Useful blanks for the winter: syrup from chokeberry ashberry
The leaves on the trees have already become yellow,the harvest of apples and plums on the plot is collected and partially eaten. But it does not leave a subconscious feeling that we have forgotten some of the gifts of nature. Allow me to draw your attention to the fruits of an unremarkable shrub called an aronia or Aronia scurvy.
For a long time, many gardeners used thesebushes to fence off their treasured six hundred square meters from the curious eyes of neighbors passing through the streets of native gardening. Berries themselves, ripe with an enviable constancy by the end of August and black clusters hanging from the bushes to the end of October, attracted except that birds and unintentional children.
Chokeberry, as well as bird cherry, hasone unpleasant property. As the Georgian guides said in the Batumi Botanical Garden, telling about the taste of persimmon: "It is useful for women, knits the mouth!". It is possible to use the fruits of chokeberry arbutus with the same success, but we suggest that all not so lazy gardeners turn a rich and completely free crop of this berry into an invaluable harvest for the winter.
Read also how to make jam from black ashberry.
Twenty-year experience of our familyonly the gorgeous taste qualities of the syrup from the black cherry, but also its undoubted utility, and unpretentiousness to the storage conditions. Let us recall some actual data from the biography of this berry. Originally from North America, brought to Russia two hundred years ago, has got accustomed and perfectly feels till now. According to the content of some vitamins and trace elements, it overtakes the currant and oranges at times. But most importantly, chokeberry is a real find for hypertensives and diabetics.
Normalization of blood pressure, loweringthe level of cholesterol and sugar in the blood to people who regularly use the water-divorced syrup made with our recipe, is guaranteed. On the healing properties of this berry and other ways of using it in home preparations you can find out on the pages of our website. I just want to offer all patrons of large families, taking care of the health of their loved ones, a simple and original recipe for preparing a long-playing remedy for all diseases based on berries of chokeberry aronia.
1. Picking berries. This can be done in the northern latitudes from the middle of August, when the fruits reach the state of milk maturity, and finish in early November. Believe me, there is even some piquancy in the frozen berries. Pay attention to the fact that chokeberry ripens unevenly, and the bushes surrounding your garden plot bear fruit in different ways. Do not be greedy, lots of berries, choose only the best.
2. Soaking. To wash berries before soaking all the same it is necessary. The car park of Russia is growing, and no suburban area from this infection is protected. We hope that you have gathered a good crop, so the proportions of our recipe will not frighten you. Take the biggest vessel that is in your house (we recommend liters for 12). Pour berries with boiling water at the rate of 4 liters of water per 3 kg of fruit, add to each such portion of 90 g of citric acid and leave to settle for a day.
3. Preparation of syrup. The day passed without any problems. Viscosity and astringency from ashberry already came out, the juice she gave out. We start to cook the final product. The contents of the pot are filtered through a colander, and the berries are ruthlessly thrown away. The remaining juice is boiled and in equal proportions (can be slightly less) we introduce sugar.
Note that the ratio of 1 kg of granulated sugar to1 liter of water provides absolutely arbitrary storage of the finished syrup. For the most corrosive housewives, let us reproduce this recipe in its usual form: chokeberry aronia - 3 kg, citric acid - 90 g, water - 4 l, sugar - 4 kg. At the output of one liter of squeezed boiling water with soaking juice, it turns out almost 1, 75 liters of medicinal drink.
How to preserve and store syrup
I'm afraid that many will not believe me, but the answer isthis question is banal: whatever. Fill syrup from chokeberry, prepared according to our recipe, you can both hot and cold. Any dish (if only it was clean) will do: bottles of glass and plastic, cans of any format, even without sealed caps.
Repeatedly checked: Even when stored in an ordinary city pantry at room temperature, the drink retains its qualities for a whole year, and if forgotten about it, it lasts longer. Therefore, the insignificant labor and not very large money that you will spend on this procurement, will pay off a hundredfold in the winter, saving you from poisonous American soda.
Author: Katerina Sergeenko
