Many berries and fruits are so richpectins, which make jam or cold-prepared sweets into real jelly. This jelly-jam has a special consistency, very different from traditional jam or preserves. This jelly becomes an excellent layer for cakes and pastries, adding a delicate fruity and berry note and a pleasant sourness. And regular apple or currant jelly, served with tea, will successfully replace the most intricate dessert. In addition, you can prepare it in advance, and at the right time just take it out, open the jar and enjoy the taste and aroma of warm summer. Try, for example, making blackcurrant jelly. What is good about this recipe? The fact is that you can store such blackcurrant jelly at room temperature, and this is convenient if you do not have a special place to store preparations for the winter. In addition, it is very easy and quick to prepare. You only need berries and sugar for it. For one kilogram of currants - one and a half kilograms of granulated sugar.
Cooking berries
For a successful jelly made from blackcurrants, it is best to take slightly unripe berries. They simply have more pectin - that very gelling substance. Although jelly from ripe berries will turn out no worse (even tastier), but only less "strong". So, we sort out the berries, discard completely green or rotten ones, and also separate all the twigs and leaves that accidentally got to them. The process is painstaking, but it is worth it. Then the currants need to be washed and dried. Now, to maintain accurate proportions, we weigh the berries. If you have good household scales, then use them. If you do not have scales, then measure the weight of the currants using a liter jar. About seven hundred grams of berries fit in such a jar. And now we only have to pour the berries into a basin. By the way, you also need to choose the right dishes for making jelly.
Choose dishes
To make blackcurrant jellyA copper basin for cooking jam or a very wide saucepan with a thick bottom is ideal. Modern thick-bottomed saucepans are quite suitable for these purposes. But do not cook jelly in enamelware - it will definitely burn in it! Another important condition - the layer of berries in the basin or saucepan should not be very thick. This is why a wide dish is needed to make blackcurrant jelly. Excess liquid will evaporate easily and quickly in it, and the juice will quickly thicken, without having time to turn into jam. It is the large area for evaporation that will allow you to make thick and tasty jelly. In a tall dish, the berries will boil until the jelly thickens. Therefore, if you do not have suitable dishes, cook the berries in batches.
Cook jelly
Place the berries in a bowl and pour cold water over them.boiled water so that it barely covers them. Two glasses of water per kilogram of currants will be enough. Put the basin on the fire, bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat and cook for fifteen minutes. At the same time, do not forget to stir the berries and remove the foam from the surface of the jam (while it is still jam!). After half an hour, pour all the sugar into the berries (calculate the amount based on the weight of the berries in the basin), stir and let the jam boil again. As soon as this happens, note the time and cook the jelly (now jelly!) for another fifteen minutes. In the process, also constantly stir the jelly and remove the foam from it. By the end of the specified time, the jelly will begin to thicken and stick to the walls of the basin. This is normal. If by this point the jelly still seems not thick enough to you, do not worry: after cooling, it will become thicker. Remove the jelly from the heat and place it in sterilized dry jars. Close with nylon or screw metal lids and put away for storage. And to protect the jelly from mold, you can put circles of paper soaked in vodka or alcohol under the lids.
Cooking dessert
You can make jelly from blackcurrant in another way. Only in this case we will get not a preparation for the winter, but a delicious fruit dessert. Ingredients:
- 300 g of fresh berries;
- 10-15 g of gelatin (1 sachet);
- Half a glass of cream;
- A glass of powdered sugar.
Preparation:Soak the gelatin in half a glass of water and leave it to swell for about fifteen minutes. If we have instant gelatin, then dilute it with water immediately before adding it to the berries. Place the currants in a saucepan and add an incomplete glass of powdered sugar (pour out two tablespoons of powder) and a glass of cold boiled water. Put the saucepan on the fire and let the water boil. Then reduce the heat to low and cook the jelly for twenty minutes. After that, remove the berries from the heat and strain through a sieve. Put the currants in another container, and mix the syrup with the gelatin and heat until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Important! Do not let the syrup boil, otherwise the jelly will not thicken. Pour the hot jelly into molds and leave to harden for about six hours. Before serving the dessert, prepare a puree from the berries by chopping them in a blender or using a mixer. Add the remaining powdered sugar and cream to the puree. Mix everything thoroughly. Transfer the solidified jelly from the molds to plates and season with creamy currant puree. Decorate with fresh berries. The blackcurrant jelly dessert is ready! Enjoy the taste of fresh berries and learn how to make desserts from them. Because, as they say, every vegetable has its time. And if they are good fresh in the summer, then in the winter no one will refuse to treat themselves to berry jelly made from currants. Bon appetit and success in the culinary field!
