In the summer there is always enough work in the gardens and orchards. And in the kitchen zealous housewives trying to stock up on vitamins for the winter, creating from seasonal vegetables, berries and fruits truly culinary masterpieces... However, in addition to the pleasure of delicious food, I also want to give health benefits. Especially during the winter months hungry for vitamins and minerals.

Today I propose to discuss which is better: salting, freezing or drying foods so that as much as possible is stored in them. nutrients... We will talk about how to do it right, and learn a few healthy recipes delicious blanks.

Freezing food

Nutritionists unanimously argue that this method is the most preferred of all options for homemade preparations. Freezing is said to preserve almost 100% vitamins and minerals in food. Not only is the freezing method perfect way storage, the fruits that you then use for food are much more useful than those that are sold in winter on the shelves. Indeed, during storage and transportation, berries, fruits and vegetables lose a significant amount of nutrients.

Best for low temperatures saved:

• berries,
• cauliflower,
• black Eyed Peas,
• corn,
• greens,
• green pea,
• Bell pepper,
• eggplant,
• cucumbers,
• mushrooms,
• broccoli,
• tomatoes,
• Brussels sprouts,
• zucchini.

Turnip, salad, green onions and radishes are not frozen!

Before freezing food, they are thoroughly washed and peeled (for example, peppers need to be peeled from seeds; if you freeze zucchini, you can also peel them from seeds if they are large and hard). Then they are dried on a towel, trying to get rid of excess water, in some cases they are cut into pieces or slices, packed in special sealed bags and sent to the freezer.

In the freezer, food is blasted at low temperatures. This method contributes to the fact that liquid crystals are not formed in the products, which means that their taste and structure are best preserved, besides, the shelf life is lengthened.

The temperature in the freezer determines how long food can be stored in it:

• if you froze the fruits at -6 °, they can be in the freezer for three months;
• if the temperature is maintained in the freezer from -18 °, then the products can lie for 8-12 months.

There are products that it is advisable to blanch before freezing (steam or place in boiling water for just a few minutes, then immediately send to cold water):

• zucchini,
• green pea,
• Brussels sprouts,
• eggplant,
• corn,
• black Eyed Peas.

But these products should not be blanched:

• tomatoes,
• mushrooms,
• greens,
• cucumbers.

If you are going to freeze small tomatoes (cherry), you do not need to cut them into pieces, just pierce them in several places and freeze them - this will prevent them from cracking from the low temperature.

The berries that are more tasty are not those that were frozen whole, but those that were ground with sugar - this is especially true. You can knead the berries with a small amount of sugar, put them in trays, freeze, and then put the frozen pieces into bags for further storage in the freezer.

In this video you can watch interesting experience freezing a wide variety of products:

Kvasim, salt and soak

Basically, these different names harvesting food for the winter comes down to one thing - the need to use salt in the harvesting process. The only difference is in the products themselves.

You can ferment tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage,. Moreover, there is a special advantage of this method: pickled apples and sauerkraut are much richer in vitamin C than fresh apples and heads of cabbage.

The most interesting thing is that pickled cucumbers, in terms of the content of vitamin C, as well as group B, are not inferior to their counterparts, just picked from the garden in the summer.

For pickling cucumbers and tomatoes, you will need a brine: 2 tbsp per liter of water. salt.

For sourdough cabbage, you need to chop it and knead it thoroughly with salt: for 1 kg of cabbage 0.5 tsp. salt.

Soaked are not only traditionally apples, but also pears and even plums: for a liter of water you need 2-3 tbsp. salt and 1-2 tbsp. Sahara.

To keep pickles looking and crunching longer, store them in a cool, dark place.

Great assorted recipe pickled vegetables see in this video:

Marinating products

Pickling fruits is one of the worst ways preparation of food for the winter. The thing is that when pickling vegetables are subjected to heat treatment, which leads to the loss of up to 70% of nutrients. In addition, vinegar ( main component marinade) can harm the stomach. True, lovers of pickled preparations believe that many pickled vegetables and fruits are tastier than their fresh counterparts.

The marinade is usually prepared for cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms and cabbage. The classic recipe: for a liter of water, you need 2 tablespoons for the marinade. salt, 30ml vinegar, 1 tbsp. sugar and spices ( Bay leaf, hot pepper, various herbs, cloves, garlic, allspice). Depending on the recipe, the amount and composition of the ingredients will vary.

Usually the marinade is heated to a temperature below boiling (up to 100 °) and vegetables prepared and laid out in jars are poured with it. How many times you need to pour the food depends on the specific recipe.

The advantage of vinegar in the marinade is that it helps to destroy microbes, which allows you to keep hermetically sealed cans even when room temperature... It turns out, of course, very tasty, but it's a pity that it's not very healthy ...

For those who like to feast on pickled mushrooms in winter (like me), I recommend this simple and quick recipe:

Sweet preparations

Most of us are very fond of all sorts of jams, jams, marmalades. Unfortunately, this method of harvesting for the winter is the least beneficial in terms of preserving useful substances in them. Only 10-30% of vitamins and microelements remain in fruits. The whole problem is the need for heat treatment, and the longer the berries and fruits are boiled, the less benefit they will then have.

True, you can make so-called "cold jams" - this is when berries and fruits are ground with sugar. Also the best choice there will be recipes for pressure cookers when the fruits are boiled for up to five minutes.

The simplest classic recipe jam with maximum benefit will be like this: the sorted fruits are covered with sugar in a 1x1 ratio and boiled, stirring constantly. The readiness of such a jam is determined simply: put a drop of jam on a plate, if the drop does not spread, the jam is ready. Nice bonus will be that such blanks can be stored at room temperature.

Jam can be made from the most unusual products, and you can verify this by watching this video:

Dry food for the winter

Another excellent option the workpieces is drying. It allows you to save 50-70% of nutrients. The selection of foods that can be dried is quite large:

• berries (currants, strawberries, blueberries, blueberries, cranberries, wild strawberries, raspberries, grapes, mountain ash, rose hips),
• vegetables (carrots, peppers, eggplants, onion, tomatoes, garlic, green peas),
• fruits (apples, peaches, plums, apricots, pears),
• mushrooms,
• greens.

Special dryers are good for these purposes, you can use an oven (temperature 80 °) and even a microwave. For greens, the preferred drying temperature is no more than 50 °. If you are going to dry food in the fresh air, prepare that it will take you several days for this and you will need to turn the fruit from time to time to better dried and drying. If you dry your parsley this way, be careful not to be exposed to direct sunlight.

Small fruits can not be cut into slices, but simply put in one layer and send to dry. Large fruits will need to be cut first.

It should be remembered that dried fruits have higher calorie content than fresh ones, since they lose moisture during the drying process, but sugar remains, and its concentration is high in the dried fruit.

Unfortunately, during the drying process, significant losses of vitamin C occur - only one fourth of the original amount remains in the fruits. Also, the content of vitamins of group B decreases by a third. But the amount of vitamins E and A remains unchanged.

You can watch a video on how to dry vegetables and fruits in the dryer, as well as interesting recipe how to make marshmallow:

Successful preparations and good luck!

Summer! Even that word itself associated with warmth, sun and a huge variety of fruits, berries and vegetables. Hearing this word, we immediately imagine the rich colors of nature, flowers, sea, garden, garden…. It is summer that charges our body with real vitamins and antioxidants "right from the garden." Those who have a dacha or their own private plot, the word "summer" is more associated with preparations for the winter, which makes it possible to enjoy the gifts of nature all year round.

Today at cookbooks and internet can be found great amount different recipes and tips on how to dry, freeze and preserve berries, fruits, mushrooms, herbs and vegetables. Which one should you choose? It is rather difficult to give an unambiguous answer, all methods of preparation have their "pros" and "cons". But there is no doubt that you should not choose according to taste workpieces, but according to its usefulness to health. This is how they influence different ways blanks for the content of nutrients:

1. Canning. Canned vegetables, fruits, berries, herbs and mushrooms are convenient because they can be immediately served on the table. Therefore, the preservation method can be called Russian "fast food", which means " fast food". The advantage of canning is enough long storage even at temperatures up to 15 degrees Celsius.

However, this way blanks requires mandatory heat treatment, which destroys the bulk of the valuable. Canned foods contain no more than 20% of vitamins and minerals. In addition, sugar, salt, vinegar and other additives are used in canning. If they are contained in the marinade a large number, then canned product may even become unhealthy.

2. Freezing... After freezing, berries, fruits, vegetables, herbs and mushrooms retain almost everything beneficial features they possess in fresh... When exposed to negative temperatures, all microorganisms die, and useful vitamins and trace elements are not destroyed. Frozen vegetables and fruits can be stored in refrigerators until the next harvest, and some even larger. However, once frozen, you often do not need to defrost the workpieces.

Put fruits, vegetables and berries in the freezer, set the refrigerator mode to minus 18 degrees and defrost the right portion only once before use. To fill the freezer with vegetables and fruits, they must first be cleaned, washed and dried. Then cut the vegetables into small pieces, put in portioned bags and put in the freezer. Strawberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and other soft berries must be dried by sprinkling them on a tray. When they freeze, they need to be poured into bags and sent back to the freezer. It is very useful to freeze dill and parsley for the winter. First you need to wash them, grind them and sprinkle them into bags. So greens retain all the nutrients and are very convenient to use at the right time.

3. Drying... After drying, the products retain up to 40% of vitamins and 100% of microelements. You can dry fruits, berries, herbs and mushrooms. Dried vegetables are not popular, they can only be used for refueling. For example, dried carrots and beets. It is best to dry fruits and berries in the oven at a temperature not exceeding 70 degrees. Dried plums(prunes), apricots (dried apricots), grapes (raisins), apples, pears and pineapples - delicious treats for children and adults.

During drying up to 80% of moisture is removed from fruits and berries, so they can be stored for up to one year. Only you need to store dried fruits in a well-ventilated and not humid room, otherwise they quickly become moldy or food moths start up in them.

4. Candying... After interaction with sugar, fruits and vegetables retain only 60% of vitamins and 100% of microelements. But sugaring strawberries, currants, raspberries, strawberries and other sweet berries is a very convenient way of harvesting. Candied berries should be stored at sub-zero temperatures, they retain the taste and aroma of freshly picked berries and fruits. Only now you need to add a lot of sugar to these blanks, about 2 kg per 1 kg of berries. If you add less sugar to berries and fruits, then they must be boiled. Then it turns out jelly, jam, jam or jam. All vitamins in these preparations are digested, so there is no benefit from them, they are simply appreciated because of their aroma and taste.

5. Pickling... This is one of the procurement methods in which natural juice vegetables and fruits are used as a pickle. Most often we have sauerkraut. V sauerkraut up to 70% of vitamins are preserved, but when harvesting cabbage in the form of a salad, 45% of folic acid and 30% of vitamin E disappear in the first five minutes of cooking, which are very useful for the human body. There are a great many recipes for pickling cabbage, especially useful among them are those where you need to add beets, carrots, garlic and herbs.

- Return to the section table of contents " "

Drying can be natural (air or solar) and thermal. The loss of vitamins is inversely proportional to the drying time.

At natural drying the prepared fruits are poured in one layer on large sieves, boards, plywood sheets with nailed slats on the sides, etc. and set at such an inclination so that the sun's rays fall at a right angle. In the southern regions, iron and slate roofs are often used for this purpose, scattering fruits on mats made of burlap or paper (without printing ink), pressed against the roof with wooden slats or poles.

To accelerate drying, use stands (trays, trays, sieves) with a perforated bottom made of stainless steel or other non-oxidizing metal or braided from a cleaned wicker, as well as nets stretched over frames, etc. Holes are drilled in wooden stands. Drying, the fruits decrease in size, and they are poured from two or three onto one stand, and the freed ones are loaded with new batches of prepared raw materials. Racks are used to save space.

You can string pieces of fruit on strong threads and stretch them on multi-tiered shelving frames. It is advisable to dry the fruits withered in the sun over a heat source or in the oven, sprinkling them on a baking sheet in a denser layer. When drying on a wood stove, baking sheets (sieves, grates) are placed on supports (bricks) in two tiers and periodically changed. You can strengthen the baking sheet above the electric stove, having previously determined the desired distance between them. When drying on gas stove A sheet of iron is placed above the burners at a certain height to protect the first layer of the fruit from burning and to distribute heat more evenly.

In Russian ovens, they usually dry in two steps. On the first day, the fruits are poured onto sieves or grates with a layer of up to 5 cm and placed on supports in a not too hot oven for drying. The next day, they are dried up with more high temperature in the oven. During drying it is necessary to take care of the inflow of fresh air and the outflow of moist air from the oven. To do this, the shutter is installed on a support 4-5 cm high.This slot will receive Fresh air, and hot and humid - go into the hole between the brow of the stove and the damper.

It is also convenient to dry the fruits on a couch. To do this, the stove bench is covered with clean burlap or paper, the fruits or berries are scattered in a thin layer and stirred 2 times during the day, and dried in ovens at a higher temperature.

The dried fruits and berries are poured into a clean canvas bag and left for a week in the living room for leveling. During this time, they become somewhat damp, absorbing moisture from the surrounding air. Often, fruit moth larvae appear on dried supplies, from which butterflies (or beetles of a large or small beetle) are subsequently hatched. To avoid this, the fruits are poured onto a baking sheet, the affected and accidental litter are selected, and reheated in a hot oven or oven for 5-10 minutes.

Finally dried fruits or berries are poured into plastic bags, which are tied or sealed (sealed with a hot iron through paper), and then put for long-term storage in a dry and cool place. If possible, dry supplies are poured into three-liter cans and hermetically closed. This is the most reliable way storage. Insofar as dried fruit absorb not only moisture, but also all sorts of extraneous odors, and even with short-term contact, they should not be kept next to strongly odorous substances (especially inedible).

Apricots and peaches ripe, undamaged ones are selected for drying. If the apricots are dried with a stone, it turns out apricots, dried apricots in halves, and if a bone is squeezed out of dried and cut fruits, then such a product is called kaisa. They dry out in the air in a few days. The temperature in the oven or drying cabinet should be 60-70 ° C. Large peaches are cut into 4-8 slices.

Grape only sugary varieties are dried. To speed up the process, the bunches are placed for 3-5 seconds in a 0.5% solution of baking soda, heated to 95-97 ° C (5 g per 1 liter of water). From this, tiny holes are formed on the surface of the berries - pores through which moisture evaporates faster. The bunches are immediately washed thoroughly in running water and laid out in one row to dry in the sun for 15-20 days.

As the top berries dry, the bunches are turned, perishable berries are removed. For artificial drying of grapes, a temperature of 60-70 ° C is required.

Cherry plum and plum ripe, fully ripe are selected for drying. Sort, wash, remove bones if possible. For drying in the sun, they are placed on trays in one row and put away under a canopy overnight, stacked in stacks. From time to time, the fruits are checked and inverted so that they dry out more evenly.

It is advisable to carry out thermal drying of the drain in two or three steps with holdings for cooling. Then a uniformly dried product is obtained. good quality... First, the plums are dried for 3-4 hours at a temperature of 40-50 ° C, then they are kept for 4-5 hours at a temperature environment and dried again at 55-60 ° C for 10-12 hours or until completely dry. Cherry plum is dried in the same way.

Cherry it is better to take dark red for drying, you can process it like grapes, but it dries anyway faster draining and withstands temperatures up to 70-75 ° C after drying.

Apples they dry more often summer ones, especially carrion, but it is advisable to choose sweet and sour and complete lots of the same variety. With the same moisture content and consistency, they dry out more evenly. The fruits are thoroughly washed, the damaged areas are cut out and cut into circles up to 1 cm thick across, or the seed capsule is removed and cut into slices. Peeled fruits produce more tasty product... In air, apple slices darken quickly (the more acidic, the faster).

Before heat drying to preserve natural color chopped apples can be blanched, dipping in batches in boiling water for 1-2 seconds. Apples are dried first at temperatures up to 65 ° C. At a higher temperature, the fruits will boil and juice will flow from them, which should not be allowed. At the beginning of drying, they should dry out slightly (wither) and only after that you can gradually increase the temperature to 85 ° C.

Pears prepared for drying in the same way as apples, but dried at a temperature of 65-75 ° C

Wild apples and pears dried in the same way as cultured, but prepared in a slightly different way. Wild pears usually they do not remove from the tree, but collect the fallen ones. They are very hard, with a greenish or yellowish skin tone. They should not be dried like this. Let the pears sit in the baskets until they are soft and the skin is slightly darker or completely brown. During this time, they will turn from bitter and tart to sweet and tasty. Often, darkened pears are mistakenly considered spoiled, which is not true.

Wild apples are usually small, up to 3 cm in diameter; they, like pears, are more often collected fallen, so both of them must be washed especially carefully. You can dry it in halves using the above mode. As a rule, they are very sour and therefore they are mixed with cultivated ones, which improves the taste of compotes.

Almost all garden and wild berries can be dried. We need to stock up at least a little for the winter dried raspberries(due to its high copper content, it helps against colds in the very first hours of the disease, it is better to brew without sugar), blueberries (regulates stool), strawberries and black currants, for vitamin teas... You can dry blackberries, mountain ash, dogwood, etc. Berries are prepared for drying in the same way as for canning, but raspberries, blackberries and strawberries are not washed. The berries dry out in 3-5 hours at a temperature at the beginning of drying of 40-50 ° C and at the end up to 60 ° C. But at the same time, you need to carefully monitor them, avoiding sticking, sticking and overdrying.

Freeze fruits and berries can be in home refrigerators of new brands with three stars on the lid, which means achievement in freezer temperature 18 ° C. When frozen slowly at temperatures up to 12 ° C, the moisture of the raw material forms large crystals that rupture the cell membranes, and when thawing, the juice flows out, and the products lose their presentation and taste. With a quick low-temperature freezing, very small ice crystals are formed that do not damage even cell membranes, due to which the quality and taste of defrosted (thawed) products are preserved.

For long-term storage(up to a year) the temperature is maintained not higher than -18 ° С, during storage no more than 6-8 months, the permissible temperature is not more than -12 ° С, otherwise recrystallization of small pieces of ice into large ones and destruction of the tissues of the raw material is possible.

For such a complex storage method, gourmet products are selected - especially tasty fruits and berries, with delicate aroma, high content of vitamins and other advantages. Frozen sea buckthorn, cranberries and viburnum are especially well preserved. You can freeze ripe apricots and pitted peaches, black currants, blueberries (blueberries), raspberries and wild strawberries. Large garden berry to a large extent, it loses both taste and appearance.

Prepared fruits and berries are tightly placed in enamel molds with a depth of no more than 5-6 cm. In deeper foods they will freeze for a long time, and in small ones (2-3 cm) moisture quickly freezes out of the product. After complete freezing, the mold is removed from the freezer and kept under the stream for a few seconds. warm water upside down to separate the finished briquette. It is immediately placed in a plastic bag or other water and airtight packaging and placed back in the freezer, and the mold is filled with a new portion of the raw material.

For better use the containers of the freezing chamber can be filled with several briquettes of homogeneous products in one package; it is desirable to have a rectangular shape, not a round one. So that the useful volume does not disappear, densely packed fruits and berries can be poured in the form with the same juice.

General rule storing all frozen food in home refrigerators is a careful packaging. From open products, moisture vapor passes into the air, as a result of which they dry out, and moisture condenses on the walls refrigerating chamber in the form of a snow coat. The issue is easier to solve in winter. Before taking out to the balcony in the warm season, each package must be wrapped in 2-3 layers of newsprint (alternating with layers of air remaining during wrapping creates excellent insulation), folded into a basin or tank and covered with something wadded (woolen, fur, etc.) to keep the cold.

The freezing method does not guarantee the complete preservation of vitamins, almost half of them are destroyed when thawed and completely when re-frozen.

V cold winter lack of summer vitamins, so the main task is to keep them in in kind... There are three types of storage: freezing, cooling, drying. Freezing is the most energy-consuming, cooling is twice as economical, as much cheaper, in contrast to cooling, to dry fruits. But each process has its drawbacks.

Freezing is the most energy-consuming Photo: pixabay.com

Is the girl warm to you?

“In order to preserve useful substances, you need to understand how they leave,” explains Aleksey Zavaliy, head of the department of general technical disciplines at the Academy of Bioresources of the Crimean Federal University. - Water is a transporter for biologically active elements. In the presence of water in the tissues, the elements are oxidized, so you need to evaporate the water or freeze it. Then the elements do not have the opportunity to enter into reactions and remain in their place, that is, in the fruit. In addition, if the product is dry or frozen, microorganisms will not grow in it. ”

To preserve the beauty and texture of fruits, a refrigerator or cellar with a temperature of 7-8 degrees Celsius is excellent, in such conditions the fruits are stored for almost a year. However, refrigerated storage will not protect useful elements from decay: for example, vitamin C will “go away” in two to three months.

“A basement with a constant temperature below 10 degrees is not a bad option. At this temperature, potatoes germinate only by April-May. Carrots in the sand will keep the same amount. Fruits may lie until next season, but they retain fiber and sugars, not vitamins, ”the specialist said.

There are some subtleties in the storage of frozen fruits: if the temperature is slightly below zero, it is advisable to use the reserves within three months. But at temperatures up to -25 degrees, they can be stored for years. Before putting them in the freezer, fruits and vegetables must be washed and dried, they can be cut, having previously been decomposed into containers or bags in small portions.

Store dried fruits and berries in sealed jars or rag bags, but only in dry places Photo: pixabay.com

Happiness is not in beauty

Drying appearance fruit does not change for the better. “The form is lost, but not the aroma and benefits. We performed analyzes dried products from October to May, - Alexey Zavaliy share the research results. "During this period, with the initial level of 90% of vitamin C in May, 70% of it remains - this is a good result."

However, dry carefully. Scientists have calculated that the most heat-sensitive vitamins of group C are destroyed already at 50-55 degrees. Vitamins A or B can also withstand high temperatures, and microelements in beets and carrots (potassium, magnesium, etc.) “tolerate” 90 degrees.

Therefore, it is recommended to dry fruits and vegetables at low temperatures. At correct mode drying will preserve up to 90% of all nutrients in vegetables and fruits. At the same time, about 80% of the weight of the product is lost - for example, out of 100 kilograms of apples, only 20 will remain.

To dry the fruits, you need to cut them into slices of 8-10 millimeters and peel them of seeds and seeds. Plums, apricots and peaches are simply broken up and spread on a baking sheet. So the moisture will come out completely both in the air and in the oven. In a drying cabinet at a temperature of 50 degrees, fruits dry in different ways: raspberries - a day, an apple - 12 hours, a pear takes longer, it contains more moisture. If there is no drying cabinet, it is better to choose a ventilated place. You need to dry the fruits in the shade, the attic will do. If you do this in the sun, ultraviolet light will destroy all the nutrients. Store dried fruits and berries in sealed jars or rag bags, but only in dry places. If moisture appears, fungus and bacteria come for it.

If you want to dry the product whole, then pre-blanch it. This is done, for example, with future raisins. Blanching is a short-term immersion of fruits in a boiling solution of water and soda. A tablespoon is enough for a liter of water. baking soda... This is done in order to "break through" the skin, which does not release moisture, and wash off the wax film.

“There are extremely healthy foods that everyone forgets about - for example, grape squeezes, - Alexey Zavaliy recalled. “They are as useful as the grapes themselves, they can be dried, this is a storehouse of antioxidants in winter. You can make compotes from the pomace for a whole year. "

Let's brew!

When the word "sauerkraut" is used, most people immediately think of cabbage. This is really a real treasure of vitamins for the winter. But you can also ferment other gifts of nature.

Apples

For fermentation, you can use plastic barrels or flasks intended for food, or glass bottles with a capacity of 3-5 sheets. Put horseradish leaves, finely chopped garlic, chopped horseradish roots, black currant and cherry leaves on the bottom. Then lay apples with clean skin in rows, alternating rows of apples with a “carpet” or leaves and roots several times. Cover the last layer of apples with them. The brine is prepared at the rate of 2 cups of sugar and half a glass of salt per 10 liters of water. It is recommended to add a few tablespoons to the brine. rye flour... Pour the brine, cover the container with a clean cloth or gauze in several layers, put the apples under a press. Leave for a week to ferment at room temperature. As soon as the foam falls off the surface and air bubbles cease to emerge, the containers with apples must be tightly closed and lowered into the basement. Suitable storage temperatures pickled apples from +10 to -3 degrees. The apples will be ready in a month.

Beet

You need a minimum of ingredients: beets, water (1 l), salt (40-50 g). Selected fruits of maroon color without white rings in the section. Wash young beets thoroughly in a running cold water, peel by trimming roots and leaves. Grate, prepare a ceramic pot, put the beets there. Prepare a brine from water and salt, pour the beets, put oppression on top. Leave at room temperature for fermentation. In the first days of fermentation, foam will appear, which must be removed. In a warm place, beets will ferment for three to five days. After that, fill dry, clean, sterilized jars with it (40 minutes in the oven), roll up.

Preparing the gifts of fields, gardens and forests for the winter is a sacred matter. There are many ways to keep them until the next harvest, and they all preserve vitamins and minerals in different ways that are found in fresh fruits and vegetables. But in what form is it better to store winter preparations?

At the mercy of the cold

Nutritionists claim that the most effective method homemade preparations - freezing, with the help of which most of the useful substances remain. More precisely, vitamins and minerals are preserved at 100%. It - perfect option storage. Moreover, frozen fruits are much healthier than fresh ones sold in winter. Indeed, in storage and during transportation, vegetables, fruits and berries lose a lot of their useful qualities... Ideally, you can keep eggplants, bell peppers, carrots, berries, herbs, corn, green peas in the cold. They are washed, cleaned, dried, if necessary - crushed, packed in sealed bags and placed for storage. Better in the freezer. The temperature is lower than in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator, and the food passes through shock freeze at very low temperatures. And they do not form water crystals, which better preserves the taste of fruits, the structure of their tissues and significantly increases the shelf life. At a temperature of -6 °, frozen vegetables and fruits can be stored for 3 months, and at -18 ° and below - from 8 to 12 months.

What's the salt?

To prepare vitamins for the winter by old recipes, you need to salt them, ferment or soak them. In fact, this is the same method of harvesting with the help of salt, and the difference in the name depends only on what exactly we are going to harvest, preserving 70-80% of useful substances in the products. And, for example, in sauerkraut and pickled apples even more vitamin C than fresh. Moreover, it is impossible to poison with properly fermented cabbage, since the lactic acid formed in it during fermentation kills all microorganisms. And in pickles, vitamins C, B1 and B12 are not less in winter than in summer.

Tomatoes and cucumbers are salted, pouring from an aqueous solution of salt - 2 tbsp. tablespoons of salt per 1 liter of water. Sour cabbage, chop it and thoroughly mash it with salt - 1 kg of cabbage will need 0.5 teaspoon of salt. And they wet apples, pears, plums, watermelons, using 2-3 tbsp for pouring. tablespoons of salt., 1-2 tbsp. tablespoons of sugar in 1 liter of water for pouring. Store such blanks in a cool dark place. So they will have longer edible species and will not stop crunching - the crunch disappears in the light.

Drying as an option

With the help of drying, you can save 50-70% of the nutrients in vegetables and fruits. You can dry apples, pears, plums, currants, raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, apricots, peaches, grapes, mushrooms, herbs, peppers, eggplants, carrots for the winter. Large fruits are cut, and small fruits are whole - laid out in one layer and dried in a well-heated (up to about 80 ° C) oven, oven, microwave or special dryer.

Dried fruits and other dried preparations are much higher in calories than fresh fruits and vegetables. After drying, the amount of vitamin C decreases by 75% and the amount of vitamins B1 and B2 by about 30%. And vitamins A and E remain intact. High calorie content dried blanks ensures that moisture is lost in them, which increases the concentration of sugar. Therefore, dried fruit compote is useful for those who need to replenish the body's supply of fiber and pectin and improve digestion.

Under the marinade

Pickled blanks are very tasty, but pickling is the most ineffective way of storing food for the winter. It leaves only 30% of the nutrients as food passes heat treatment... Also, vinegar is like necessary component the marinade is bad for the stomach. Marinating also greatly changes the taste of vegetables and fruits, although for many it is even better than fresh ones.

Pickled tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage and mushrooms. For the marinade, you need about 1 liter of water, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of salt, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar, 30 ml of vinegar, plus spices: herbs, bitter and allspice, cloves, garlic, bay leaf. More exact proportions- in specific recipes. The marinade is pasteurized and poured over the products, laid out in jars. The number of fillings depends on the recipe - they can be from 1 to 3. As a result - acetic acid kills all germs, the marinade promotes digestion, and hermetically sealed jars can be stored even at room temperature. Convenient, tasty, it is a pity that there is little use.

For those with a sweet tooth

In many favorite jams, only 10-30% of nutrients are retained. With what, what harder recipe, the longer the fruit is cooked, and the less benefit they will get. Slightly more benefits from the so-called "cold jams" - fruits, ground with sugar, or pressure cookers, which are heat-treated for no more than 5 minutes. The classic way cooking jam is as follows: berries, fruits, watermelons, melons are sorted out and washed, covered with sugar in a 1/1 ratio, and cooked with constant stirring. The jam is ready when a drop of it does not spread on the saucer. Such a blank is unpretentious in storage - even room temperature is suitable for it.

Alla Rybalko