Soaked lingonberries with and without sugar: recipe for the winter

The benefits and harms of soaked lingonberries

Pickled lingonberries are good for health. She:

increases immunity;
lowers temperature;
improves metabolism;
has antioxidant properties;
relieves inflammation;
has a bactericidal effect;
slightly numbing.

Contraindications to the use of berries:

period of exacerbation of liver diseases;
heart failure;
kidney and gallstones;
gastritis, stomach ulcer;
hypotension.

Important! The product has a mild laxative and diuretic effect, so you should not overuse soaked berries, fruit drinks and water.

Useful and medicinal properties of lingonberries

A decoction of lingonberries strengthens women's health - stops uterine bleeding, regulates the menstrual cycle, helps with mastopathy, promotes recovery in the postpartum period, improves the condition during menopause.

Berries are useful during pregnancy. They are used as a mild diuretic for edema in the third trimester. For high blood pressure, anemia, and colds, it is useful to take homemade fruit juice. It calms the nervous system and strengthens the immunity of the expectant mother and her child.

The fruits in sugar syrup or with honey are used to treat childhood colds. They improve appetite, help with fever, and normalize the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. For influenza and acute respiratory viral infections, you can prepare lingonberry puree to alleviate the child’s condition.

The mineral zinc, which is found in leaves and berries, helps relieve prostatitis. During periods of exacerbation, a drink made from cranberry juice, a decoction of lingonberries and bearberry is used. After relieving severe inflammation of the prostate, it is recommended to take lingonberry infusion until the condition completely improves. Lingonberry infusion also helps lower blood pressure in hypertension.

Important!
All products made from this amazing berry have some contraindications: increased secretory function of the stomach, hypotension, cholecystitis.

Cooking features

Before choosing a recipe for preparing pickled lingonberries for the winter, it won’t hurt to study a few recommendations:

Wash and sort the berries you are going to soak well. It is necessary to inspect each berry, since rotten and bruised ones are not suitable for this purpose.
Do not throw away lingonberry leaves if you have them. If you add them to the berries when soaking, they will become even more beneficial.
Do not use aluminum cookware for cooking berries: upon contact with the acid contained in the berries, it releases toxic substances. It is better to give preference to enameled stainless steel containers, but you can also use food-grade plastic. Glass jars also work.
Antonov apples will help highlight the aroma of lingonberries. Cut them into pieces and place soaked lingonberries on top. It will be saturated with their smell and become even more appetizing.

By following these simple tips, you can prepare soaked lingonberries for the winter according to one or more of your favorite recipes.

Video Lingonberries in syrup vitamins in a jar

The berries grow on a low bush. It has thin long roots that push out to the surface and in this way form a new bush. Old bushes die off, despite the fact that their life expectancy is quite long. Like representatives of conifers, leaves do not fall in winter. The plant blooms in May. Harvest in late summer or September. The fruits are red, sweet and sour in taste and very healthy, so the question of how to store lingonberries becomes especially acute.

Lingonberries in their own juice

Berries prepared in this way can be stored without problems until the next season. Its pleasant feature is that with each month of storage it only becomes better and tastier.

This method of storing lingonberries for the winter is the most reliable, proven by many generations of lovers of this berry. During the cold season, you can not only prepare compotes, fruit drinks, but also sauces.

To prepare soaked lingonberries, you will need the following ingredients: 5 kg of fresh berries, 2.5 liters of clean water, 500 g of sugar (you can use the same amount of honey instead), salt, cinnamon and cloves.

The cooking process is simple and consists of the following steps:

Carefully sort and wash the berries.
Fill three-liter jars with fruit to the brim.
Pour water into a separate pan and boil.
Add sugar or honey. If you want, you can add cloves, cinnamon or any other spice at this stage.
Cook the syrup until all the ingredients in its composition are completely dissolved.
Then cool the syrup and pour into jars with berries.
Cover the containers with gauze and place in a dark place at room temperature for two days.
After this, close the jars with nylon lids and place them in the refrigerator or cellar.

Benefits of lingonberries

Useful properties of leaves

The leaves are widely used to cure various ailments. They contain a lot of tannins, vitamin C, antioxidants, tannins and arbutin, which is a natural antiseptic. It’s interesting that many people don’t even think about storing lingonberries, since they use the leaves to maintain health. There are reasons for this approach, because the leaves are much easier to prepare and store, especially since they are sold in pharmacies.

The leaves are used as an effective anti-inflammatory, astringent, and choleretic agent. They help remove stones and salts from the body in case of gout or kidney disease. As a rule, they are harvested for subsequent storage in autumn and early spring. The fact is that leaves collected in the summer between flowering and ripening of the crop cannot be stored; they quickly turn black.

An extract from lingonberry leaves is especially useful in the treatment of urinary tract diseases, mainly due to the action of arbutin.

What are the benefits of berries?

Their calorie content is approximately the same as that of apples, so there is no risk of gaining weight. They are valued for their high content of vitamins A, B, C, E. They contain carotene and various organic acids. Microelements are represented by calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and manganese.

Lingonberry syrup improves vision. The fruits are used to boost immunity, for rheumatism, and in case of stomach catarrh. Lingonberry juice lowers blood pressure and has a calming effect.

How to soak lingonberries according to a traditional recipe

The traditional recipe for homemade pickled lingonberries looks simple. This doesn't require anything special. Previously, wooden barrels were used instead of cans, but this is no longer necessary.

Ingredients

3 kg lingonberries;
3 liters of water;
300 g sugar;
1.5 tsp. salt.

First of all, prepare the jars: wash them, sterilize them, put them in the right order. After that:

Sort the lingonberries, rinse them if they are frozen and immediately put them into jars.
Boil the syrup in a saucepan until a smooth liquid forms.
Pour cold syrup over the berries and leave at room temperature for 7 days.

During cooking, spices are added to the syrup to taste.

How to prepare lingonberries for storage

Before pouring water over the berries, they need to be prepared. The lingonberries should be sorted and washed. Only strong, ripe fruits are suitable for storage. Green, overripe and bruised berries need to be removed, as well as any leaves and twigs that come across. If rotten fruits get into the jar, the entire product can quickly deteriorate.

The sorted lingonberries need to be washed carefully. There are two ways to do this. Small portions of fruit can be washed in a colander using low water pressure to prevent them from being bruised. You can also rinse the berries in a container of water. In this case, they need to be immersed in water, rinsed a little and carefully removed with the same colander.

After this, the lingonberries should be dried. The fruits should be spread out in one layer on a flat surface. You can place paper napkins under them so that the moisture is absorbed faster. You need to dry the berries in the shade; you should not leave them in the sun so that they do not wilt. When the lingonberries are dry, they can be stored in storage containers. When doing this, you need to make sure that you don’t get any bursting fruits that could become wrinkled during washing.

Soaked lingonberries without sugar

Sort out fresh ripe lingonberries, rinse in cold water, put in a sieve, dry, put in large jars (at least 3 liters), fill with cold boiled water without sugar. Do not put apples in these lingonberries.

Pickled lingonberries give dishes a pleasant, spicy, sweet and sour taste. It is served as a seasoning for various meat dishes, game dishes and others. You can make a wonderful sauce from soaked lingonberries by adding spices to the berries.

Lingonberry water, obtained by soaking lingonberries, is very tasty and relieves thirst well, but has a slight laxative effect.

Lingonberry jam recipe

Jam differs from jam in that it can contain whole berries that are not crushed before cooking.

To make jam, for one kilogram of berries, take one and a half kilograms of sugar and half a liter or a little more water.

Prepare jam as follows:

The berries are sorted, leaving only ripe fruits, washed and dried;
Then they are put in a colander and poured with boiling water to remove the bitterness, and placed in an enamel pan or bowl;
The syrup for jam is prepared separately. Sugar is added to boiling water and stirred until it is completely dissolved;
After this, the berries are poured with the prepared syrup, mixed well and placed on low heat;
Boil lingonberry jam for 30 minutes;
Then it is laid out in sterile jars, pasteurized and sealed with airtight lids.
The jam is left to cool in the jars without turning them over.

The finished jam can be stored for several years in suitable conditions.

There are a lot of recipes for processing and preserving lingonberries. It is often topped with cranberries or apples, the latter adding greater sweetness to the preparation.

Soaked lingonberries with sugar without cooking

It is very easy to prepare the product without heating the ingredients. There is no need to cook and then refrigerate the syrup.

Pour chilled boiled water over the lingonberries.
Fill the jars with water at room temperature.
Pour warm, but not hot water over the berries.

Important! Boiling water is not used. There are recipes with advice to pour hot water over the berries, but then the berry spoils and loses its beneficial substances.

It is not recommended to store this product for a long time as it is considered to spoil quickly. But you should remember that lingonberries do not ferment, and if you sort them carefully, there will be no mold. Just in case, the raw materials are washed in a weak solution of manganese.

How to store it correctly

Thanks to the organic acids (especially benzoic) contained in lingonberries, they can be stored for several months without any processing.

At room temperature

You need to prepare a cardboard box and make as many holes as possible in the walls. Place a sheet of paper on the bottom and place lingonberries on it.

They should be red, but not overripe. If you have berries with white barrels, you can put them there, they will ripen later.

There is no need to pick green berries or put them in a common box. They still won't turn red.

Then we also lay the second layer, third, etc. with paper. and place it in a dry, ventilated place. After a month, you need to check and remove rotten berries if they appear.

In a refrigerator

Here, lingonberries can last up to three months. We pour the washed and dried berries into a plastic container and place them in the compartment with vegetables and fruits. In a couple of months you can go through and check.

But it will not be possible to preserve lingonberries in such a pristine form until next summer, so our great-grandmothers used different methods to preserve this beautiful forest berry:

urination
freezing
sugaring
drying
boiling
soaring
drying

Fragrant lingonberries soaked in honey

Add honey to healthy lingonberries, and you will get an indispensable health cocktail for you and your family throughout the winter. Eat this sweetness for dessert, with tea or pancakes instead of jam, and forget what a cold is.

Use soaked berries as a filling for pies and dumplings. This is a great way to pamper your children with a sweet treat that they will devour on both cheeks. You can read a detailed description of this method of soaking lingonberries below.

Ingredients

2.5 kg of berries;
0.6 liters of honey;
5 liters of drinking water;
cinnamon, cloves.

Preparation:

Wash the wild berries thoroughly and place them in a glass or ceramic bowl.
Add honey to the water, place it in a water bath to obtain a homogeneous syrup consistency, without boiling. Add spices.
Pour syrup over the lingonberries until the water covers the berries by three fingers.
Place in a cool, dark place and leave for up to 5 days.
After the specified period, close the lid and place in the refrigerator or cellar for storage.

How to properly fill berries with water

There are several different ways to soak lingonberries. The fruits can be poured with cold water, sugar or honey syrup, as well as diluted lingonberry juice. This is done according to several traditional recipes.

Recipe for lingonberries soaked in cold water

To store berries you need to prepare a special container. These can be glass jars or plastic containers. They need to be washed or sterilized well and dried. After this, the sorted berries need to be placed in containers so that they occupy from a third to half of their volume. Ideally, the amount of water should be twice the amount of fruit.

The water for pouring should be boiled and cooled in advance. The fruits should be filled with chilled water, the temperature of which should be below room temperature. The water level in the container should be a few fingers below the top.

It is advisable to store soaked lingonberries in a dark, cool place. The optimal temperature is +3-5 °C. In villages, such preparations are kept in cellars, and in urban conditions, the berries can be placed in the refrigerator or on the balcony, if the temperature there is appropriate.

It is also useful to read: How to clean lingonberries from debris

Recipe with sugar or honey syrup

Lingonberries can be poured with sugar or honey syrup to give the berries a sweet taste. To prepare it, you need to take 500 grams of sugar or half a liter of liquid honey and 2.5-3 liters of water. Water should be put on fire, honey or sugar should be added to it, boiled and placed well so that the added components dissolve.

After the syrup has cooled, they need to pour over the berries. This is done in the same way as when using clean water.

Recipe with lingonberry juice

During the process of washing and sorting the berries, some of the crumpled fruit always remains. You can squeeze the juice out of them and use it to pour other berries. Typically, a small amount of juice is mixed with water and boiled briefly. If desired, you can add sugar to the water to give it a pleasant taste. The resulting syrup can then be drunk or used to make compotes.

Lingonberries soaked with salt

Ingredients

lingonberries - 1 kg;
water - 1 l;
salt - 20 g;
sugar - 3 g;
cloves - 1 pc.

Preparation:

Wash and dry the lingonberries, pour them into sterilized jars.
Boil water, add cloves, salt and sugar, cook for a couple of minutes.
Cool the brine to room temperature and fill the jars with lingonberries to the very top.
Close the jars tightly with lids and store for a week at a temperature of approximately 10 degrees.
Then put the jars away for the winter in a cool place (up to 6 degrees).

Lingonberries soaked with salt are great for salads and other snacks.

Features of storing workpieces

It is recommended to store preparations made from soaked red berries in a cool and dark place - a refrigerator, basement or cellar. If the jars of berries were closed with ordinary plastic lids or a layer of gauze, then you need to ensure that the lingonberries are always covered with liquid, adding clean water to the jar as needed.

Important! Lingonberries can be stored well throughout the winter due to the presence of benzoic acid in their composition. This substance prevents the growth of bacteria and keeps the fruit fresh for a long time.

It is recommended to store the berry preparation in a glass container, since oxidation occurs upon contact with metal containers. When using jars with metal lids, soaked lingonberries can be kept at room temperature, placing them away from heat sources. If the workpiece was placed in a jar with a regular plastic lid, then it is kept at a temperature of no more than +5 ° C in a place protected from sunlight.

Soaking lingonberries for the winter yourself is not at all difficult - to do this, you just need to choose high-quality ingredients and follow the technology for preparing the delicacy. And with the help of the recipes listed in the article, you can experiment with the taste of the finished dish, choosing the one that you like the most.

Cold soaked lingonberries

This method of preparation allows you to preserve all the usefulness of lingonberries and fully reveal their taste.

Place 2 kg of fresh or frozen berries in jars.
Cool 2 liters of boiled water in the refrigerator; 1/3 of the total volume can be frozen to ice.
Add mint leaves and spices to taste to the lingonberries.
Pour water into a jar and add ice.
Leave the mixture in the refrigerator for a week to a month.

Water and berries are used for drinks, salads, and as a seasoning for meat.

How to freeze lingonberries for the winter

The easiest way to preserve berries is to freeze them in the refrigerator. There are a couple of options on how to do this:

1) Freeze whole berries.

Naturally, before cooking it is necessary to wash the berries and remove excess debris. Next, place the berries on a baking sheet in a thin layer and cover with cling film. Put it in the freezer. When the berries are frozen, they can be moved to a bag or container for convenience.

2) Make a puree of berries with sugar.

Freezing lingonberries in the form of puree is a very convenient option for use in baking. To do this, pour the washed berries into a blender. Add sugar in different quantities. Then grind it to a porridge state. Transfer the resulting mass into jars and place in the freezer.

Spicy preparation

Lingonberries prepared according to this recipe will have a pleasant taste and pronounced aroma. A large number of different spices are used, which makes the product not only tasty, but also more healthy. You need to take cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns, and a pinch of salt. In addition, you will need water and sugar or honey.

Put water on the fire in an enamel pan, add all the ingredients except lingonberries, and boil. Leave to cool. Leave the syrup for 2 hours. Pour the syrup over the berries in the jars. Seal the jars tightly and store them in a cool, dark place.

Methods for harvesting lingonberries

Over several hundred years of using this berry, housewives have come up with many ways to prepare it. In this case, lingonberries are subjected to various operations: drying, cooking, soaking, tincture. To prevent the berries from souring and fermenting, additional products are used:

sugar;
water;
honey;
vodka.

You can also simply dry the berries, turning them into something like raisins.

Drying berries

Drying is one of the fastest and easiest harvesting methods. Like other methods, it has its pros and cons. Advantages of this method:

simple and quick preparation;
no need to use other products;
berries after harvesting are suitable for diabetics and children;
dried berries take up little space.

The disadvantage of this method is that the berries lose their attractiveness and partially their taste properties. Dried berries will later be difficult to use for making pies or sauces. However, they are quite suitable for other dishes.

The easiest way to dry berries is in the oven. Step-by-step instruction:

Place the washed berries on a baking sheet in one layer.
Place in the oven. Turn on the oven and set the mode to 50 degrees.
It is necessary to dry the berries carefully, periodically opening the door and checking their condition, as well as releasing hot air.
The entire operation lasts 1-2 hours. After the berries become completely dry and the moisture has disappeared from them, the lingonberries are collected in glass jars or plastic containers.
Dried berries should be stored in a warm, dry and dark place.

In this way, you can prepare quite a large number of berries, and then use them not only throughout the winter, but also in the spring. In spring, vitamin deficiency becomes most noticeable, and dried lingonberries will come in handy.

Soaked lingonberries

Another simple way to store lingonberries is to soak them with salt and sugar. Sugar protects lingonberries from souring, and salt prevents the berries from fermenting and rotting.

Advantages of this method:

Easy to use, no special skills required;
Requires little time for preparation;
Well preserves the appearance of berries and nutritional properties;
Harvested berries are suitable for children.

The disadvantages here are that storing berries prepared in this way requires more space. Berries should also be stored in a cool, dark place. Such berries are not suitable for consumption by patients with diabetes.

Step-by-step instruction:

Berries and water are taken from a 1:2 ratio. That is, you need twice as much water as berries. Salt and sugar are added at the rate of 2 tablespoons of each substance per 1 liter of water.
The water must be brought to a boil and all the salt and sugar added there. After adding the ingredients, turn off the heat on the stove.
Prepare the jars in advance by pouring boiling water over them. Clean lingonberries are placed there.
The berries are filled with solution and closed. Jars should be stored in a cool, dark place.

Preparing with sugar

Harvesting berries using granulated sugar is a well-known and proven method that is used not only for lingonberries. Its advantages are obvious:

Fast cooking method;
Lingonberries take up little space;
All vitamins and microelements are preserved;
Once cooked, children can eat it.

The disadvantage of this method is the large amount of sugar. This means that the berry can only be used for sweet dishes. Such preparations are not suitable for patients with diabetes.

Application procedure:

You will need sugar and lingonberries at a ratio of 1:1.
Place the washed berries in a saucepan and press down with a press so that they release the juice.
Sprinkle lingonberries with sugar and stir.
Place the composition in sterilized jars and pour boiling water to the very top.
Store jars in a dark and cool place.

Advice. The berries can be turned into puree using a blender, which also needs to be candied. In this form, storing lingonberries is even more convenient.

Lingonberry jam

Making jam is a method known since childhood. This is how not only lingonberries were harvested, but also any other berries.

Benefits of jam:

Long shelf life;
Does not require special cool places, it can be stored at room temperature;
The product after harvesting is suitable for children;
Doesn't require a lot of sugar.

The main disadvantage of this method is its labor intensity. The entire cooking process takes about 1 hour. In addition, jam, like other products with sugar, is only suitable for sweet dishes. Unlike lingonberries pureed with sugar, jam is subjected to heat treatment. This means that some of the beneficial properties are inevitably lost.

Cooking process:

Wash and dry the berries.
Place the berries in an enamel pan, sprinkle with granulated sugar.
Place the pan on low heat. After 1-2 minutes, pour in 1 glass of water.
After the berries and water boil, cook the jam for 30-40 minutes. The fire should be slow.
After cooking, the jam is cooled and poured into jars. The dishes must first be treated with boiling water.

During cooking, the volume of the product increases, so the pan should be twice as large in volume. Otherwise, the sweet gruel will spill over the stove.

This product is best stored in a dark place at room or cool temperature. The recipe can be varied with other fruits, spices or even nuts. You can add almonds, apple pieces, pear pieces, ginger, cinnamon, lemon or orange zest to the jam.

Lingonberries with honey

Honey is an excellent preservative. It has strong bactericidal and anti-putrefactive properties, so the berries do not spoil in it. Moreover, honey, unlike sugar, contains many vitamins, amino acids, and microelements. It also contains large amounts of fructose, which prevents lingonberries from turning sour.

Advantages of the method:

Ease of preparation;
The absence of heat treatment retains all beneficial properties;
Honey multiplies the beneficial properties of lingonberries.

Harvesting method:

Lingonberries need to be prepared: washed or pureed.
The berries are poured with honey at a ratio of 2:1. That is, there should be twice as much lingonberries as honey.
Let it brew for half an hour and pour into jars.

You can store this product anywhere.

Lingonberry sauce

Making sauces is an original way to prepare these wonderful gifts of nature. Modern housewives rarely use it, preferring store-bought sauces. At the same time, lingonberries in the form of sauce have many advantages:

The preparations are suitable for regular, savory dishes;
Lingonberry sauce goes well with meat and fish;
The sauces are suitable even for children and people with diabetes.

The disadvantage of this harvesting method is, first of all, its complexity. However, such a preparation will significantly diversify the table in winter and will become the pride of the hostess. Despite the fact that red wine is used in the cooking process, this dish is also suitable for children. Alcohol evaporates during cooking, so it will not harm children.

Home making process:

Prepare additional ingredients. For 500 g of lingonberries you will need: ginger, a glass of red wine, 3 tbsp. spoons of sugar, cinnamon, half a glass of water, 1 tbsp. spoon of starch.
The gifts of nature need to be mashed, add sugar and water. Place the mixture on the fire and boil for 15-20 minutes.
Then add the wine and also cook over very low heat until the alcohol disappears from the dish.
Add cinnamon and ginger as your heart dictates. You can also diversify the product with other spices as your heart desires.
Stir the starch in cold water, thoroughly breaking up and kneading all the lumps. Add the dissolved substance to the sauce and stir. Cook over low heat for another 5 minutes, then pour into jars and close.

You can store such an unusual preparation anywhere, preferably in a dark place.

Lingonberry tincture

Another unusual way of preparing the gifts of nature is tincture. Since this is an alcoholic product, it is not suitable for children. However, subsequently the berries from the tincture can be used to prepare other, savory dishes.

Preparation procedure:

Take vodka and berries in a 2:1 ratio. You will also need 3 tbsp. spoons of sugar with top.
Place the gifts of nature in jars or bottles and fill with vodka. Add sugar.
Place the dishes in a dark place for 3-4 weeks. The dishes should be shaken periodically.
After this time, the tincture will be ready. It can be consumed as a strong drink or the berries can be removed from it and used for other dishes.

Advice. The berries from the tincture are well suited for preparing fresh sauces or marinades for meat dishes.

These simple methods of preparing lingonberries for the winter at home without a refrigerator will help you preserve a large number of lingonberries in different varieties.

Express recipe for pickled lingonberries for sauces

Ingredients

Lingonberries – 1 kg;
water - 900 ml;
sugar – 1 tbsp. l.;
salt – 0.5 tsp;
cloves, cinnamon.

Preparation:

Boil syrup from water, sugar and spices, cool completely.
Place the washed berries in glass jars, fill with syrup and leave for 3-4 days at a temperature of 10-15 ° C, then put in the refrigerator.
Sometimes the bright and healthy berry is used as an additional component in preparations and salads, and here is a classic example - apples soaked with lingonberries.

How to quickly sort out lingonberries

When harvesting lingonberries, a lot of branches, leaves and small debris fall into it. You can use various devices for cleaning fruits, which will significantly reduce the time and effort required to prepare berries for storage. There are many different ways that can significantly save time. The first stage is always the same: the fruits need to be scattered on a cloth and dried.

Washing with water

Pour cold water over the berries and leave for a quarter of an hour. When stirring the fruits with your hands, all foreign inclusions will rise to the surface; they can be easily removed with a slotted spoon or a regular spoon. The fluid must be changed several times. When it stops becoming cloudy and debris no longer floats up, the lingonberries are ready. Before further use, dry it thoroughly on a cloth or paper towel.

Cleaning with a wide mesh

Install a device with a mesh, for example, a wide sieve, at an angle so that the berries can easily roll off. The cells should be large enough to allow debris to fall freely, but not too large compared to the size of the average berry. At the bottom you need to put a film on which the already peeled berries will fall, this way you can significantly reduce the mechanical negative impact. The fruits should not be poured out too quickly so that the total mass rolls off slowly and all the debris has time to fall.

Cleaning with a vacuum cleaner

Dry fruits are poured into a wide sieve in small portions, so they can move freely during the cleaning process. Direct an air flow through the cells, the berries will roll, thus it will be possible to sift out the lighter weight debris, however, if the berries have lain for some time after picking, additional sorting is necessary. It is better to set the vacuum cleaner to medium power so as not to spoil the fruit.

Cleaning by sifting in the wind

In a strong wind, pour the berries from one container to another at a height of 1.5 meters. This method is used in open areas in a field, on the banks of a river. Repeat pouring 3 to 5 times. You can place soft fabric, such as felt or knitwear, in the container located below to avoid shocks when falling from a height.

On a note!
The method is not suitable for overripe berries picked at the very end of the season. After sifting, such a crop should be processed within 24 hours.

Cleaning on rough surfaces

The gutter, made of textured material, is installed at an angle and covered with a thick towel, for example, a so-called waffle towel. The berries will roll down the towel, and large debris in the form of leaves and twigs will remain on the fabric. To make such a simple device, you can use wood, mesh, or thick cardboard.

Lingonberries soaked with apples

To prepare you will need:

1 kg of lingonberries;
5 glasses of water;
500 g Chinese apples;
3 cups granulated sugar.

Preparation:

Wash the lingonberries and place in a prepared container (alternating with thoroughly washed apples).
Pour all this over the prepared and completely cooled syrup.
Then everything is done in the same way as when soaking one lingonberry.
Instead of Chinese apples, you can take any other apples (Antonov apples are best), which are cut in half before cooking.
To add flavor, you can use lemon zest or cloves with cinnamon. The syrup is boiled with these spices, then it needs to be strained.

Fresh berries

The most delicious and healthy are fresh lingonberries. Its sour berries have an incredible aroma and original taste. Cooks all over the world add it to sauces intended to be served with meat, fish and mushroom dishes. Lingonberries are also good in sweet form. Desserts are often made from it and prepared in the form of jam or jam. Ripe red berries make delicious, aromatic compotes and fruit drinks.

Sometimes it happens that in the forest you can pick up a whole “mountain” of fresh berries, so to prevent them from spoiling, you need to know how to preserve lingonberries for the winter. It is at this time of year that our body needs it most. In winter, due to a lack of vitamins, it is weakened and susceptible to various unpleasant diseases. Eating lingonberries helps saturate the body with vitamins and also helps cope with viral diseases.

The fruits contain a large amount of acids, which act as an antiseptic. It is thanks to them that you can store fresh berries.

The process of preserving berries for the winter:

The lingonberries are carefully sorted. All spoiled, unripe and crushed fruits are removed from the total mass.
The lingonberries are washed 3 times with cold water and dried.
The prepared berries are placed in jars and filled with warm boiled water.
Containers with lingonberries are stored in the refrigerator or cellar for 3 days.
After the specified period of time, the water is drained and replaced with fresh water.
The jars are closed with a lid and stored in a cool place.

Soaked lingonberries in weight loss diets

Due to the beneficial qualities of this berry, its inclusion in the diet provides ideal conditions for losing excess weight. After all, lingonberries are also a low-calorie berry. The body is saturated with essential substances and vitamins, which significantly reduces the process of converting carbohydrates into fat deposits.

Lingonberries can be used to prepare many delicious dishes and drinks: fruit drinks, jam, preserves, baked goods, meat products and even soups. But if you want to reduce your weight and improve your health, use this berry only fresh or frozen without sugar. Otherwise, you will gain weight.

Preparing berries correctly

To collect berries, it will not be enough for you to simply find a bush with lingonberries. You need to know a few harvesting rules:

It is very important to pick berries that are bright red or even burgundy.
Fruits can be picked only in ecologically clean regions. Away from roads and factories.
It is best to plan your berry picking trip in dry and sunny weather.
If you notice that the lingonberries are spoiled, it is better not to pick them or throw them away immediately. The fruit should be the same color and firm to the touch.

Lingonberry mono-diet

Only lingonberries and kefir are consumed, other products are excluded from the diet. The duration of the mono-diet cannot exceed 3 days. The ideal day to start a diet is Friday. On the first day you should drink 1.5 liters of kefir and eat 3 cups of berries.

It is better to make a cocktail from kefir and lingonberries, since the acid contained in lingonberries will not irritate the walls of the stomach. It is recommended to drink this cocktail not in 1-2 doses, but in portions 7-8 times. Naturally, on fasting days you should drink water regularly, and overweight people need it even more than thin people.

Shelf life of frozen berries

The suitability of frozen foods depends on several factors. It is advisable to have a refrigerator or freezer in your home equipped with a modern No Frost cooling system. In contrast, regular old refrigerators cannot provide fast and deep freezing, which completely preserves the structure of the product.

The temperature in the chamber must be maintained at a constant level and not rise above -18 degrees. If it is within -10 degrees, as in old refrigerators, then in this case the shelf life is significantly reduced.

Lingonberries, unlike other berries, can be stored for quite a long time - from 12 months to 2-3 years. But this is the case if it is frozen entirely, in its pure form. Prepared in other ways, for example, with sugar, ground, it can be stored for up to a year.

Lingonberry water

In addition to the lingonberry berries themselves, lingonberry water also has almost the same healing properties. Her recipe is simple and easy to prepare. We take ingredients based on 1 kg of lingonberries.

Method #1 (quick):

Pour the berries into a bowl, fill with water so that the level is 2-3 cm above the surface of the berries.
Wash the lingonberries.
Remove floating debris.
Rinse again.
Drain the remaining water through a colander.
Boil 2 liters of water in a 5 liter enamel container.
Cool the water to 70 degrees and add the berries. (If desired, you can sweeten the water slightly before adding the berries).
Cover with a lid and let sit until the water cools.
Drain the water through a colander into a suitable container, and you can drink it with pleasure. In this case, a certain amount of vitamins and nutrients will be lost, but this deficiency is compensated by the speed of preparation.

Method No. 2 (long):

The first 6 points - peeling the berries and boiling water - remain unchanged.
Then cool the water to room temperature.
In this case, there is no need to add sugar.
Pour lingonberries into glass jars (up to half the volume in each jar) and fill almost to the top with cold water.
Cover with plastic lids and store in a cool place.
Leave for 2-2.5 weeks.

When the color of the water turns deep pink, the lingonberry water is ready to drink. If desired, the berries can be sprinkled with sugar while eating.

Recipes for canning lingonberries

During the canning process, the berries are heat treated and pasteurized, and the containers are sterilized and hermetically sealed. Thanks to this, the fruits can be stored at room temperature for several years.

To preserve lingonberries, you can make a fruit drink, make jam, or make jam. If desired, the berries can be left untouched and preserved in their natural form.

Lingonberry jam is an almost homogeneous mass obtained from berries twisted with sugar.

For canning, it is very important to properly prepare the container. Glass jars and lids must first be washed well and then sterilized. This can be done in several ways: in a pan of water by boiling, steaming, in the oven and even in the microwave.

Small jars are easiest to sterilize in a saucepan. They must be carefully placed on the bottom and filled to the top with water. You can place metal lids nearby. Over medium heat, bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat slightly and leave the container to sterilize for 10-30 minutes, depending on its volume. Liter jars are sterilized for 10 minutes, and three-liter jars, respectively, for 30 minutes.

Jars can also be sterilized by steam. To do this, place a special stand with recesses for cans or a grill on a large pan of water. The jars are placed with the neck down and after the water boils, they are left to sterilize for 10-30 minutes.

Such sterilization significantly reduces the risk of “bloating” of the jars.

The oven can sterilize many jars of different sizes at one time. To do this, you need to wash them and place them in the oven, wet, on a baking sheet or wire rack, neck down. The oven should be turned on only after all the containers have been assembled and heated to 150 °C. The jars are sterilized in this way for about half an hour. Metal lids can also be sterilized in the oven, but only if they do not have rubber inserts.

It is also useful to read: The benefits and harms of lingonberry berries and leaves

Regardless of the sterilization method, the jars become very hot during the process, so they should only be handled with a towel or a special glove.

Pears soaked with lingonberries

Ingredients

10 kg of pears;
1.5 kg lingonberries.

Filling (per 10 liters of water):

10 tsp. curdled milk;
2 tbsp. l. salt;
1 tbsp. l. dry mustard.

Preparation:

Place the pears in rows, sprinkle with lingonberries and arrange with blackcurrant leaves.
Pour in cold wort, cover with a cloth, place a circle and a bend. Store for the first 8-10 days at a temperature of 18-22°C, making sure that the top layer of pears is covered with must and, if necessary, supplement it.
Then transfer it to a cool place for further fermentation.
After 1.5 months, the pears will be ready to eat.

How to defrost correctly

Lingonberries are defrosted in several ways:

place the jar/container with berry contents in a saucepan and fill with warm water for 20 minutes;
Place the berries on a plate lined with paper towels;
rinse the sealed bag under warm running water;
transfer the workpiece to the refrigerator for 10-11 hours.

With honey

If you replace granulated sugar with honey, you can simply get a storehouse of vitamins for the winter. But in order not to lose them during cooking, you should exactly repeat all the steps in the description, because the bee product loses its beneficial properties during heat treatment.

Ingredients:

sorted lingonberries – 1.6 kg;
drinking water – 2.5 l;
honey – 0.15 l.

You can enhance the warming and flavoring effect by adding a little cloves and cinnamon.

Cooking process step by step:

It is necessary to put the berries in a colander, rinse under the tap, allow all the liquid to drain and spread on a kitchen towel, allowing to dry.
Next, you need to boil the water, after passing it through a filter, and let it cool quite a bit.
When the liquid reaches 60°C (approximately), honey should be completely dissolved in it.
Carefully pour all the berries into a sterilized 3-liter jar and fill it with sweet syrup. The water should cover the fruit by about 3 fingers.
The neck of the container needs to be rewound with a piece of gauze and the contents allowed to brew for 5 days.
Now you need to close it with a plastic lid and store the product in a cool place (cellar, refrigerator).

The preparation can be served as a healthy dessert with hot tea, the liquid can be strained, and the berries can be used as a filling for dumplings or open pastries. The remaining juice is best consumed to boost immunity during the cold season.

How to choose the right lingonberries for storage?

Most of us buy lingonberries in a store or market. In stores, lingonberries are mainly sold frozen. Therefore, great care must be taken when buying berries on the market.

First of all, you need to ask the seller where the berries come from and ask for a certificate for the berries. As mentioned above, lingonberries absorb radiation well and if you buy such berries, instead of being beneficial, you can get big health problems.

The berries must be ripe and firm and without signs of spoilage.