Contents
Everyone should make sure that vitamins from the garden are on the dinner table for a whole year. You can freeze lingonberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries and other gifts of nature easily and quickly, while maintaining the entire chemical composition. How to do it right, we learn from the article.
Is it possible to freeze lingonberries for the winter
Freezing is the most gentle way of storing food, allowing you to keep them fresh and healthy. Sometimes it is not possible to freeze lingonberries correctly. Vitamins, original appearance, aroma are lost. Consider how to freeze lingonberries at home.
Do I need to wash lingonberries before freezing?
When the fruits are harvested, you need to pay attention, first of all, to the presence of debris, immature, rotten specimens, leaves, tails, and insects in them. To freeze lingonberries for the winter, all this should be carefully sorted out. Rinse with running water.
The next step is thorough drying. Spread on any moisture-absorbing surface, remove excess liquid. For this you can use:
- a napkin;
- paper;
- towel;
- cotton fabric.
The benefits of frozen lingonberries
Fruits contain a lot of water, the amount of which reaches 80%. The rest of the mass is:
- carbohydrates – 8-10%;
- organic acids (citric, malic, benzoic, quinic, tartaric, salicylic, lactic, succinic) – 2–2,7%;
- pectin substances – 0,63%;
- polyphenols;
- vitamins (C, PP);
- essential oil;
- minerals (phosphorus, iron);
- other substances.
Frozen lingonberries and recipes from it have long been used for treatment, prevention, strengthening the body. Fresh berries, including those that have been frozen, have a number of therapeutic qualities:
- An excellent diuretic, which can also suppress the inflammatory process. The combination of these two qualities makes this berry necessary in the treatment of pyelonephritis, cystitis.
- Storehouse of vitamins and minerals. With the help of lingonberries, you can strengthen the body during the winter colds.
- It has a cleansing effect on the composition of the blood: removes cholesterol, normalizes the level of glycemia, increases hemoglobin, clotting.
- Heals the heart, improves its rhythm, lowers blood pressure.
- Improves digestion, appetite, increases the acidity of the stomach.
- Restores visual function.
- Accelerates the healing of wounds, makes the skin elastic.
As can be seen from the above, frozen lingonberries and their beneficial properties can be a way to treat and prevent various diseases.
Calorie content of frozen cranberries
The energy value of fresh and frozen berries is almost the same if the storage was carried out without the addition of sugar. Due to a number of chemical processes that occur during freezing, the calorie content may drop slightly. So, a fresh berry has 46 kcal, harvested for the winter – 43 kcal.
How to freeze lingonberries in the freezer in portions
You can freeze lingonberries for the winter in the refrigerator with whole berries, without extraneous additives. Many people like to add sugar. To prevent the fruits from sticking together, lingonberries should be frozen for the winter in stages:
- Spread a thin berry layer on a pallet, put in the freezer compartment.
- When the fruits harden, pour into a container (bag) and store at -18 degrees and below.
How to freeze lingonberries with sugar for the winter
The berries are quite bitter, so you can freeze lingonberries with sugar to improve the taste. To freeze sugar and berry mass, it is taken equally. Everything is ground in a blender, meat grinder. It is poured into containers, plastic cups.
Shelf life of frozen berries
The shelf life of frozen foods depends on several factors. It is advisable to have a refrigerator or freezer in the house equipped with a modern No Frost cooling system. In contrast, ordinary old refrigerators cannot provide fast and deep freezing, which completely preserves the structure of the product.
The temperature in the chamber must be maintained at a constant level and not rise above -18 degrees. If it is within -10 degrees, as in old refrigerators, then in this case, the shelf life is significantly reduced.
Lingonberries, unlike other berries, can be stored for quite a long time – from 12 months to 2-3 years. But this is the case if it is frozen whole, in its pure form. Cooked in other versions, for example, with sugar, ground, it is stored for up to a year.
What can be done from frozen lingonberries
An excellent tincture is prepared from the fruits. And the fact that they are frozen, even on hand. In this case, the berry mass releases more juice. And this gives the final product a brighter color and rich flavor range.
Juice has a whole bunch of wonderful features. It also relieves hypertension, and can increase the child’s appetite. It is necessary for gastritis with low acidity, to strengthen blood vessels, and also as a choleretic, anti-sclerotic, hypoglycemic and cardiotonic agent.
How to defrost lingonberries
The surest way to defrost food is to put it in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf. Then the process will take place gradually, which will save vitamins. Sometimes time rushes with cooking. In this case, it is allowed to lower the bag with lingonberries into cold water. The defrosting process will accelerate, and after ten minutes it will be possible to start using.
You can defrost in the microwave on the appropriate setting, at the lowest power. Otherwise, the berry balls will be frozen inside and soft on the outside. But this should be done immediately before cooking or eating the product.
What can be cooked from frozen lingonberries
On the basis of berries, you can conduct any culinary experiments. They are commonly used in:
- kissels, compotes, teas, fruit drinks, etc.;
- sweets (pastries, fruit salads, casseroles, cottage cheese products, jams, etc.);
- salads;
- sousah
- meat;
- preparations;
- porridge.
A lot is prepared from frozen lingonberries. It can be soaked, canned, etc.
Conclusion
Freezing lingonberries does not take much time, anyone can do it. And then there will be no lack of vitamins, and there will be no colds. Freezing lingonberries for the winter at home is a reliable tool for strengthening immunity and preventing many health problems.
