The name of this berry comes from the old Russian word “currant”, which means “strong smell”. Indeed, this berry has a strong aroma, which is inherent in both the leaves and twigs of the bush on which the currant grows.
It is a storehouse of vitamins and nutrients, and to replenish C, you need to eat only 20 berries a day. Moreover, it doesn’t matter at all whether the berry on the branches is red, classic black or exotic white - any are equally useful. But how can this be done at those times of the year when there are no fresh berries in the garden, and store-bought ones even look frozen and do not inspire confidence? In late autumn, winter and spring, twisted currants with sugar will come to the rescue. This preparation will help increase immunity, heal and strengthen the body throughout the year.
So, to make twisted currants delight you throughout the winter, choose a recipe to suit your taste. Here are some easy options.
Berries prepared using one of these methods will always be a universal dessert. They can be eaten as an independent dish, say, with tea, added to ice cream, spread on toast and fresh buns, or soaked in pies. Moreover, it is quite possible to make fruit drinks, compotes and even homemade wine from such currants.
While summer is still pampering us with warm sunny days, and the harvesting season is in full swing, it’s time to think about how to preserve the vitamins and incomparable taste of summer berries for the cold winter. So, today we will talk about currants. This wonderful berry with a unique sweet and sour taste can be prepared in several ways, but the simplest and most gentle for the beneficial substances contained in currants is freezing. Unlike preservation, freezing preserves up to 90% of minerals and vitamins in berries, fruits and vegetables, since the thermal effect during freezing is “shock” and not gradual, as when cooking jam or compote.
Currants can be kept in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator literally until the next berry season without loss of taste, but the beneficial microelements will be destroyed after 3 months. Now let's take a closer look at how to freeze currants for the winter, so that all winter long you can raise your loved ones' mood and immunity with vitamin cocktails, fruit drinks, compotes, aromatic pastries, desserts and sauces made from frozen currants, which taste no different from fresh berries.
We invite you to look at several photos of recipes for dishes that you can prepare with frozen currants:
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How to freeze currants for the winter: a few rules and tips
To ensure that the prepared currants do not lose their shape and taste, you must follow a few simple rules when freezing:
Freeze only fresh and ripe berries. Overripe currants may lose their appearance and taste, deformed under the influence of low temperatures. Therefore, it is ideal to freeze ripe but firm berries.
It is advisable not to wash currants, and especially black currants, before freezing, since they absorb excess liquid, which deforms the berries during freezing and subsequent defrosting. Of course, you can wash the berries immediately before eating, but some housewives like to add currants to baked goods while they have not yet been defrosted - this way they turn out juicier. What to do in this case? In principle, you can refuse to wash the berries with a clear conscience if they were picked from a bush from your own garden, and if no chemicals were used when growing them. But if the currants are purchased at the market, they must be washed in any case. After washing, you should dry it thoroughly and let it dry for several hours. Only after this can you begin the actual freezing procedure.
It is advisable to freeze currants, like any other berry, in small portions, since freezing already thawed products a second time is strictly not recommended. Therefore, before freezing currants, calculate the serving size that your family will need, for example, for making a pie, compote, or other delicious dishes.
Freezing temperature
It is believed that the optimal temperature value for freezing currant berries is in the range from 18 to 23 degrees below zero. It is at this temperature that instant freezing is achieved, which allows you to preserve maximum vitamins and taste. However, not every housewife has such a freezer at her disposal. You can freeze currants at temperatures from 0 to -4, but the shelf life of such a product will be reduced to 3-4 months. By the way, you can store frozen currants at a temperature of -2 degrees.
Before freezing red or black currants for the winter in a regular freezer, where the temperature does not reach -18 degrees, you need to cool them for several hours, keeping the berries ready for freezing in the main chamber of the refrigerator. The lids of containers or plastic bags in which the berries will be frozen are best left slightly open. It is necessary to close the container only before placing it directly in the freezer.
Which container to choose for frozen berries?
The optimal container for storing frozen currants is selected depending on the freezing method and the convenience of storing the product. For example, for storing and freezing currant puree, grated with or without sugar, it is better to use plastic containers with hermetically sealed lids. For dry-frozen berries, you can use both containers and plastic bags. As for the shape of the container, it is better to use rectangular containers - this will save space in the freezer. If you plan to freeze currants in bags, you can also give them a rectangular shape: carefully pack the frozen currants in a bag, which you place in a plastic container. Then place the container in the freezer and wait until the bag takes a square shape before removing it. Berries packaged in this way can be stored in the freezer very conveniently and compactly.
Methods for freezing currants
Red or black currants need to be sorted, separated from the stalks, washed if necessary and dried thoroughly. Spread the berries in a single layer on a large cutting board or thick sheet of plastic, then place in the freezer. When the berries are frozen, pour them into the container of your choice and return them to the freezer. Repeat the procedure until all the berries are frozen. If you have a powerful freezer, you can immediately pour the berries into containers or bags, place them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes, and when the currants are frozen, shake the container so that the berries are separated from each other.
How to freeze currants with sugar for the winter
Currants with sugar can be frozen in the form of puree or whole berries.
For the first option, you need to rinse and dry the berries well, puree them with a blender, food processor or other device with added sugar. The amount of sugar is determined by taste, but on average you can take about 200 g of granulated sugar per 1 kg of berries. Place the finished puree into storage containers and freeze.
To freeze currants with sugar as whole berries, you can sprinkle them in layers with granulated sugar or simply mix them. Then the procedure completely repeats the process of dry currant freezing.
Black currants grow in every garden. But we do not always harvest the harvest that the planted variety is capable of. Often in gardens you can see thickened bushes affected by diseases and pests. Everyone in our family loves blackcurrant berries. To ensure that the bushes are healthy, the berries are large and tasty, and caring for the bushes does not take much time, I have drawn up a simplified “action plan” for myself.
Early spring (late March - April). The snow has already completely or partially melted, but the currant buds have not yet swelled
Top dressing. Nitrogen is needed for good leaf development. Pour the prepared mixtures onto the ground spring fertilizers for berry bushes (with nitrogen) onto moistened soil and lightly sprinkle soil on top. If this is not possible, then you don’t have to fertilize the bushes.
Trimming. We carry out pruning if this work was not carried out at the end of autumn. We remove the frozen ends of the shoots. We cut out dry, weak and broken branches. From the cut branches we collect the first harvest of currants: elongated buds and fragrant shoots cut into small pieces. They can be placed in a glass jar, closed with a lid and placed in the refrigerator, so that they can then be added to the kettle when brewing black tea.
Pests. We collect all the round buds on the branches and burn them. We rake and burn or place in a humus container the fallen leaves in late autumn. Some gardeners pour boiling water over the bushes, which is poured into metal watering cans.
Mid-spring (late April - early May). Blackcurrant buds are swelling, spring frosts are possible
Top dressing. We add nitrogen (along the edges of the bush crown), if this has not been done before. Can be divorced urea(1 tbsp per 10 liters of water) or ammonium nitrate(2 tbsp per 10 liters of water) and immediately sprinkle the soil over the watering areas with the solution. After weeding, add humus or crumbly compost under the bushes.
Landing. This is the best time to plant seedlings.
Pests. In old gardens, it is advisable to spray the bushes with a 3-5% solution of iron sulfate (against bud moths, scale insects, etc.). For kidney mites we use the drug “ Kleschevit», « Fitoverm" or " Kiovit Jet"(from ticks and powdery mildew).
Late spring (May)
Top dressing. From now until autumn we will feed black currants with slightly dried potato peelings, which contain a lot of starch. We bury them in shallow grooves dug in the ground in those places above which the ends of the branches are located. It is better to embed food potato or corn into the soil starch. Foliar feeding with microelements (ready-made compounds, potassium permanganate, boric acid) is useful. Water regularly, especially in dry weather.
Weeding. This is the time of active weed growth . At the same time, loosen the soil so as not to damage the surface roots.
Pests. We carefully examine the blackcurrant bushes. If there is a threat of fire damage, spraying the bushes with a weak solution helps nicotine sulfate with green or laundry soap. We make sure to hand-pick green and browned berries affected by the moth.
Summer (before harvest)
Top dressing. Once every two weeks we water the ground under the bushes (closer to the edge of the crown) with a diluted infusion of grass, manure or compost. We alternate with adding and incorporating wood ash into the soil.
Watering. Be sure to carry out one abundant watering. In dry weather, regularly water the blackcurrant bushes.
Pests. If caterpillars appear en masse, urgent measures must be taken. Manual collection of the pest or plant infusions are unlikely to help save blackcurrant foliage. You have to use " Spark" It is better to take a targeted drug. For example, " Spark from the tracks"(1 ml per 10 liters of water). We regularly inspect the bushes and destroy other pests. We cut out all dried branches.
We carefully inspect all the bushes to collect diseased and pest-infested berries and leaves, and then destroy them.
When powdery mildew appears, spray the foliage with soda ash. Some gardeners use a weak solution of any cheap washing powder. There is a folk method: spray the bush with a broom with a diluted infusion of manure (mullein). They say that in this way it is possible to avoid the development of powdery mildew.
Harvest
Top dressing. Sprinkle under each bush wood ash and embed it into the soil.
Pests. We destroy moth nests and diseased berries . Be sure to trim the tips of those shoots that are affected by powdery mildew.
Old bushes are often affected by moth
We collect ripe berries.
After picking berries
Top dressing. Flower buds are being laid for the next year, so black currants need to be fertilized with phosphorus and potassium. You can take potassium sulfate and superphosphate. In early August we feed potassium sulfate(1 tbsp per 10 liters of warm water), and after two weeks double superphosphate(1 tbsp per 10 liters of hot water, leave for 24 hours). We pre-moisten the soil. To water with fertilizer solutions, you can make a shallow ditch along the crown projection line, which you then fill in, and then mulch the soil with compost or humus.
Trimming. It is necessary to regularly cut off the tops of shoots that are crumpled and powdered with powdery mildew, and remove frail young shoots growing in the center of the bush. They just thicken the bush.
Black currant leaves crushed by gooseberry aphids
At the end of August, we pinch off the ends of blackcurrant branches, which promotes the ripening of the wood and reduces the risk of powdery mildew the following year. It is better to remove old branches lying on the ground. Be sure to cut out and burn all drying branches, because... there is a high probability of currant glass. We remember that too much preventive summer pruning weakens the bush.
Watering and weeding the soil under blackcurrant bushes are required.
Pests. In places where kidney mites are spread, we spray with the preparation “ Kleschevit"(1 ampoule per 2 liters of water). It can be replaced by " Fitoverm».
Autumn
Top dressing. It is useful to add potassium and phosphorus fertilizers. You can take ready-made mixtures for autumn feeding of berry bushes or superphosphate(100 g per adult bush) and potassium chloride(30 g per adult bush). After dropping the bulk of the foliage, be sure to powder the soil under the tree bushes. ash, add fresh fertile soil or compost under each bush in a layer of 10 - 15 cm.
Trimming. We cut off old, twisted, damaged branches that thicken the bush. It is advisable to shorten the tops of the shoots . After this, you need to immediately burn all the cut branches.
Pests. Be sure to remove all round swollen buds with currant mites. Sometimes you have to cut out branches that are heavily infested with it. Be sure to collect fallen leaves.
Landing. In the second ten days of September, we plant the cuttings detached from the mother plant in a permanent place. We plant seedlings (grown from cuttings and purchased), trying not to damage the roots. For insulation, add loose compost to them. In the first ten days of October, we continue to propagate black currants, planting new cuttings in fertile soil for rooting.
Be sure to carry out autumn water-recharging irrigation. After the leaves fall, we tie loose bushes together with a strong rope and place bars or boards under some branches or build a wooden frame. Without this, a spreading bush may be crushed by a snowdrift or lose some of its branches by spring.
Winter
At the very beginning of winter, add as much snow as possible to the bushes. In winter, it happens that frosty days give way to thaws. In snowy winters, this leads to damage to black currants. We have to remove some of the snow from the heavy snowdrifts, under which there are bushes. After the frosts have subsided at the end of winter, you can begin preparing cuttings for spring planting. They are stored in snow or buried in wet sand and left in a cool place.
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Preface
Not only very tasty, but also one of the healthiest and easiest to prepare winter supplies is currants pureed with sugar. After all, this cold jam, unlike traditional jam, does not need to be cooked for a long time, that is, subjected to heat treatment, during which most of the vitamins are destroyed. Well, for those who still prefer boiled dessert, to make it more healthy, we recommend preparing five-minute jam, which is cooked for a minimum of time, due to which it has maximum benefits.
How to sort the berries, do they need to be dried?
As we have already noted, the main advantage of preparing red and black currants, pureed with sugar, and five-minute jam is the absence of long-term heat treatment. However, this is a serious drawback of these methods of harvesting berries, especially for long-term storage. The berry, ground with sugar, remains fresh. If the nuances of preparation and storage are not followed, the products will quickly deteriorate. Therefore, adhere to all the rules and recommendations given below.
Currant berries need to be sorted and dried
First, let's sort out the berries. This must be approached very responsibly. You must never allow even one rotten or crushed berry, as well as any debris, to get into the jam being prepared. After all, if a “carrier” of microbes or bacteria gets into the workpieces, they may soon deteriorate. Then briefly soak the selected berries. And then first we wash it and only after that we cut off all its tails (peduncles). We also remove the branches from the red currants.
Next, the currants should be dried. Intended for grinding with sugar, it is especially good. Ideally it should be completely dry. Moisture in cold-cooked food is absolutely useless. It will help create an environment in the workpiece that is favorable for the life and development of microbes. And this will affect the duration of storage.
Then the berries must be crushed and ground. For five-minute jam, it is usually left whole. The best, but also the most labor-intensive way to grind currants is using a wooden spoon and a sieve. The resulting mass will be tender, since the skins and seeds of the berries will not fall into it. Place the currants in a sieve and rub them over an enamel bowl with a wooden spoon. Easier and faster ways to grind berries is to use a meat grinder or blender.
The easiest way to puree currants is with a blender.
Next, prepare the jam (cold or five-minute) in an enamel bowl according to the chosen recipe. Moreover, we make both black and red currants, pureed with sugar, according to the same recipes. Five-minute jam from these berries too. If necessary, you just need to take into account that red currants are more acidic than black currants, and accordingly adjust the amount of sugar suggested in the recipe up or down. In general, further preparation of cold jam involves adding sugar to the ground berries, which is then thoroughly mixed with it.
Sugar in this type of preparation is not only a sweetener, but also a preservative. Therefore, do not forget that not only the taste, but also the shelf life of the jam depends on its quantity.
The following recipes provide approximate storage times and recommendations (depending on the amount of sugar used). Then put the finished jam (cold or five-minute) into jars (preferably with a capacity of 0.5–1 liters), which must first be thoroughly washed, sterilized, and then dried. Lids for closing also need to be prepared in the same way. How to seal berries ground with sugar and what to do with them next is described in the proposed recipes.
We pour out the dessert for five minutes and immediately roll it up while still hot, just removed from the stove. And then, turning it upside down, we place it on a thick and preferably warm thing spread on the floor in any room, and wrap the same thing on top. Then, after cooling down to room temperature for five minutes, we transfer it to a place intended for long-term storage: a cellar, basement or refrigerator, if there is room in it. In the following recipes, cold jam and five-minute jam are prepared only from currants. But you can add another berry. It will also need to be carefully prepared (sorted and washed), and if you grind it, then together with the currants. We leave the amount of sugar in the recipe the same, and then the amount of berries will be the same.
Video: Red and black currant jam
The ratio of berries to sugar can be any. It is selected based on how sour the canned currants turned out to be, and according to one’s own preferences for the degree of sweetness of the jam. Below are 3 main, one might say basic, options for preparing cold currant dessert, which practically cover the entire spectrum of sweet tastes. If necessary, they can always be adjusted.
The ratio of berries to sugar can be any
A recipe considered classic. You will need:
- berries – 1 kg;
- sugar – 1.2–1.5 kg.
Grind the prepared currants and then add sugar. Then mix everything thoroughly, after which we cover the currant-sugar mass with something and put it in the refrigerator for one day. While the jam is in the refrigerator, it will need to be thoroughly mixed 2-3 times. Why is this necessary? Over the course of a day, the sugar will completely dissolve and will be mixed with the released juice, and will also saturate the ground berries. And this will allow you to subsequently avoid fermentation during storage.
Then we put the berries, ground with sugar, into prepared jars, and if we want this jam to last longer, be sure to seal it with metal roll-up lids, and store it only in a place intended for long-term storage, including the refrigerator. In this case, the shelf life of the healthy dessert reaches 6 months or more.
Recipe with a currant to sugar ratio of 1:2. Healthy jam turns out sweet, to the point of cloying for some, but it is stored much longer. This recipe is great for preparing fresh currants with sugar for the winter. You will need:
- berries – 1 kg;
- sugar – 2 kg.
Grind the prepared currants, add sugar to the grated berries. Then we mix everything thoroughly, after which we immediately put the currant-sugar mass into jars. It is enough to seal them with tight-fitting plastic or metal screw caps, because this cold jam contains a lot of sugar. A healthy dessert prepared according to this recipe will not ferment and can simply be stored in a cool, dark place. But if we want it to last for a year or longer, then it is better to close it with roll-up lids and store it in the refrigerator, cellar, basement.
A recipe for invigorating, sour and healthy cold currant jam with a minimum amount of sugar. You will need:
- berries – 1 kg;
- sugar – 0.2–0.5 kg.
Grind the prepared berries, and then add almost all the sugar (leave a little). Then mix everything thoroughly, after which we spread the currant-sugar mass into plastic containers. Sprinkle the remaining sugar on top of the jam, close with the lids that come with the containers, and store in the freezer. There, grated currants will be stored for a very long time, but it is better to eat them within a year.
“Pyatiminutka” currant jam
Called five-minute, it will not take much longer than preparing the previous options from grated berries. But the result will be a preparation that at the same time differs little from cold jam in terms of the amount of vitamins it contains, and from traditional jam (cooked for a long time) in taste. For the simplest recipe you will need: berries – 1 kg; sugar – 1.5 kg; water – 2/3 cup.
Cooking jam for five minutes will take very little time
Heat water with sugar, stirring, until boiling. Then we throw the berries into the resulting syrup. Heat everything until it boils and then cook for exactly 5 minutes. Stir the jam periodically throughout the cooking time. Everything is ready! We wish you good luck in the culinary arts!
For the winter, currant and gooseberry bushes are tied with twine, and in places where a thick layer of snow accumulates, the plants are fenced with an umbrella made of strong stakes.
In winter, the bushes are covered with snow. In the spring, the plants are freed from the snow crust, and with the onset of warmer days, the binding is removed.
As soon as young currant and gooseberry bushes begin to grow, a shallow groove is dug around each of them (at a distance of 35-45 cm from the base of the bush), into which an aqueous solution of slurry, mullein or nitrogen fertilizers (15-20 g of urea or ammonium nitrate) is added per 10 liters of water), then water. After 4-5 hours, the grooves are leveled and the soil is mulched with manure.
Spring care for currants and gooseberries
Fruit-bearing currant and gooseberry bushes also require careful care. Early in spring, as soon as the snow melts, at a temperature of 5 degrees Celsius, fruit-bearing currant and gooseberry bushes in the country are sprayed with nitrafen. When growing black currants, it is very important to constantly select the most productive, healthy bushes and mercilessly uproot diseased, low-yielding plants. In the spring, when the buds open and the first rudiments of leaves appear, the bushes are inspected. If the branches have excessively swollen, swollen, cabbage-shaped buds (they contain mites), then they are plucked out, collected in a bucket and poured with boiling water. If there are a lot of such buds, then the bush is heavily infested with mites and is immediately uprooted. Before flowering, currant and gooseberry bushes are sprayed with karbofos.
During the mass flowering of currants, the flowers are carefully inspected and the plants are found to be infested with terry.
In diseased bushes, the flowers are deformed, have a double appearance, bluish color, and almost do not set berries (they fall off). Such bushes are also uprooted. Before the first berry picking, the bushes are inspected and low-yielding, diseased bushes are discarded.
In the spring and first half of summer, shrubs respond well to the application of slurry, an aqueous solution of mullein, bird droppings, and to mulching the soil with manure and compost. When caring for gooseberries, take into account that they respond positively to the application of potassium fertilizers and rotted manure, but do not tolerate the use of preparations containing sulfur. Currant and gooseberry bushes are sprayed 2-3 times (with an interval of 7-8 days) against powdery mildew with a solution of soda ash and laundry soap (50 g of soda and 50 g of soap per 10 liters of water). Spraying begins at the beginning of the appearance of powdery plaque on leaves, shoots, and berries.
Watering care for currants and gooseberries
It is necessary to water at least 3-4 times during the summer.
Shrubs are especially demanding of watering during the active growth of shoots, during the period of increased berry mass growth and after harvesting.
Usually, even before the onset of mass ripening of the berries, a few of them become black. Before others, berries damaged by the moth turn black and become entangled in cobwebs (they contain greenish caterpillars). These berries are collected in a bucket and poured with boiling water. The branches of currants and gooseberries gradually bend down due to the weight of the berries and fall into shade, which negatively affects the quality of the product. To prevent this, props are installed under the heavy branches. Currant berries are removed in 2-3 doses as they ripen. Gooseberries are harvested for making jam in an unripe, still hard state, and ripe berries are harvested for fresh consumption. Do not allow them to overripe, crack and fall off.
Caring for currants and gooseberries after harvesting the berries
Immediately after harvesting, currant bushes are pruned:
- Remove broken, blackened stems (4-5 years old), drooping and thickening branches.
- Every year, 3-4 young, strong shoots growing at the base of the bush are left to renew the crown.
- In each bush, 15-20 branches of different ages are left.
- Fruiting gooseberry bushes are pruned in the spring, as some branches may freeze over the winter.
- When pruning, branches older than 7-8 years, diseased, twisted stems, as well as thickening thin shoots that appear at the base of the bush are removed.
- At the same time, strong, long annual growth is carefully preserved.
Phosphorus and potassium fertilizers and manure are applied to the bushes after harvesting (before digging the soil). Nitrogen fertilizers are applied in two stages: immediately after picking the berries (before watering) and early in the spring (before the first loosening of the soil). Currant bushes are used for 10-12 years, gooseberry bushes for 14-16 years and are uprooted. By this time, a new plantation is being established in another area.