Field strawberries in different regions of Our Country are called differently: midnight, hilly strawberries, meadow or steppe strawberries. Apparently, therefore, there is some confusion in completely different plants.
Description of the plant
Field strawberries can grow up to 20 cm tall, have thick brown rhizomes and thin stems. The leaves are trifoliate, oval, with teeth, silky to the touch, the lower part of the leaves has a dense pubescence. It blooms with white flowers in late May – early June.
The berries are spherical, hence the name strawberry, in Old Slavonic “club” means a ball. The color of the berries varies from light green with whitish patches at the stage of technical ripeness, to rich cherry when fully ripe. Berries can be greenish on one side and pink on the other. But even in this form, they are very sweet and tasty, and suitable for collection. The fruits are very fragrant. Those who have tried field strawberries once remember its taste and aroma for the rest of their lives, which cannot be confused with other berries.
The peculiarity of the field strawberry is that the sepals are very close to the berry. In the process of collecting come off with them. In July – August, the fruits of field strawberries begin to ripen. You can find field strawberries in meadows, hills or small hills in central Our Country, steppe and forest-steppe regions. It even happens that berries are not visible among the thick grass, but they are given out by a rich berry aroma. The berries are quite dense, so they do not crumple, they can be transported over long distances. But, of course, the most delicious jam is made from freshly picked strawberries, because the peculiar aroma disappears during storage.
Recipes
Should the sepals be removed from the berries? Everyone decides for himself based on his taste preferences. The presence of leaves in jam does not interfere with someone at all, someone prefers jam only from berries. The process of removing the sepals is time consuming, one hostess cannot master it, so look for helpers, it’s more fun and faster to do everything in the company.
To make jam, you will need: berries – 1 kg, granulated sugar – 1 kg.
- The berries are cleared of sepals. Now you need to wash them under running water and let dry. There is no single point of view about washing.
- Put the berries in a container, cover with sand. Place in refrigerator. It is better to do this at night.
- In the morning they will give juice. Pour the juice into the container in which you will cook the jam. Put on the stove. Stir until the sugar dissolves. If the berries don’t have much juice, then add some water to get a syrup.
- Dip the strawberries into the boiled syrup, wait until it boils and cook for about 5 minutes, removing the foam. Remove foam or not? Again, everyone decides the issue based on their experience and preferences. After 5 minutes, turn off the stove and let the future jam cool completely. This may take several hours, but not less than 4.
- Then we repeat the process. We heat the jam and boil for 5 minutes, let it cool, so three times.
- Arrange the finished product in clean, sterilized jars, close with lids. The jam is stored at room temperature.
This method of preparation, although long, but at the same time the necessary density of jam is achieved. Berries remain whole, soaked in syrup
A slightly different recipe for making field strawberry jam.
It will take 1 kg of granulated sugar, 1 kg of berries, 200 g of water, 1 teaspoon of citric acid.
- Syrup should be boiled from granulated sugar and water. If the syrup flows from a spoon in a thick and viscous stream, then it is ready.
- Pour the prepared berries into the syrup, let it boil, add citric acid and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from stove and let cool for about 6 hours.
- Then heat again and cook for 5 minutes. Cool down. Ready jam has a good density and does not spread on a plate. It may be necessary to repeat the cooking process more than 2 times.
The addition of citric acid prevents the jam from sugaring. Video recipe:
From field strawberries you can cook the so-called jam – five minutes. This method of cooking saves time and, most importantly, vitamins. The proportions of berries and granulated sugar are different. The main thing is that the jam is cooked for no more than 5 minutes and immediately rolled into jars. It is better to pre-clean the berries from the sepals, rinse, cover with sugar so that they give juice.
Conclusion
Cook jam from field strawberries, this is a very tasty berry, please your loved ones. On long winter evenings, enjoy the strawberry flavor of the fruit, which is preserved in jam, as if a piece of a bright summer day was hidden in a jar.
