In winter, it is quite difficult to find greens in the store, and their price increases greatly during this period. One of these products is sorrel, which many people use in the preparation of soups, borscht, cold appetizers, sauces or baked goods. To be able to enjoy such dishes after the end of the ripening period of the herbaceous plant, you need to know the conditions for its storage. This article provides information about the shelf life of sorrel and the rules for keeping it at home.
How to store sorrel
Storing sorrel is not a difficult task if you understand the details. The vegetable can be stored for a short time without refrigeration and for several months in the refrigerator; sorrel can be frozen, dried, pickled or pickled. The most popular ways to prepare sorrel are salting and freezing.
Recommended reading: How to properly store avocados
Preparing sorrel with sugar for pies
For those who love any baked goods, whether fried or in the oven, they will really like this cooking method. Yes, and in general, you can get such a yummy and eat it so easily, because it has a pleasant sweet and sour taste and plus a bunch of vitamins.
We will need:
- sorrel - about 1 kg
- granulated sugar - 0.2 kg
Stages:
1. Wash the sorrel and cut into pieces, then sprinkle it with sugar and stir.
2. Then take a clean jar, maybe not even sterilized, and put the treat in it. Cover with a plastic or self-screwing lid. Store in the refrigerator or cellar.
How to keep sorrel fresh in the refrigerator for several weeks
If you want to store sorrel for several weeks:
- wash its leaves;
- dry with a paper towel;
- put in a clean jar, close the lid;
- Place on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
How to store sorrel in the refrigerator for a long time ? Use a plastic bag for this. In this method, the leaves are not washed. They need to be wiped with a damp cloth and then dried for 15 minutes on the table.
Place all the greens in a plastic bag and seal. Take a fork and poke a few holes in the bag. This is necessary for ventilation so that your sorrel does not “suffocate”.
How to select and prepare leaves?
Sorrel suitable for storage should be selected very carefully:
- Leaves should be bright green and free of spots. Yellowed edges also indicate unsuitability for storage.
- Carefully inspect for pests! Leaves affected by aphids have a finer structure and less pronounced taste.
The plant can only be collected until mid-July. After the onset of hot weather, a large amount of oxalic acid accumulates in it, the consumption of which is harmful to human health. Its quantity does not decrease either during freezing or drying.
Before storing in the refrigerator, the leaves should be wiped with a damp cloth. They can only be washed if they are heavily soiled. To do this, place the greens in a container of cold water and carefully wash off the dirt. It is not advisable to place it under running water from a tap. The washed sorrel should be lightly shaken off the water and spread on a cloth towel to dry for 5-10 minutes.
How to keep sorrel fresh in the refrigerator for a month or longer
Let us next consider how to store sorrel in the refrigerator using freezing. Thanks to this method, all the beneficial properties of the plant are preserved.
What do we have to do:
- Place the collected leaves in a bowl of water and sort through. Remove limp leaves and stray debris.
- Gently wash the leaves under gentle running water.
- Dry the leaves with a paper towel.
- Cut the sorrel into long strips.
- Pack everything into bags and put it in the freezer.
Lifehack. Before planting, make sure that there is no moisture on the sorrel leaves. The quality of the workpiece during storage directly depends on this.
Before planting, you can pour boiling water over the leaves. Any experienced housewife will tell you that such a procedure will extend the shelf life of the product. After this, the taste of sorrel will be richer and the color will be brighter.
What factors influence storage
In spring, tender green leaves appear, which are best suited for baking pies and preparing summer borscht. But only young, juicy and elastic plants are harvested for the winter. Initially, they need to be sorted through, removing the following elements:
- Arrows from flowers.
- Dried and yellow leaves.
- Torn parts.
For short-term storage, sorrel is not rinsed with water . It must be dry to be stored on the middle shelf of the refrigerator. Additional moisture accelerates the decay process, in which case the greens will remain fresh for much less time. The following factors influence the storage of sorrel:
- Temperature regime.
- Air humidity.
- Product quality.
- No direct sunlight.
According to the carefully developed Republican GOST of the RSFSR, sorrel should be stored in plastic bags or jars with plastic liners in a room with the following parameters:
- Temperature – 0°C.
- Humidity within 90-95%.
At the same time, bags of prepackaged greens should not exceed 1 kg , and the room in which they are stored should be dark and well ventilated .
How to store sorrel in the refrigerator: pickle the vegetable
Sorrel can be stored in the refrigerator, salted, in jars. You can salt the vegetable with either salt or brine. In the first case, the workpiece needs to be washed, cut into strips and covered with salt. The proportions are as follows: for 1 kg of sorrel you need to take 2 tablespoons of salt.
For the second method, you must first sterilize the jars. Place the chopped sorrel in a container and fill it with brine, previously cooled to room temperature. The proportions are: 1 liter of water, 2 tablespoons of salt.
Close the jars with nylon or roll up with metal lids. The workpieces should be stored in a dark and cool place.
Methods for preserving without refrigeration
Drying vegetables is an affordable way to prepare them for future use. The shelf life in this form is one year, provided that the sorrel is placed in a container that prevents moisture from entering. The taste remains unchanged.- The leaves are sorted and washed thoroughly, and the water is allowed to drain. After this, cut, distribute on a towel or parchment, cover with a napkin. Place the greens in the sun to dry.
- The prepared plant is placed in a sieve. The container is placed on the balcony or in the kitchen cabinet. The greens are mixed twice a day. You can determine readiness by assessing the fragility of sorrel - the dried leaves should not crumble.
- Sorrel is collected in small bouquets, which are hung on the balcony, hidden from the sun's rays. After 1-1.5 weeks the plant will acquire the necessary condition.
- Canned sorrel can be stored for about two years. In this way, an assortment of greens is prepared, adding parsley or dill. The leaves are washed, cut and tightly placed in sterilized jars, poured with boiling water. The containers are rolled up with lids and left to cool, turning upside down. Subsequent storage temperature is no more than 25 degrees.
- The sorrel is washed and loaded into the pan, chopped or whole.
Pour boiling water so that the leaves of the plant are slightly under water. After boiling for 5 minutes, pour into sterilized jars, which are tightly sealed. At room temperature the shelf life is 12 months. The recipe can be supplemented using salted water (2 tablespoons of salt per 1 liter of boiling water). A similar method is preservation in cold water. In this case, jars of fresh sorrel are sterilized for a quarter of an hour in a pan of boiling water, after which they are twisted.
The convenience of these methods is that the sorrel is completely ready for use. Add as many greens to the dish as you deem necessary.
Storing sorrel at home without salt
Salt is a universal preservative. However, sorrel can be stored without it. Oxalic acid will protect the product, protecting it from decay processes.
What do we have to do:
- Blanch the sorrel for 5 minutes before placing in jars.
- Place the workpiece in jars and roll up.
You can store it not only on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, but in the cellar.
Important: do not remove the plant stem. It contains the most oxalic acid.
Canned sorrel for the winter with boiling water without salt
If you preserve green sorrel leaves without salt using boiling water, then in winter you can enjoy delicious green cabbage soup cooked in half an hour. Preservation is often added to vegetable casseroles or salads, adding sourness and a spicy note to the dish.
Ingredients:
- freshly picked sorrel leaves;
- cool boiling water.
Canning process:
- Wash the sorrel 2 times.
- Slice as thin as possible.
- Boil water in a saucepan over a fire.
- Place the prepared sorrel into it.
- Mix the mixture with a spoon, immersing it in water.
- Simmer in boiling water for two minutes.
- Place the prepared mixture into jars, squeezing out the brine.
- Drain liquid from jars.
- Cover the jar with a lid and cool upside down.
For harvesting, you need to choose young, but very juicy sorrel leaves. It is imperative to carefully sort through the leaves and remove damaged ones so that the seaming is preserved as long as possible.
Pickled sorrel
Above we described several ways to keep sorrel fresh in the refrigerator . But this is not all that can be done with a vegetable. Like other products, sorrel can be pickled.
The marinade is prepared as follows: add a teaspoon of salt and half a glass of vinegar to 1 liter of boiling water. Sorrel must be washed, dried, and cut before placing in jars.
Place the sorrel in glass containers, pour in the marinade cooled to room temperature and cover with a lid.
You can also make a preparation for green borscht. For 1 kg of sorrel you need:
- 0.5 kg of onion feathers;
- 500 g of greens: you will need parsley and dill;
- salt, 8 tablespoons.
What to do: chop the greens finely and add salt. Manually grind the workpiece until the juice is released. Place everything in jars and sterilize for 15 minutes. Roll up the lids and store in a dark, cool place.
Sterilization with vinegar and salt
This homemade recipe without blanching will be appreciated by lovers of soups and green borscht. The preparation is very simple, but it turns out delicious. Two acids - oxalic and acetic - act as excellent preservatives.
So, you will need:
- sorrel - a large bunch;
- salt - 1 tbsp. l.;
- water - 0.5 l;
- vinegar (9%) - 1 tsp;
- sterilized jars with lids (to sterilize, you need to keep 0.5-liter jars under steam for 5 minutes).
All components are designed for ½ liter of water. If there is a larger quantity, then the remaining products must be recalculated proportionally. The cooking procedure is as follows.
Wash the greens and remove the stems.
Finely chop the leaves and place them in jars.
Prepare the marinade: add salt to the water, bring to a boil, remove from the stove. Pour in vinegar.
Pour the prepared marinade over the greens (no need to blanch). Now you can close the jars with airtight lids.
Sorrel pickled in jars for the winter is ready. After the process is completed, insulate the jars by wrapping them in an old blanket until the liquid cools. This preparation will last in a cool pantry until next season.
