Bird cherry - a berry unique in its composition, bringing tangible benefits to our body. Thanks to the recipes given in the article, you will fully preserve its taste and healing power.

The fruits of bird cherry were well known to our distant ancestors, as archaeological excavations clearly show. Bird cherry belongs to poisonous plants, since amygdalin was found in its bones, which, when decayed, is converted into hydrocyanic acid. The consequences of exposure to this poison manifest themselves in different ways (both digestive upset and severe poisoning can be observed). Fortunately, exposure to heat or cold decomposes this harmful element.

How to harvest bird cherry?

Harvested in the morning (after the dew has dried) or in the evening, but always in dry weather (wet fruits deteriorate very quickly and become moldy). It is recommended to process even absolutely dry berries no later than 3-4 hours after harvest. Harvested from the end of July to September. Brushes are cut off or torn off by hands and put into buckets or baskets.

Dried bird cherry

Bird cherry spread on flat surface  and dried in air or in dryers (ovens, ovens) at a temperature not higher than 40-50 ° C. In the drying process, the berries are mixed. The dried fruits have a wrinkled surface of dark color. The bird cherry tree is sorted out, separating from the stalks and removing the burnt fruits, they are left to dry for a while on a glazed loggia or in a barn, after which they are put in bags or boxes and stored in ventilated dry room  no longer than five years.

Bird cherry flour

Berries dried in the above manner are ground into flour (for example, using a coffee grinder) and stored in a dry and well-ventilated area. Use this product when baking bread  or bakery products (the introduction of 25-50% of such flour is acceptable). In addition, jelly is boiled from bird cherry flour, it is brewed as tea or made toppings for pies.

Frozen bird cherry

Bird cherry is washed, sorted out, removing damaged berries, dried on fabric, laid out in portioned packets, sealed (tied) and frozen.

Bird cherry jam

• Sugar - 1.3 kg
• Water - 3 tbsp.
• Bird cherry - 1 kg

Intact ripe berries are kept in boiling water for two minutes, spread in a cooking bowl and pour in syrup (it is prepared on water in which the berries are blanched, after which they are filtered through several layers of gauze). Jam is boiled in one go, removing the foam. The thickened product is laid out in prepared jars and corked.

Cherry Syrup

• Sugar - 1 kg
• Water - 1 L
• Bird cherry (mashed potatoes) - 1 kg

Berries are kept at room temperature  exactly one day, after which it is poured with a small amount of water, heated to 90 ° C and cooked for 5-7 minutes with active stirring (the pulp should be separated from the seeds). Then the mass is wiped through a frequent sieve, sugar, water are added, boiled until tender, poured into prepared bottles and sealed.

Bird cherry rubbed with sugar

• Sugar - 300 g
• Bird cherry (mashed potatoes) - 1 kg

Clean and sampled bird cherry fruits are cooked with a small amount of water, wiped through a metal sieve, sugar is added, mixed, put in half-liter jars and pasteurized for twenty minutes.

Stewed bird cherry

• Sugar - 300 g
• Water - 1.3 L
• Bird cherry - 1 kg

The berries are washed with warm water, blanched for a couple of minutes, placed in an enameled bowl, poured with hot syrup and left for 5 hours (without closing the lid). After this, the berries are removed, transferred to sterile jars, filling them a quarter, pour boiling syrup and roll up. Banks are turned over, wrapped and left for at least 8 hours.

Cherry filling (old recipe)

Ripe bird cherry is washed, scattered on a spread cloth and left for 3 days. After that, the berries are laid out on a sieve or on a board and put in heated stove (oven). Shriveled, but not completely dried fruits are pounded, poured into a bottle (filling it to the very neck) and filled with vodka. After 6 weeks, pour the liquor, add sugar (to taste) and mix. After that, the product is completely ready for use.

Bird cherry can lead to poisoning only if it is used together with fresh bones. Otherwise, this berry is absolutely safe and very useful.

For me, spring begins when the bird cherry blossoms. The sweet and intoxicating aroma of bird cherry is difficult to confuse with something, it is dizzy, and smells of spring. Alas, bird cherry blossoms for a short time, and its aroma is carried away by the wind, but some part is preserved in the berries. If you love spring and miss this freshness, I offer you several recipes for cherry cherry jam.

Berries of bird cherry should be washed and sorted. Remove the stalks and leaflets. Drying berries is not worth it. This is superfluous work, and a few drops of water will not hurt.

For 1 kg of bird cherry berries:

• 1 kg of sugar;
• 100 gr. water.

Cook syrup from sugar and water. When the sugar has completely dissolved, pour the berries into the syrup and remove the pan from the stove. Let the berries stand a little and let the juice go. It’s better not to mix with a spoon so as not to damage the berries, better shake a little and twist the pan.

When the syrup has completely cooled, put the pan on the fire and cook the jam on very low heat for an hour.

Grated bird cherry jam with stones

• 1 kg of bird cherry;
• 1 kg of sugar.

Jam made in this way tastes like marzipan. It has a creamy consistency and is suitable for filling pies, or other delicate desserts.

As always, the berries need to be sorted out and cleaned of garbage. Rinse the berries in a colander and let them drain. In this recipe, the less water, the better.

Twist the berries in a meat grinder with seeds 3-4 times. The blender cannot handle this, it has already been tested many times.

Sprinkle bird cherry with sugar and mix well. Let this “porridge” stand for an hour, and only then can you put the pot of jam on the stove.

Fire should be minimal and jam should barely boil for at least an hour. After that, you can put the jam in sterile jars and send it to the closet for storage.

Raw bird cherry jam - recipe without cooking

Jam without boiling retains most of its vitamins, and taste. But its shelf life, even in the refrigerator, does not exceed 6 months. But, nevertheless, this is one of the most popular types of jam.

For 1 kg of bird cherry:

• 2 kg of sugar.

As in the previous recipe, cherry berries should be twisted 3-4 times through a meat grinder.

Add sugar and mix well. Leave the jam to stand at room temperature for 1-2 hours, mix again and you can assume that the jam is ready.

Place it in clean and dry jars with lids and refrigerate.

Many people are concerned that the cherry bones contain alkaloids, which in the human body turn into toxic hydrocyanic acid. Yes, that’s the truth. But, in order to get poisoned with hydrocyanic acid, you need to eat a liter of jam with stones in one sitting. Then, you may feel slight signs of poisoning.

How to make cherry jam, look at the video:

  “Mom, let's open your beetroot jam!” And the beetroot jam is actually, of course, not beetroot - it’s just his kind. And the taste is very interesting!

Red bird cherry is suitable not only for making pies. But the jam from it is wonderful! And if you combine this berry with others, then the taste will be unusual! Try making jam based on red bird cherry and apples. And it will not disappoint you in the least.

Time for preparing:2.5 hours.

The complexity of the preparation:  average.

Ingredients:

Red bird cherry - 150 g

Sugar - 300 g

Water - about a glass

Bring to a boil. And boil for 5 minutes. Then remove the bird cherry from the stove and let it cool. The berries will then be soft, and the flesh will begin to separate easily from the seeds.

I separate the pulp from the bones by hand. It is very easy to do. Just push on the berry and the bone pops out.

Discard the seeds, and put the berry flesh back into the saucepan.

Now let's deal with apples. Three of them on a coarse grater and lower to our berries.

Now we need to weigh the resulting mass. I weigh right in the pan. And then I subtract the weight of the pan from the total weight.

Pour sugar with our fruit and berry mixture. And let her stand for an hour. You can set aside longer, by 2-2.5 hours. During this time, berries and apples will give juice.

Then we add some water. It took me about a glass. You may have a little less or more. Water should completely hide apples with bird cherry and rise above them by 1 centimeter.

Turn on the stove and bring our mass to a boil, then lower the temperature. Cook for 15 minutes. During this time, the apples should become translucent. Turn off the stove and let the jam stand on a warm burner.

Then turn on the stove again and bring the jam to a boil. Boil the berry and fruit mass to the desired consistency. The readiness of jam can be checked in a very easy way, which is usually used by everyone. Just put the jam on a plate. If the drop has smooth boundaries, does not spread and does not look like water, this means that the jam is ready. You can safely turn off the burner and remove it from the stove.

While the jam is cooling, prepare jars. We wash them well with soda. You can also use any dishwashing detergent or laundry soap. Then scald the jars with boiling water or calcine in the oven. We do the same with covers.

We spread our jam on the banks and tighten the lids tightly. That's all! Harvesting can now stand quietly in winter and wait in the wings.

The fruits of bird cherry have a pronounced astringent taste, because of which not everyone likes. However, the benefit of this berry is so high that in folk medicine it is used quite widely. In particular, it helps relieve spasms, get rid of diarrhea, prevent visual impairment, and cleanse blood vessels. Bird cherry jam, even the simplest one, which is harvested for the winter, preserves many useful properties of fresh berries. Moreover, it has a pleasant taste that will appeal even to those who do not eat fresh bird cherry.

I would like that cherry jam turned out to be tasty and fragrant, well kept all winter, while preserving useful properties. Such a dessert can be obtained only following certain recommendations.

• Typically, bird cherry is harvested black, that is, it is fully ripe, because in this case it is not so tart. Jam from it turns out quite tender and pleasant to the taste. However, some housewives prefer to make jam from red bird cherry, as it contains more vitamin A. What you prefer, benefit or taste, you decide.
• Before washing, bird cherry need to be well sorted and dried. Sprigs and leaves should not get into the jam.
• It is extremely undesirable to wash it under a strong stream of water, as this can damage its thin skin. Wash it, dipping in a colander in clean water. Do it repeatedly (3-4 times). However, to make jam, which is called seedless jam, bird cherry can be washed in running water.
• After washing, the bird cherry is dried again by spreading it on a towel. The less water gets into the jam, the better it will be stored.
• They lay out the prepared jam in sterilized jars - just washing them cleanly is not enough. Lids also need sterilized.
• You can store cherry cherry jam for no more than 8 months, it is even better to eat it for six months. The reason is that its bones contain hydrocyanic acid, albeit in microscopic quantities. The longer the jam is stored, the more dangerous it becomes. For the same reason, you can not eat a lot of jam. It is best to use it as a medicine - a spoon or two a day.

Bird cherry jam will benefit those who are prone to diarrhea, are overweight, and who are diagnosed with cholecystitis. However, it will harm people with constipation. This delicacy is strictly contraindicated for children, pregnant and lactating women.

A simple recipe for bird cherry jam for the winter

Composition (2.5 L):

• black bird cherry - 1 kg;
• granulated sugar - 1.25 kg;
• water - 0.75 l.

Cooking method:

• Rinse bird cherry and dry.
• Boil water, dissolve sugar in it in an amount of 0.5 kg.
• Place the bird cherry in a colander and lower it into boiling syrup. Keep the berries in it for 3-4 minutes.
• Remove the colander from the syrup and hold it for a while to let the syrup stack from the berries into the pot.
• Put bird cherry in a clean pot or enameled basin.
• Add the remaining sugar to the syrup. When it is completely dissolved, pour the bird cherry in boiling syrup, put the container with it on a low fire.
• Cook, stirring and removing the resulting foam, 15 minutes.
• Arrange the jam in prepared jars, cover them with boiled metal lids. Once the jars of bird cherry jam have cooled, put them in the refrigerator - store cherry jam, prepared according to this simple recipe, which is considered classic, is recommended in the winter in a cool place.

Despite the fact that the traditional way of making cherry jam for the winter is quite simple, it turns out to be very tasty, while the bones give it an unusual aroma.

Red bird cherry jam

Composition (2.5 L):

• red bird cherry - 1.5 kg;
• sugar - 1.5 kg.

Cooking method:

• Sort, rinse thoroughly and dry the bird cherry.
• Turn it through the meat grinder three times. You can not use a blender to grind it, since it can fail due to this.
• Chopped bird cherry mix with sugar until smooth.
• Put on a slow fire and cook for an hour, not bringing to a boil. So that the jam does not boil, the basin with it will have to be periodically removed from the fire, and when it cools down a bit, put back.
• Pour the finished jam into sterilized jars, roll it carefully. After cooling, clean for the winter.

This simple recipe can also be used to make “seedless” jam from black bird cherry. It should be borne in mind that there are still bones in it, albeit crushed. This means that the jam is not subject to prolonged storage, although it costs well at room temperature.

Bird cherry jam with lemon juice

Composition (2.5 L):

• bird cherry - 1.5 kg;
• lemon juice - 50 ml;
• sugar - 1.5 kg.

Cooking method:

• Pour the prepared bird cherry (whole) with sugar and pour over lemon juice. Leave overnight in a cool place.
• In the morning, drain the resulting juice into a small container and place on the stove. Boil the syrup until the sugar in it is completely dissolved, but for at least 5 minutes.
• Pour the syrup over the berry and set it on fire. Cook, stirring, half an hour.
• Pour the jam into sterilized jars. Close them tightly with metal covers, let cool.

You can store this jam at room temperature. It has a sweet-sour, slightly tart taste and a delicious aroma.

Fragrant bird cherry jam for the winter

Composition (2 l):

• bird cherry - 1 kg;
• sugar - 1 kg;
• water - 0.75 l;
• ground cinnamon - 5 g.

Cooking method:

• Rinse the fruits of bird cherry, dip them in a colander in boiling water for 5 minutes, remove and dry the berries, pouring them on a towel.
• From the pan where the bird cherry blanched, pour 3 cups of water, bring to a boil. Dissolve sugar in water, add cinnamon and boil the syrup for 5 minutes.
• Put bird cherry in syrup and cook, stirring, for 30 minutes.
• Wait until the jam cools down, put it in sterilized jars, cover with plastic lids. Keep in the refrigerator.

If you cook bird cherry for 10 minutes longer, pour it into jars without cooling, and roll it tightly with metal lids, then you can store it in the pantry in winter. However, this jam looks less appetizing.

To make cherry jam for the winter according to any of the above recipes is not difficult. To have a jar or two of such a treat in the house does not hurt. The main thing is to remember that everything is good in moderation, and there is no bird cherry jam in large portions.