Cherry is one of the first berries to ripen. And housewives, taking this opportunity, try to prepare it for the winter. Moreover, even in canned form, cherries practically do not lose their taste qualities, and also retains beneficial properties.
If cherries grow in favorable conditions, their fruits contain up to 17.5% sugars (glucose, fructose), 1.2% organic acids, 0.32% fiber. It is rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, PP, E, C and useful microelements: potassium, magnesium, iodine, iron.
Cherries can be consumed if you have diabetes. It neutralizes excess acidity and normalizes intestinal microflora. It is recommended to include it in the diet for dysbiosis.
Cherry is a tender berry. In order to preserve most of the useful substances, it needs to be exposed heat treatment as less as possible. The best option preparations for future use are compote.
Subtleties of cooking
- Large-fruited yellow and dark red cherries are best suited for compote. Berries for compote should have a pronounced taste and aroma.
- Cherries have varieties with easily separated pits and those in which the pit is difficult to separate from the pulp. Therefore, the choice of method for harvesting cherries for future use should depend on how easy it is to work with this berry.
- The cherries for compote need to be taken quite ripe, but not soft. The berries are first sorted, removing green, wormy or bird-pecked ones.
- Cherry compote is valuable precisely for its berries, so they put as many of them in the jar as possible. Only then will the drink turn out tasty and very aromatic.
- Cherries go well with other fruits, so assorted compote is in great demand.
- Cherry much sweeter than cherries. If cherries are poured with 60% syrup, then optimal quantity sugar for cherries is 350 g per 1 liter of water.
- IN sugar syrup For cherry compote, you can add citric acid. Its optimal amount is 1 g per 1 liter of syrup.
Cherry compote for the winter: recipe one
Ingredients for two 2- liter jars:
- cherries – 1.5 kg;
- sugar – 350 g.
- water – 2.5 l.
Cooking method
- Sort the cherries, remove the stalks, as well as all spoiled berries. Wash thoroughly.
- Prepare the jars by washing them with baking soda and rinsing them hot water. Sterilize in a way convenient for you: in the oven or in boiling water. Boil the lids.
- Fill the jars up to the shoulders with berries.
- IN enamel pan pour water, add sugar. Boil the syrup.
- Fill the berries to the top.
- Place the jars in a wide saucepan of hot water. Cover with lids.
- Pasteurize the compote at 80°: half-liter jars - 20 minutes, liter jars - 30 minutes.
- Remove from water and seal tightly.
- Turn upside down and cool in this position.
Cherry compote for the winter: recipe two
Ingredients for four liter jars:
- cherries – 1.5 kg;
- sugar – 370 g;
- water – 2.2 l;
- citric acid – 2-3 g.
Cooking method
- Sort the cherries, remove the stems. Wash well.
- Pack the berries tightly into sterile liter jars.
- Boil the syrup in an enamel pan by adding citric acid.
- Pour it over the cherries. Cover with lids.
- Place the jars in a wide saucepan filled with hot water. Sterilize 10 minutes from the moment the water boils.
- Seal tightly with lids.
- Cool upside down.
Cherry compote for the winter without sterilization
Ingredients (for a three-liter jar):
- cherries – 500 g;
- sugar – 400 g;
- water – 2.5 l;
- citric acid - a pinch.
Cooking method
- Sort the cherries, remove branches and spoiled berries. Wash in cold water. Let the liquid drain.
- Prepare sterile jars. Place berries in them.
- Fill to the top with boiling water and cover with lids boiled in water. Leave for 15 minutes.
- After pasteurization, close the jar with a lid with holes. Drain the water through the holes into the pan. Add sugar and citric acid according to the norm. Bring to a boil and cook the syrup for 2 minutes.
- Pour it over the berries up to the neck level. It is advisable that the syrup overflows a little.
- Seal immediately with lids. Turn it upside down. Wrap yourself in a blanket. In this position, let the compote cool completely.
Pitted cherry compote for the winter
Ingredients for 2 half-liter jars:
- cherries – 2 cups;
- sugar – 4 tbsp. l.;
- water – 0.5 l.
Cooking method
- Sort the cherries, tear off the stems. Remove unripe, spoiled berries. Wash in cold water. Place in a sieve or colander. Let the liquid drain.
- Using a special device or a regular pin, remove the seeds from the berries.
- Place the cherries in sterile jars. Add sugar. Pour boiling water over it. Cover with clean lids.
- Place in a saucepan with hot water. Sterilize at 80° (the surface of the water should barely ripple) for 20 minutes from the moment of boiling.
- Seal with lids. Turn it upside down. Leave until completely cool.
Cherry and strawberry compote for the winter
Ingredients for two 3-liter jars:
- cherries – 3 kg;
- strawberries – 0.5 kg;
- sugar – 700 g;
- citric acid – 2 tsp;
- water – 2 l;
- mint – 1 sprig.
Cooking method
- Sort the cherries, remove bad berries. Wash under running water.
- Sort through the strawberries. Rinse by immersing in a colander in a container of water. Tear off the sepals.
- Place the cherries first, then the strawberries, in clean, sterile jars. Place a mint leaf on top.
- Pour boiling water over it. Cover with a lid and leave for 15 minutes.
- Close the jar with a special lid with holes, drain the water into the pan. Put in sugar. Boil the syrup by adding citric acid.
- Pour it over the berries. Seal immediately.
- Turn it upside down. Wrap yourself in a blanket. Leave until completely cool.
Note to the hostess
Sweet cherry pits, like cherries, contain the glycoside amygdalin. When exposed to water, it decomposes and produces hydrocyanic acid, which is very poisonous. Therefore, cherry compote with pits can be stored for no more than one year. And, of course, you shouldn’t bite the bones.
Store cherry compote in a cool, dark place.
Cherry is a berry loved by many; both children and adults readily eat it during the season.
But it is comparatively rarely prepared for the winter.
The reason is probably that canning cherries requires certain conditions; the subtleties of its preparation are not known to everyone.
General principles of canning cherries for the winter
To make truly wonderful canned cherries, you need to choose good fruits. They should not be small and lopsided: if the berries are tasteless, how will they turn out? delicious preparation?
Cherries are often wormy. Check for wormholes. If you find them, do not take berries from this tray: probably all the cherries here are infected, it’s just not noticeable yet.
Cherry branches are not removed before sale. If they are missing, they were probably in very bad condition. You should not take such a berry, just like one whose branches have dried out or rotten. You can’t make delicious canned cherries from such raw materials.
Cherry berries should be firm and smooth to the touch. They will be tasty and juicy. Watery or rough fruits are not suitable for canning cherries.
Cherries contain very little acid. To correct this, it is customary to add citric acid or natural citruses to canned cherries.
Cherry jam must be cooked in several stages: only in this case will the berries remain dense and filled with sweet juice. However, sometimes these fruits are not boiled at all, but only poured with boiling syrup several times: this way the canned cherries will be tastier.
When preserving cherries, various spices are often used. Usually this is vanilla, but often cinnamon, star anise, and cardamom are also added. This gives ready-made dish indescribable aroma and delicate taste.
Recipe 1. Preserving cherries in their own juice
Ingredients
Cherry – 2 kg
Citric acid – 6 g
Cooking method
For this preservation method, it is necessary to select dense and very ripe berries, without signs of spoilage and not wrinkled.
They must be washed thoroughly: first place in a bowl with slightly acidified water, and then rinse again, pouring into a colander, under the tap.
Using a special device, remove the seeds from the berries.
Place the prepared cherries very tightly in liter jars, trying to ensure that there are no voids. Every now and then you need to lightly sprinkle the berries citric acid.
Place a towel on the bottom of a large saucepan and pour cold water. Place jars of cherries (opened, of course) there so that they are shoulder-deep in water. Pasteurize in boiling water for about 20 minutes, then roll up.
Recipe 2. Canned cherries: compote
Ingredients
Granulated sugar – 400 g
Water – 800 ml
Vanilla sugar - tablespoon
Citric acid - teaspoon
Light and dark cherries - about one and a half kg; this is approximate, in fact, as much as will fit in the jars
Cooking method
Heat water in an enamel pan and pour sugar and vanilla sugar. Stir. Heat until boiling.
Wash the cherries very thoroughly and place tightly in sterilized jars.
Pour boiling syrup over the cherries and cover with sterilized lids (do not roll them up!).
Let stand for 5 minutes, then pour the syrup back into the pan and bring to a boil again. As soon as the syrup is drained, immediately cover the jars with lids so that the cherries do not cool too much.
Pour citric acid into the boiling syrup, stir immediately and, without delay, pour it back into the jars with the top on. Immediately roll up (the syrup displaced by it should come out from under the lid), wipe with a damp cloth, and turn upside down. Cover the jars with a terry towel or something similar and leave until completely cool.
Recipe 3. Preserving cherries with assorted garden berries
Ingredients
Cherry – 1 kg
Mixed berries (strawberries, apricots, red currants, etc.) – 1 kg
Granulated sugar – 2 kg
Water – approximately 2 cups
Zest of half an orange
Cooking method
Wash all the berries very carefully, first in a bowl and then with running water. Remove seeds, leaves and twigs.
Heat water in an enamel saucepan, then add sugar and chopped orange zest. Heat until it boils, stirring the syrup constantly so that it does not burn.
Place the berries in a bowl for cooking. Pour boiling syrup over them, place over medium heat and bring to a boil, but do not boil.
Let stand for at least 6 hours, then return to the heat and bring the jam to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes and leave for another 6 hours, then repeat the procedure.
Place the still hot jam into sterilized jars and close the lids. It is better to store the product in the refrigerator.
Recipe 4. Canned cherries “Jam with a surprise”
Ingredients
Lemon – 1 pc.
Large dark cherries – 1 kg
Sugar – 1 kg
Almonds – about half a cup
Water – one and a half glasses
Cinnamon - teaspoon
Cooking method
Scald the almonds and peel them. Divide each nut into several pieces the size of a cherry pit.
Rinse the berries well and remove twigs and seeds. It is better to use for this purpose special device, but you can lightly cut the cherries with the tip of a knife. Place a piece of nut inside each berry.
In an enamel pan, prepare syrup from granulated sugar and water, add cinnamon to it.
Pour boiling syrup over the berries and let stand for a couple of hours.
Put the jam on the fire again and heat it, without letting it boil, for about half an hour.
Cut the lemon into thin slices. Carefully place the lemon slices into the jam and cook it over low heat for another five minutes.
Cool, place in sterilized jars and store in a cool place.
Recipe 5. Preserving cherries: pickling
Ingredients
Cherries - about one and a half kilograms (as much as it takes to fill the jars)
Sugar – 800g
Allspice – 2-3 peas
Cloves – 2-3 buds
Star anise – 1 star
Cinnamon - a centimeter piece of stick
Acetic acid (80%) – half a tablespoon
Water – 1 liter and 1 glass
Cooking method
Carefully sort and rinse the berries, remove the stems.
Grind all the spices with your hands or a rolling pin and pour them into jars.
Place cherries in jars.
Boil water in a saucepan (it is better to use an enamel one) and add sugar. It is better to strain the syrup and then pour it into it. acetic acid and stir.
Immediately pour the hot marinade into the jars and immediately place them in large saucepan, the bottom of which is previously covered with a napkin, add hot water so that it reaches the jars “up to the shoulders”, and pasteurize the jars, covered with roofs, but not rolled up, for about 10 (for half-liter) or 15 (for liter) minutes at the lowest boil (so that the water only trembles slightly).
Roll up the jars, turn them upside down and cover with a terry towel or blanket. Leave it like this until it cools completely.
Recipe 6. Canned cherries in the form of marmalade
Ingredients
Sweet cherries (it is better to choose red or black varieties to make the color more beautiful) – 2 kg
Granulated sugar – 1 kg
Medium sized lemon – 1 piece
Cooking method
The lemon must be thoroughly washed using a special brush.
Sort the cherries carefully, then rinse thoroughly and dry.
Free the berries from twigs and seeds (you can use a special device to remove the seeds, or you can simply cut each berry and shake out the seeds with the tip of a knife).
Add a glass of water to the berries, stir and let stand until the berries release juice.
Pour literally a couple of tablespoons of water into the bowl for cooking the jam, pour in the cherries and start cooking over low heat, shaking the bowl every now and then or stirring its contents with a wooden spoon or spatula.
After about five minutes, puree the contents of the basin using a blender and add another glass of granulated sugar. Boil again, gradually adding the remaining sugar.
Separately, grind the lemon with a blender along with the peel, but preferably without the seeds. Pour the pulp into the marmalade and simmer for some more time until the marmalade becomes quite thick.
Place the marmalade into pre-sterilized jars and cover with sterilized lids.
This preparation should be stored in a cool place.
Recipe 7. Preserving cherries: syrup
Ingredients
Cherries (strictly dark: dark red or black) – approximately 3 kg
Sugar – about 1 kg
Citric acid – 10 g
Cooking method
First you need to wash and sort the cherries, mercilessly removing bruised and especially spoiled berries. Also remove the stems and leaves, and then the seeds, and then squeeze the juice out of the cherries using a juicer, since it should be without pulp.
The “cake” can be boiled separately with sugar and a small amount water - it will make an excellent gravy for cottage cheese or pancakes. You can also cook jelly, but this is not for everyone: it tastes a little too neutral.
Pour the finished juice into an enamel pan and heat until hot juice add sugar and stir until it is completely dissolved.
Cook for about five minutes. Light foam on the surface does not need to be removed, it is enough to simply stir it, but the one that appears later - dense and thick - must be removed. The syrup should also become thick by this point.
Add citric acid and cook for another five minutes, then turn off, cover and cool. Pour into sterilized bottles, filtering thoroughly. Seal and store in a cool place.
Recipe 8. Canned cherries with spices
Ingredients
Water – 1 l
Sweet cherries – 1 kg (you can different varieties, but be sure to select large berries)
Citric acid - teaspoon
Sugar – 2/3 cup (for those who like very sweet things, you can add more)
Vanilla - a fifth of a small pod
Cinnamon - about 3 cm piece
Cloves - a couple of buds
Star anise – 1 star
Cooking method
Wash and dry the cherries, free them from branches and pits (you can simply cut them and shake out the pits).
Place the berries in jars, filling them almost to the top.
Dissolve sugar in water, add spices and boil for 2 - 3 minutes. Add citric acid.
Bring the syrup to a boil again. Pour boiling syrup over the berries, cover (but do not close!) with lids, place in a large saucepan with a napkin on the bottom and pasteurize for 10 (half-liter) or 15 (liter) minutes.
Roll up, place upside down and cover with a thick towel.
- Light-colored berries do not look very beautiful. If you decide to use yellow or pink cherries for canning, add a little red or black. However, you can use some other brightly colored berries: strawberries, black currants... Cherries are not very suitable: they look like cherries, but smaller, so they will look unpresentable.
- In order for the cherries in the jam to turn out as if transparent, the berries must be pricked in several places with a pin (this is only suitable for dark berries: ugly dots will be noticeable on the light ones) and cook at a temperature slightly below the boiling point, in two or three stages, cooling the jam between cooking
Cherry is a bright sunny gift of nature - a champion in the content of fruit sugars. Shiny, polished berries stand out in any fruit ensemble. They are ideal for making compotes: the fleshy, elastic pulp retains its shape perfectly and contains virtually no acid.
A simple recipe involves preparing without removing the seeds. Do not allow rotten berries to get into the jar. If desired, a slight sour note can be added with a slice of lemon, orange, grapefruit or a pinch of citric acid.
Fresh green stalks are evidence that the fruits have recently been removed from the tree.
Ingredients
For a 1 liter jar you will need: 
- 350 g cherries
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 600 ml hot water
- 1 pinch of citric acid
Preparation
1. The cherries in the compote will remain with seeds, so we simply rinse the ripe berries in water and remove the cuttings.
2. Pour all the berries into a washed jar.
3. Boil water in a saucepan or saucepan and pour it into a jar of cherries. Be sure to place a knife or board under the container so that it does not burst. Let's cover tin lid and leave for 10 minutes - during this time the berries will release air and become less dense.
4. Then replace the lid with a plastic one with holes for draining the liquid. Pour the water from the jar back into the pan and boil it again, placing it on the stove.
5. Pour granulated sugar and a pinch of citric acid on the tip of a knife into the jar itself. Instead, you can squeeze 0.5 tsp from lemon. juice If lemon is not available, then replace this citrus fruit with another: orange, grapefruit, etc.
6. Pour boiling water into the jar and cover it with a hot tin lid. Immediately seal with a seaming wrench and turn on its side over the sink, checking the seal for tightness. Place the jar of cherry compote under a blanket, leaving it there until it cools, and then transfer it to the pantry or cellar.
Note to the hostess
1. Squeezing into a jar lemon juice, you need to make sure that no citrus seeds get there. Dramatically on quality canned compote they will not affect, but the bitter taste will become disharmonious with the solo flavor of the product, which, in accordance with the recipe, should be sweet.
2. The optimal period for preserving cherries in Russian regions is the third ten days of May (at this time good imported berries appear on the markets) and the whole of June, when they ripen in most domestic territories. In August it is also sold, but it is already a product preserved with the help of modern technologies, mainly through blast freezing and the same instant defrosting. The organoleptic qualities of such raw materials are not up to par.
3. The suitability of fruits for wintering can be judged by the branches. Light green flexible cuttings, which are easy to twist into a spiral but difficult to break, indicate the freshness of the cherry: it has recently been removed from the tree. The one that has been sitting in warehouses has dry and gray-brown branches.
4. Deformed berries, with dents and hardening, need to be rejected. Most often, these are long-lasting “wounds” left by the beaks of garden robbers – birds. However, such traces are a good sign: the cherries are environmentally friendly. The birds will not be flattered by anything else.
Prepare ingredients for cherry compote for the winter.
Sort the cherries, tear off the stems, discard the rotten berries.
Rinse the cherries well with water, it is better to change the water 2-3 times.
Drain in a colander and let the water drain well.
Place the berries in sterilized jars.
I sterilize jars in the oven. I rinse the jars well detergent and baking soda, turn it upside down and place on a wire rack. I place the rack in the oven and set the temperature to about 100ºC. The jars are sterilized for about 15-20 minutes. As soon as all the moisture has evaporated and the jars become dry, they are sterilized. I turn off the oven and leave the jars there. As I make preparations, I take clean jars out of the oven and use them for canning. I've been using this method for many years. The main thing is to rinse the jars well and let them sterilize well. The advantage of this method is that you can simultaneously sterilize a large number of cans - how many fit on the grill.
I wash the lids well with soda, put them in a saucepan, add water so that it completely covers the lids and boil for about 5 minutes. I switched to screw lids a long time ago, the workpieces are perfectly stored under them, so I gave up the seaming machine a long time ago :)
Pour boiling water over the berries in a jar (about 1.7 liters).
Cover the jars with lids (if the lids are screw-on, do not tighten them tightly) and leave for 10-15 minutes.
Then drain the water from the cherries into a clean pan (it is convenient to use a special lid with holes for draining the liquid).
Add sugar.
Bring to a boil and the sugar dissolves, and cook at a moderate boil for 2-3 minutes.
The approximate amount of sugar is from 130 to 200 g: if you add 130 g, the compote can be drunk without diluting with water; if you add 200 g of sugar, the compote will turn out sweeter, more concentrated, and will need to be diluted with water when consumed.
Pour the boiling syrup over the berries in the jars again and immediately seal the jars tightly with screw lids (or roll them up using a seaming machine if the lids are tin).
