Cherry jam

In any weather outside the window, homemade cherry jam will remind you of sunny summer days and warm evenings, when the whole family gathers on the veranda of a country tea house. Hearty conversations, delicious mint tea and fresh pastries.

Ruby cherries in thick, dark scarlet syrup evoke childhood memories of how a grandmother made cherry jam for a long time and removed pink delicious foams for her grandchildren from a seething syrup. Cherries have long taken a worthy place in the culinary traditions of many peoples on different continents.

The first cherry trees began to grow on the Black Sea coast of Crimea and the Caucasus. Already in the III century BC, cherry fruits belonged to medical remedies by Roman doctors. There are about one hundred and thirty varieties of cherry trees in the world. The berry itself, as well as cherry jam, compote or jam, are rich in vitamins and healthy trace elements.

The composition of cherries includes vitamins of group B, A, E, PP, as well as the content of vitamin C in berries. Vitamins and useful macro- and microelements (fluorine, iodine, zinc, iron, calcium and magnesium), which are included in berries are also contained in cherry jam. However, the concentration of useful substances in cherry jam decreases, because during the manufacture of the product, the berries are subjected to heat treatment.

The calorie content of cherry jam depends primarily on how much sugar is used in the formulation. The cherry of the berry itself is low-calorie and well absorbed by the body. Often nutritionists allow their patients to replace chocolate products with natural homemade cherry jam.

True, do not forget the golden rule of a balanced diet "it's good that in moderation, " since uncontrolled consumption of the product in large quantities combined with a high level of carbohydrates and calorie content of cherry jam (256 Kcal) can harm both figure and health.

There are many recipes for cherry jam, which are based on the culinary experience and family traditions of one hostess or another, but there is also a universal or classic recipe. In order to cook cherry jam, it is better to first extract the seeds from the berries, so you will have the most delicious cherry treat.

So, for 1 kg of pre-peeled cherries take 500-800 gr. sugar or use a proportion of 1: 1 and 1: 2 (berries: sugar). It must be remembered that the more sugar you add, the faster the jam is cooked. First, you need to make a syrup in which cherries will subsequently be cooked. For this purpose water or cherry juice and sugar are used.

After the syrup is ready, cherries are poured into them and left for a couple of hours. After that, the cherries are boiled in syrup, brought to a boil and constantly mixed. At the last stage, the jam is poured into sterilized jars and closed with a lid. Different countries add their own special ingredients to cherry jam. You can enjoy cherry jam with nuts, rum, rose petals or cloves, as well as cinnamon and lemon zest.