hour and a half, pour the blackberries into plastic containers or plastic bags.
- Place them back into the freezer where they can be stored.
The fruits freeze well and do not stick together. If necessary, you can easily pour in the required amount of blackberries and defrost them in the microwave or at room temperature. A shower of boiling water will speed up the process.
The second method involves loading berries into the freezer immediately, without pre-quick freezing. When using it you should:
- Place blackberries into small bags. Here you need to take into account that you will have to defrost the entire package at once. Therefore, the size of the bags should be small: approximately such that the number of berries placed in it can be used at a time.
- Place the prepared container with fruits in the freezer for a day. Bags and containers should not be closed.
- After a day, check the condition of the blackberries. You can take out a few berries and make sure that they are thoroughly frozen.
- The container must be closed and its contents lightly shaken.
Blackberries can be successfully stored in the freezer for at least a year. During this time, the berries remain quite suitable. You can leave them for next year, but it is better to make preparations from a fresh harvest.
Drying blackberries
Blackberries, completely dried, can be stored for up to two years. In order for it to remain healthy and tasty during this period, you must:
- Use only ripe berries.
- Before drying, dry the blackberries in the sun for two or three days. For the process to be effective, the fruits must be placed on a flat surface in one layer.
- Cover the blackberries with gauze to protect them from flies and other insects.
- After two or three days, pour the berries onto flat baking sheets and dry them in the oven. The temperature should first be set at 70 °C, and an hour or two before the process is completed - 45–50 °C. The oven door should be slightly open.
Blackberries will be ready in four to five hours from the start of drying. It should be stored in an airtight container in a dark and dry place.
How to store blackberries mashed with sugar
This method involves the absence of heat treatment of the berries. This means that blackberries, mashed with sugar, will retain all the vitamins and beneficial microelements that nature has endowed them with.
Not only ripe berries that have retained their ideal shape, but also overripe and slightly bruised berries are suitable for processing. The main thing is that there is no mold on them.
- The berries should be washed and dried on a paper towel or napkins. It is desirable that as little moisture remains on them as possible.
- Blackberries should be placed in a deep container and covered with sugar. The standard ratio of ingredients is one to one. But you can take one and a half times more sugar.
- The ingredients must be mixed and ground with a wooden masher. You can pass the berries through a meat grinder.
- Leave the pureed mixture for twelve hours in a cool place. During this time, it will infuse, the berries and sugar will combine with each other.
- Stir the blackberries again and pack them into clean half-liter jars.
- Cover with metal or plastic lids.
Blackberries mashed with sugar are stored in the refrigerator or cool basement. Duration – a year or a little longer.
Properly processed blackberries will retain their beneficial qualities until the next harvest, helping a person strengthen the immune system and stay healthy.
Blackberries are a close relative of raspberries that came to us from North America. The juicy and sour berry is perfectly refreshing on a hot summer day and relieves hunger. An unpretentious shrub with prickly branches, like hedgehog needles, common in the forests of central Russia; it is also grown in personal plots. Let's learn more about the beneficial properties of this plant, and also consider what contraindications you should not eat blackberries.
Useful properties of blackberries
Blackberries are a record holder for the content of vitamins, fiber, tannins and antioxidants. The delicious berry has a healing effect on the entire body:
Ripe blackberries are a healthy and tasty snack for all categories of people.
Not only tasty berries are useful, but also other parts of the plant:
Do the healing properties of blackberries change after processing? Each of the derivatives of this amazing berry is a real vitamin bomb that is good for health:
Are garden berries good?
Large dark purple berries are grown relatively rarely in household plots, preferring the more “homey” and less prickly raspberries. Garden blackberry crops are, of course, just as useful as their wild counterparts, and a huge advantage is that you can enjoy the delicious fruits throughout the entire summer season: the bush is always nearby, you don’t need to go into the forest.
Table: Chemical composition of the product (per 100 g)
Video: Black sister of raspberries - benefits, features of selection and storage
Contraindications and possible harm
Despite the maximum beneficial properties, the juicy berry has a number of serious contraindications to its consumption. It is not recommended to eat blackberries if:
For everyone else, it is possible and even necessary to add healthy berries to your diet, following the recommendations of doctors.
Remember that the sugar in blackberry jam significantly increases the calorie content of the product, so you should not overuse this dessert - it can lead to metabolic disorders and extra pounds.
How many blackberries can you eat: rules and regulations
For an adult
It is best to eat fresh berries. During the summer season, doctors recommend that healthy people consume up to 200–300 g of blackberries daily. More is possible if the product does not cause intestinal disorders. But the inclusion of berries with added sugar in the diet (in jams, preserves, compotes, pies and marmalades) should be limited to one or two servings per week.
It is better to enjoy blackberry jam no more than twice a week.
During pregnancy
Expectant mothers can and should eat blackberries. The main thing is to follow simple recommendations from doctors:
When breastfeeding
The juicy berry is also useful for feeding women who are breastfed. You can try introducing blackberries into the diet when the baby is 3 months old. Start with 1-2 berries in the morning. Monitor your child’s reaction, because in rare cases the product can cause diathesis in the baby.
The widespread belief that blackberries are highly allergenic due to their bright color is nothing more than a myth. Allergies to dark purple berries are rare.
For children
If the baby is healthy, you should not delay his introduction to the berry for a long time. He can try blackberry puree as early as 7–8 months of age. After a year, it is allowed to give tasty fruits as a vitamin snack, add them to porridges and cottage cheese casseroles.
When a child is allergic to many fruits and vegetables, it is better to introduce blackberries into the diet later, at 1–1.5 years. Monitor the baby’s reaction and if skin itching, rash, or swelling of the mucous membranes appears, be sure to consult a doctor.
Children are allowed to eat blackberries from a very young age.
For various diseases
Pancreatitis
In the first few days after an exacerbation of inflammation of the pancreas, blackberries, like any other fruits and vegetables, are strictly contraindicated. A week after the onset of the disease, when the vomiting stops and the abdominal pain decreases, you can add sugar-free berry jelly, mousses, puddings and jellies to your diet.
During remission, it is allowed to eat fresh berries. Give preference to sweet, ripe fruits and do not exceed the recommended amount - 100–150 g per day.
Cholecystitis
Blackberries are extremely useful for inflammation of the gallbladder. During an exacerbation of the disease, it is recommended to drink half a glass of blackberry tea and a decoction of the leaves of the plant half an hour before meals. And during remission, you are supposed to eat up to 150 g of berries every day (during the season).
An exception is calculous cholecystitis. If there are stones in the gall bladder, blackberries, which have choleretic properties, are contraindicated in any form.
Gastritis
During exacerbation of gastritis and gastric ulcer, eating berries is not recommended. The active components of blackberries can irritate the inflamed gastric mucosa. During remission, you are allowed to eat no more than 80–100 g of ripe fruits 3–4 times a week.
People suffering from gastritis with high acidity should limit the consumption of freshly squeezed blackberry juice to 200 ml per day.
If you have gastritis with high acidity, you should not indulge in blackberry juice.
Diabetes
Blackberries are beneficial for controlling glucose levels in diabetic patients. It is recommended to eat it fresh, as well as brew it with leaves to obtain a vitamin and tonic drink. Blackberry jams, preserves and confitures containing large amounts of sugar are prohibited for people with this disease.
When losing weight (on a diet)
Blackberries are an indispensable product for those who want to lose weight. A glass of berries, which can completely saturate the body, contains only 60 kcal, and the biological components included in the fruit trigger metabolism, which helps to get rid of extra pounds.
During the berry season, anyone who wants to get slim is recommended to consume up to 250 g of fresh blackberries as one of their snacks. Be sure to drink plenty of clean boiled water.
Recipes for medicinal products using the plant
Decoction of leaves for patients with diabetes mellitus
Ingredients:
Pour water over the raw material, put it on high heat, bring to a boil and evaporate the liquid by half. Strain the resulting broth and drink throughout the day in small sips every 10–15 minutes. The course of treatment is 2 weeks.
Video: Healing jam made from blackberry infusion
Infusion for irritability and insomnia
Ingredients:
Pour 1 liter of boiling water over all herbal ingredients and leave for 1 hour. The finished product is drunk 250 ml 4 times a day at regular intervals. The course of treatment is 14 days.
This mild sedative is well suited for getting rid of nervous excitement during menopause.
Compress for wounds, swelling, trophic ulcers and inflammation
It is necessary to apply a fresh blackberry leaf to the sore spot for 15–20 minutes, changing this herbal compress if necessary. The procedure is carried out twice a day until pain and inflammation are completely eliminated.
Berry powder for diarrhea
Dried blackberries are ground in a coffee grinder or blender to a powder and take half a teaspoon three times a day with plenty of water. The course of treatment is 5–7 days (until the symptoms of intestinal disorder disappear). The product is safe and approved for use by children over 3 years of age.
Vodka tincture for flu and bronchitis
Blackberry tincture will be useful for common seasonal diseases
Prepare blackberry tincture at the rate of 60 g of fresh berries per glass of vodka. Place the product in a dry and cool place for 3 days. Take 20–30 drops three times a day at the first symptoms of flu and colds.
Diuretic decoction based on the root
Ingredients:
Pour water over the plant material, place on low heat and simmer for 10–15 minutes. Cool, strain and take the finished product one tablespoon every 2 hours during exacerbation of chronic pyelonephritis, glomerulonephritis.
Blackberries in home cosmetology
Anti-inflammatory mask for rashes
Wash fresh blackberry leaves thoroughly under running water, rinse with boiling water, grind in a blender or meat grinder until pasty, apply to the face, avoiding the area around the eyes, for 10–15 minutes. The course of treatment for inflammation on the face using this method is 10–12 procedures performed every other day.
Refreshing treatment for sagging skin
Mix two tablespoons of mashed blackberries with the same amount of heavy cream. Apply the resulting mixture to your face for 15–20 minutes and rinse. This mask can be used 1-2 times a week.
Blackberries are an amazing berry. Modestly located on the edge of the forests, it is a real storehouse of vitamins and biologically active substances. Even ancient healers knew about the benefits of dark purple fruits and other parts of the plant, successfully using blackberries to treat and prevent many ailments. Try one of the traditional medicine recipes discussed above and see the power of this berry.
Freely crumbling, without ice and without frost, without a puddle of juice - how to freeze blackberries - a note for all connoisseurs of black berries.
And also - how to set the temperature in the freezer, refrigerator, and with and without sugar, a recipe for ideal freezing and thawing. Everyone knows the recipe, but in practice there are mistakes. how to avoid mistakes?
Rules for freezing blackberries
1. Freeze dry: the berries cannot be washed. The moisture in the chamber will instantly turn into ice, and it will miraculously turn the beautiful berries into a snowball, which can only be broken with an ice pick. Drying it won’t help: the drops will still remain on the heterogeneous surface and hide between the drupes. And the skin will absorb moisture, after which it loses its strength when thawed. What if it’s dirty and dusty? But we don’t need one like that!
If from your own garden - perhaps, but never purchased - scrupulous housewives will be indignant. And they will be wrong: at a temperature of about -20 C, pathogenic microorganisms die.
2. We choose the best. Overripe, flowing - away. And damaged and poorly painted. The first - for obvious reasons, the second - will add acidity to the overall taste. Don’t be greedy: if the juice starts to give out, it will freeze - and here it is, that same ice floe and frost.
3. Tara is our everything. More precisely, its size: more than 0.5 l is not suitable. Once at room temperature, the contents of the storage container will be hidden under a thick coat of frost and hoarfrost.
Get special containers - plastic containers. The ideal choice is one with a tight-fitting lid. If there are none, we proceed the old fashioned way: a cellophane bag and its new modification - a snap-on bag - will go into battle. Don’t be embarrassed or indignant: if you handle it skillfully, it’s quite a convenient thing.
4. Tightness and tightness again: after filling the container, do not consider it superfluous to carefully cover it with a layer of polyethylene or cling film. When there is a temperature difference (fruit temperature is room temperature, and in the chamber from -18 C), a lot of condensation will form.
With the industrial method, the berries are either slightly cooled or blown with a stream of air. We simply will not act on the hottest day, or we will put it in the cold for 20-15 minutes - in the cellar of a private house, on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. The main thing is in the open.
If we freeze it in a bag, then we expel all the air and tie the bag itself tightly.
5. Quick freezing is the best. The faster the berries freeze, the higher the quality of the final product - the recipe is simple.
To do this, the layer of content must be thin: pour a little into containers, and into bags too. We place the bags on a stand away from each other, and distribute the berries in a thinner layer. Afterwards, when the fruits roll freely like beads and rattle loudly, you can fold them in any way that is convenient.
The temperature regime is standard for berries and fruits - from -18 C to 25-30 C for refrigerator compartments and from -22 C to -40 for freezers.
In the freezer, set the fast freezing mode, then, after complete freezing, storage. Most cameras operate in automatic mode. If we use a refrigerator, we simply set it to the lowest setting.
To freeze blackberries with sugar, we repeat the same steps, only add one thing: sprinkle layers of sugar directly in the container. Stirring is strictly prohibited.
How to defrost blackberries
A secondary question, no less important, is that without frost and hoarfrost trying to become drops of water, without draining the precious juice - how to defrost blackberries correctly?
Slow is the key. Place on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator in a flat container. Don't rush anywhere - within half an hour the berries will thaw.
After half an hour, set it out and finish it at room temperature.
Spread a paper towel - no matter what, scatter the fruits in a thin layer. The towel will absorb invisible moisture. Just don’t try to blot it - you’ll choke.
- Note: for pie filling and for buns, blackberries should not be thawed. It is breaded in starch - 2 tsp per 200-250 g, sprinkled generously with sugar. Take it out of the refrigerator quickly, just before molding the baked goods.
- For sweet dishes and desserts - smoothies and compote, for porridge and muesli, jelly and cocktails, defrost extremely slowly, without rushing - this is the only way to preserve all the juice, which does not need to be drained, and the correct shape.
Follow these simple tips, and your frozen blackberries will come out dry and crumbly for the winter—the best producers of factory-made products will be jealous. And you - you will feast on black berries, very little different from fresh, before the new harvest.
» Blackberry
Blackberries can be forest or garden, just like raspberries, which they resemble in appearance and in the way they grow. Differences include blue color, sour taste, weaker aroma and smooth 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 a long fruiting period, blackberries can be prepared for the winter with strawberries, gooseberries and even Antonov apples. In this article we will take a closer look at what can be done with blackberries.
Like all berries, blackberries are more beneficial when eaten 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 to prepare a variety of desserts.
You can prepare a wide variety of dishes from blackberries:
- Preserves, jams, confitures;
- Drinks – fruit drinks, compotes, cocktails, jelly:
- Desserts - mousses, yoghurts, sorbets, jellies, pastries;
- Sauces for meat and fish.
The berry has a sour taste, so it can be used not only for preparing sweet dishes, but also to give meat and fish a unique taste.
Jam made from whole, freshly picked berries
- Berries need to be sorted, remove stems, select worms.
- Rinse the berries better by dipping a colander of berries into a basin or large pan of water. Under the pressure of running water, the berries will be crushed, and some of the juice will be washed off along with the water.
- The washed berries are placed in enamel or copper cookware.
- Sugar is poured on top based on 800 gr. per 1 kg. Yagod.
- If the berry is not overripe, then you can add a couple of tablespoons of water so that the berry does not burn, it releases juice faster.
- The pan is placed on high heat. The sugar should darken from the juice of the berries. You can mix it with berries only after the jam has boiled from the edges.
- Uniform boiling of the entire berry mass- a signal to reduce the heat to a minimum.
- With occasional stirring the berries are brought to a strong thickening within 3-4 hours.
To make the jam fragrant, you need to add 5-6 cherry leaves to it 15-20 minutes before the end of cooking. They are removed from the finished jam before placing it in jars.
Five minutes
Blackberry jam Pyatiminutka - Washed berries placed in a large enamel bowl, saucepan or copper container.
- Before the berries boil, as they release juice, granulated sugar is added to the jam. The approximate ratio for 1 kg of berries is 700 g. sand.
- Leave the boiled jam on the gas for another 5 minutes. and turn off the gas.
- The cooled mass is returned to the fire and boiled for another 5 minutes.. This procedure is repeated three times.
- After the third boil, the hot jam is placed in jars and hermetically sealed with plastic lids or rolled up with metal ones.
Berry acid is incompatible with aluminum and steel, so we use a wooden (not painted) spoon or spatula to stir the berry mixture.
Jam
Jams are prepared using applesauce. Considering that most of the berries are harvested in the summer, you will have to use summer varieties of apples to make blackberry jam. They are sweet, which means you will need less sand, ≈ 500-600 g. per 1 kg of fruit and berry mixture.
- For 3 kg of apples required 1 kg of berries blackberries.
- Apples are peeled, rub into a cooking container on a coarse grater. To prevent apples from turning brown quickly, they must be sprinkled with granulated sugar. By the time all the apples are pureed, there will already be juice in the pan.
- It is preferable to pass the berries through a manual juicer so that there are no blackberry seeds in the jam.
- All ingredients in the pan - you can send it to gas.
- After boiling jam, the gas is reduced.
- Occasional stirring will prevent the jam from burning. You need to simmer it until it thickens.
How to check the readiness of 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 jam. The drop does not spread - the jam is ready!
Confiture
The peculiarity of confiture is adding to it:
- Gelatin;
- Liquor;
- Vanillin;
- Cinnamon.
Except gelatin, all ingredients are optional. You don't have to add them at all.
- To prepare 1 kg of blackberries, you will need 1 kg of sugar and 3 tablespoons of gelatin.
- Whole berries or squeezed from them juice goes into the pan. All the sand is added at once.
- While the mixture is boiling on the fire, gelatin is soaked in a glass of water.
- The berries began to boil, the sand 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.
- Place the confiture into containers for storage, seal tightly.
Beverages
Compote with blackberries
The peculiarity of preparing blackberry compote is that it does not need to be boiled. The most acceptable way to pour sugar syrup over berries. This allows you to maintain the shape of the berry. When cooked, it will simply fall apart, bones will settle at the bottom of the pan, and the pulp will turn into an incomprehensible shapeless mass. You'll have to strain the compote.
Preparing 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 you can prepare it for future use. For long-term storage of sand you will need a little more.
Summer compote
Calculation of products for a 3-liter jar
- Blackberries – 2 cups;
- Granulated sugar – 1 cup;
- Water – 3 liters.
The berries are poured into a jar. A filling is prepared from water and sugar. Fill the jar with boiled syrup and cover with a lid.. As it cools, the compote will acquire a uniform color and taste.
Pure blackberry compote has a pleasant aroma; the taste requires the addition of raspberries and red currants. The flavor bouquet will become much richer.
Blackberry juice
The berry practically does not lose any taste or vitamins during shock freezing. It contains less vitamin C than cranberries, but drinking juice from this berry also helps with a severe cold. It is better to freeze berries in special bags that have fine perforations on one side.. Washed and dried berries are placed in containers or bags and sent to the freezer. If you can’t dry the berries, then you can sprinkle them with granulated sugar. Depending on how the berries were frozen, the method of their further use depends.
Sugar-free berry juice is prepared as follows:
- Sand is poured into boiling water at the rate 2 tablespoons per 1 liter of water.
- After the granulated sugar has completely dissolved, Place a colander or sieve on the pan so that water gets inside it.
- Berries are poured into a colander. They should warm up and release juice. For quick cooking, you can stir them with a wooden spoon. Blackberries in boiling water quickly release juice, but you can crush the berries a little when stirring.
- The colander has wide holes, so fruit juice should be strained. When using a sieve, this preparation step is eliminated.
Berries frozen with sugar will have to be boiled in a saucepan. Then strain through a sieve or through 2 layers of gauze placed in a colander.
Kiseli
The most pleasant drink for the stomach lining. 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 considered a dessert than a drink.
- 1 cup oat grains 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.
- The oatmeal should be soaked for 6-8 hours. in full volume of water.
- The resulting liquid is poured into a saucepan. The remaining grain can be squeezed out through a strainer, but its hard parts should not fall into the ladle.
- The jelly base is heating up. Honey blooms in it. If sugar is chosen for cooking, then it and salt can be added at any stage of preparation.
- Into the boiled hercules decoction crushed berries are added or juice squeezed from them.
- The mixture is brought to a boil, the gas is reduced to a minimum. You can move the saucepan to the sauce burner for simmering. The purpose of simmering is to evaporate excess moisture and allow the dish to thicken.
- You'll have to eat this jelly with spoons, so To cool, it is better to pour it into 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:
- In 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 form clots.
- Sugar and berries should be on hand so that during the cooking process not for a second don't stop stirring.
- Berries are added to the boiling starch base. It is better to rub them into jelly through a sieve or replace them with freshly squeezed blackberry juice.
- Sugar is added along with the 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 combine well 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 mixing bowl. The remaining ingredients are added. Until a homogeneous mass is obtained, the mixer starts at first speed, only after which the whipping function starts.
Mousse
Traditionally the mousse is prepared with strawberries or raspberries. Blackberry mousse will be more sour with a less pronounced taste. The berry harmonizes well with both strawberries and raspberries. When using all three ingredients, the dessert will be more tasty 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 beating glass, add a little sugar and start beating. The rest of the sugar is added gradually. The result should be a thick mass, like for baking “meringue”. Add the berry mixture in small portions and beat until smooth. Although, small pieces of berries will not spoil the dessert. Before serving, the mousse must be cooled, placed in bowls or tall glasses, and 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 kept to a minimum. To prepare it you will need:
- 3 cups blackberries;
- Juice of one orange;
- 100 gr. honey.
All ingredients are pureed in a blender until smooth, which is sent to the freezer until completely frozen. Before serving, balls are formed from the mixture using a heated tablespoon and placed in a bowl.
As decoration you can use almonds or walnuts, grated chocolate. The use of fruit syrup for this type of ice cream is unnecessary, and whipped cream will perfectly complement the treat.
Alcoholic sorbet
Alcohol does not freeze well, so to make sorbet you will need to dilute it with water. Blackberries harmonize well in taste with almonds and cherries. Based on this, we choose the liqueur. Proportions:
- 300 gr. blackberries;
- 30 ml liqueur;
- 50 ml vodka;
- 100 gr. granulated sugar;
- 1.5 teaspoons lime juice.
Cooking method:
- Pour berries and sugar into a saucepan. Cook until smooth.
- Pass the berry mixture through a sieve so that the seeds do not get into the ice cream.
- Chilled Mix berry puree with remaining ingredients, send it to the freezer.
Alcoholic sorbet will not be hard. To spread it into bowls, you don’t need to heat the spoon. For decoration, you can use chopped nuts, chocolate or cherries, which will help emphasize the taste of the liqueur chosen for dessert.
To prepare this delicacy you will need quince. It will act as a gelling agent. This will give a longer shelf life than when preparing a gelatin-based dessert. In this recipe, 1 kg of berries and quinces will require 600 g. sand.
Cooking method:
- Peeling the quince, grate the pulp.
- Add berries. Quince 1/3, berries 2/3. Add sugar to the mixture and leave for several hours to release the juice.
- Bring to a boil, cook until the quince pieces begin to disintegrate.
- Wipe the puree through a sieve.
- Preheat the oven to 170°. Reduce gas to minimum.
- Line the baking tray foil.
- Apply an even layer of 1.5-2 cm to the foil spread the puree.
- Place in the oven. Preparation can take from 8 to 16 hours. The idea is to evaporate excess moisture.
- The finished layer is sprinkled with a thin layer of potato starch, turns over, processed from the second side.
- Cut into slabs, placed in a plastic container and put in the refrigerator.
If quince is not available, 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.
Baking with blackberries
You can bake an open-faced blackberry pie using yeast dough. There are no special problems when using jam, but jam or raw berries mashed with granulated sugar will definitely boil and flow. Therefore, we choose a deep form so that the sugar syrup does not burn in the oven. After baking, the pan must be removed and the cake allowed to cool so that the jam thickens again. Only after this can the cake be removed from the mold.
Making a pie with berry filling is also inconvenient because the dough itself, when wet, does not bake and does not increase in volume. To reduce wetness, apply a layer of potato starch under the jam or berries.. This method of baking is common, but very time-consuming. Yeast-free treats are prepared faster.
For the test you will need:
- 300 gr. cottage cheese;
- 3 eggs;
- 3 cups of premium wheat flour;
- 1 cup granulated sugar;
- Baking powder.
Cooking method:
- Cottage cheese, eggs and sugar are ground until a homogeneous mass is obtained.
- Flour mixed with baking powder and added to the mass.
- Flour is poured onto the table. The dough is laid out on it.
- In several stages roll out the dough to a thickness of 5-7 mm.
- The dough can be cut with a knife into squares or a glass into mugs.
- For filling It's better to take jam or confiture.
- In the middle of each circle add half a teaspoon of blackberries.
- Fold the circle in half and in half again– you should get a triangle.
- On a heated, greased baking sheet lay out the resulting cookies. We send them to the oven, heated to 220° C, for 10-15 minutes.
- To make the cookies brown, a couple of minutes before the end of baking, you can spread with creamy margarine.
To prepare the dough you will need:
- 200 gr. butter margarine;
- 3 cups flour;
- 1 egg;
- 1 cup granulated sugar.
Step-by-step instruction:
- Mix sand and flour.
- We make a deepening.
- Beating in an egg and lay out a pack of softened margarine.
- Press the flour into the margarine with your hands.. The process continues until a homogeneous lump of dough is obtained.
- Even though an egg is added to the dough, it will not be bound. That's why, divide the dough into two parts, one of which is twice as large as the second.
- Preheating the oven and a baking dish.
- Let's get it form, grease its vegetable oil.
- Large distribute some of the dough evenly over the bottom of the pan. By slightly pressing the middle with your fists, we get the dough to come out to the edges of the mold - this is ideal so that the jam does not leak out.
- Pour filling ≈1cm thick.
- Let's take it leftover dough, coarse grater and evenly cover the berries with a loose layer.
- We send the cake to 20-25 min into a preheated oven.
- The finished shortbread cake must cool down so that the jam thickens. After cooling, you can remove it from the mold entirely or cut it into pieces.
Berry sauce for meat
Meat goes well not only with vegetables; berries and fruits are also used in its preparation. Prunes and apples are suitable for duck, cherry plum (tkemali sauce) for beef and lamb, pork is often served with “Krasnodar” sauce, where in addition to tomatoes there is applesauce. Blackberries are suitable for any grilled meat.
For the sauce you will need:
- A glass of blackberries;
- Half a glass of dry red wine;
- A couple of cloves of garlic;
- A teaspoon of honey;
- A pinch of salt or a tablespoon of soy sauce (optional);
- Mix of peppers on the tip of a knife;
- Several cumin (cumin) seeds;
- Table vinegar to taste.
Step-by-step instructions:
- Washed berries are boiled in wine. Three minutes is enough for the blackberries to produce juice.
- The mixture must be strained so that the sauce turns out beautiful.
- Spices are added, except garlic and honey.. The sauce must be simmered over low heat for 15-20 minutes until thickened.
- Add garlic and honey 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 to cook fish, then this sauce will complement crab stick salad, shrimp and other seafood.
Blackberries are also used in preparing first courses. It will be an excellent substitute for vinegar when cooking borscht. An excellent solution would be, when preparing borscht dressing for the winter, to put a pinch of sour berries instead of vinegar. In just a couple of weeks, canned dressing, if made with cabbage, will give a pleasant jelly. You simply won't need vinegar.
Blackberries are not the most seductive and expressive-tasting berries. But having tried at least once baked goods, fruit drinks, and desserts made from it, it’s hard to resist preparing a few jars of jam for pancakes at Shrovetide. Frozen berries will help give your dishes a taste of summer.. And in the summer, you can combine blackberries not only with fruits and other varieties of berries, but also with vegetables - zucchini, pumpkin, tomatoes.
Blackberries are a beautiful, tasty and healthy berry. You can enjoy this sweet beauty fresh in late July and early August. What to do in winter? Cook compote, bake pies and pies, serve berry sauce with desserts - and all this is also made from blackberries, only already frozen. How to freeze blackberries?
Total cooking time – 2 hours 20 minutes
Active cooking time – 0 hours 40 minutes
Cost - very economical
Calorie content per 100 g - 31 kcal
Number of servings – 8 servings
Ingredients:
Blackberries - 1 kg or any amount
Preparation:
So, all the secrets on how to freeze blackberries. Blackberries are so beautiful in appearance that you want to preserve them so that after defrosting they do not lose their natural beauty and retain their appetizing appearance.
Some sources insist that blackberries should never be washed before freezing, others insist on the opposite. Of course, if you have a blackberry bush growing in your garden, away from the road, where there is no dust and constant exhaust fumes from vehicles, and the berries are clean, shiny, and it rained on the eve of harvesting, there is no need to wash them at all. It’s another matter if you bought them in a store or market and do not have information about the conditions for growing the bush - the berries definitely need to be washed.
First, we will remove all debris, twigs, stalks, cobwebs, bugs and other insects.
Now wash it. If you have time and you have a small amount of blackberries to freeze, pay attention to each berry.
Rinse it gently under running water.
If the blackberries are more than a kilogram, place a small part of it in a sieve and wash. Then the next part and so on until you have washed the entire batch.
Now you need to dry the berries. Blackberry juice has the ability to permanently color the surface on which it is located. Therefore, I recommend doing the following: cover a cutting board, kitchen counter or tray with cling film, and spread napkins or a paper towel in several layers. Do not use kitchen towels, tablecloths or other fabric under any circumstances - it will be difficult to remove the blackberry juice. Unless you use fabric that you don’t mind throwing away - gauze, old kitchen towels.
Place the berries on napkins in one layer so that the moisture can be well absorbed into the paper and evaporate.
I'll show you several ways to freeze blackberries. Choose any or freeze all offered.
Option 1: Freeze whole blackberries.
Washed and dried berries should be flash frozen. To prevent the blackberries from sticking together into one frozen layer, they need to be laid out on a flat surface and placed in the freezer, set to the lowest temperature. I set it to -25 degrees. You can also turn on the “Super Freeze” mode. At such a low temperature, the berries will be well frozen within an hour.
Cover a flat surface (a special compartment, baking sheet or tray) for blackberries with parchment, so the berries will not stick to the plastic and will not stain it; they can be easily poured into a container for further storage.
Such berries will have a beautiful appearance even after defrosting. They can be used to decorate a pie or dessert, or put into the filling for a blackberry pie.
If you have a lot of blackberries and they won't fit on one tray, cover the first layer of blackberries with more parchment and scatter the berries on top with a second layer. Place in the freezer.
If the appearance of the frozen berries is not important to you, you can spread them out more tightly and give them the opportunity to stick together. Such berries can be transferred to a plastic bag, after breaking them together. This will not affect the taste in any way.
Place the frozen berries in containers and label them, indicating the date of freezing and storage method. For example: July 2015, whole blackberries
Option 2: Freeze whole blackberries with sugar.
Place the blackberries, dried after washing, into storage trays, sprinkle with sugar, place the blackberries again and add sugar again. Close the tray lid tightly. For 300 grams of blackberries - 2-3 tablespoons of sugar.
These blackberries can be used for compotes, as a filling for pies and dumplings. Just take into account the presence of sugar and control the taste accordingly.
Sign the label and place the trays in the freezer.
Option 3. Freezing as a puree (blackberries pureed with sugar).
Place the washed blackberries in a blender bowl, add sugar. Approximate proportion: for 300 grams of berries - 2-3 tablespoons of sugar, it all depends on the acidity of the blackberries (sweetness can be adjusted to the desired taste).
Grind into a homogeneous mass. If desired, you can grind the puree through a sieve and get rid of small seeds.
Pour blackberry puree into small containers for freezing. Close the lid, sign, indicating that the tray contains blackberry puree with sugar, and put the date.
You can also freeze the blackberry-sugar mixture by pouring it into ice cube freezing containers.
When the containers have been in the freezer for about one and a half to two hours at minus 18 - minus 25 degrees, they can be taken out, carefully remove the cubes and put them into plastic bags.
Cubes of blackberry puree can be added to porridge (oatmeal, rice, semolina) - this will be an excellent breakfast not only for adults, but also for your children.
And the puree from the tray can be used as an additive to ice cream, and you can even make homemade blackberry ice cream.
Store blackberries in the freezer for no more than 9 months. The temperature should be minus 18 degrees or lower.
In most cases, there is no need to thaw blackberries first.
If you use frozen blackberries to make a pie, keep in mind that the berries will release juice during baking, so make sure that the filling also includes a thickener - starch, for example.
To decorate cakes and desserts, it is advisable to defrost blackberries so that the juice from under them does not spoil the appearance of the dessert.
If you decide to eat defrosted blackberries, leave them in the refrigerator for several hours.
Frozen blackberries can be added not only to pies as a filling, but also used for cooking
