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To maintain immunity in the winter, you can make an unusual and very useful preparation – jam from the cones. This dish is invented by traditional medicine and is more related to medicines than to sweets. But its sweet taste with a pleasant aroma and mint aftertaste will appreciate any sweet tooth. Preparing such a jam is very simple, you just need to stock up on young pine cones and enthusiasm.
Preparation of ingredients
Find cones for jam can only be in the forest, the low popularity of such a dish is due precisely to the inaccessibility of the main component. But if you get into the forest, the problem of finding cones will be eliminated. Such a blank can be made from fir fruits or pine cones.
Only young shoots of forest trees are suitable for sweet preservation. To get tasty and high-quality jam, fruits can be collected in late spring or early summer. The lump can be easily tested for suitability, it should easily get through. From more mature “representatives” you can make a no less useful and tasty syrup for the winter, but the fruits themselves will be inedible.
Immature shoots in length reach no more than 4 centimeters, the most delicious medicinal jam will be obtained from cones the size of 1 centimeters. In the dessert, the small fruits will become soft and will be pleasant to exfoliate while eating. In addition to the size of this ingredient, attention should be paid to the gender differences of the shoots.
In folk medicine, it is believed that the most useful piece is obtained from green female cones. They initially contain an order of magnitude more useful components for the formation of future generations. You can distinguish male “individuals” from female ones by their location on the crown of a tree. Women are at the top and grow apart, one by one. “Boys” are formed in groups, on the lower parts of the crowns.
Harvesting should be carried out in remote parts of the forest. Trees that grow close to roads or industrial areas are not suitable because their leaves and fruits can absorb harmful components from polluted air. Enjoying the clean air and nature, you need to collect the appropriate cones. For the preparation of delicacies fit any number of them.
The cooking process
At home, the fruits of pine or spruce need to be thoroughly washed and cleaned of forest debris. If during the collection process it was possible to find both pine and spruce shoots, you can use them together. The washed billet must be soaked in clean water so that excess bitterness comes out. To do this, the cones are immersed in excess water and insist in it. To make jam, it is better to choose stainless steel containers or enameled deep dishes. Cones should stand in the water for at least a day.
After soaking the water needs to be drained, the fruits are then ready for the preparation of an unusual coniferous delicacy. Further, it will only be the choice of recipes. Pine cones jam recipes are no different from other popular spin methods, but the result is a completely new and unusual dish.
Pine Jam
Ingredients:
- the water is clear;
- Pine cones;
- sugar (how much syrup will require).
Prepared fruit should be refilled with clean water and put on a very low heat, so the bumps should languish for 4 hours. The boiled broth should be cooled and insisted once again, as a rule, it takes at least 10 hours. After this, the broth needs to be drained and its quantity measured, for every half liter of liquid you will need 500 g of sugar.
Combine the fruit and decoction, add the necessary amount of granulated sugar to them and put on the fire. Cook dessert to a noticeable thickening, it will take from 1,5 to 2,5 hours. Hot jam should be poured into sterile jars. Cooking such jam is only necessary from green soft cones, as they will remain in the dessert.
The safety of such a useful twist will depend on the sterility of all equipment and storage. If the jam is closed with a metal lid, it can be stored with the rest of the twists. You can use simple capron caps, but in this case you need to put a treat in the fridge.
Banks must be sterilized with steam or boiling water, and boil the metal lids in boiling water. It is important that the jam is applied in a dry container and covered with dry lids.
Pine honey
Take:
- spruce or pine cones;
- water;
- sugar (how much syrup will require).
Coniferous fruits should be covered with water, the liquid should cover them with no more than 1,5 cm. Put everything on the stove, slowly bring to a boil and boil for another 20-30 minutes. If there are few cones, twenty minutes will be enough, more need to be cooked longer. You need to cook under the lid so that the fruits give away all the healthy components and flavor.
After this, you need to let the honey brew for a day. When the set time is up, the liquid will turn greenish, which means that the fruits are selected correctly and the cooking process proceeds properly. The liquid needs to be drained, the cones will no longer be needed, if desired, you can leave a little for a beautiful look. The amount of broth should be measured and sugar should be added to it in a ratio of 1: 1, pour everything into an enameled dish and put on the stove.
Honey from pine cones cook over low heat and stir occasionally, preferably with a wooden spoon. The mass will gradually thicken and change color, the delicacy will be ready when it acquires a light crimson hue. We can not allow intensive boiling, since all efforts can go down the drain. When everything is cooked, you need to quickly sterilize glass containers. Honey should be packaged in jars of hot, in turn, banks must also be hot. You can store this product with the rest of the twists or in the refrigerator. Honey from coniferous fruits comes out thick with a delicate taste and aroma, and its beneficial properties are not inferior to bees.
Cold cone jam
We need:
- granulated sugar – 500 g;
- cones – 500 g.
For this variant of jam, coniferous fruits can be used without soaking, in this case a very rich syrup will be obtained. Rinse the cones, then cut into slices or slices. You need to put the ingredients in a sterilized jar in layers, each layer of cones must be coated with sugar, the top layer should consist of sugar.
Cover the blank with clean gauze and leave to infuse in a dark place at room temperature. Periodically you need to shake the jar to dissolve the sugar crystals. In this form, the pine cones jam should be left until it becomes dark in color and all the sugar has melted. After that, it must be stored in the refrigerator.
The benefits and chemical composition of jam
Any cooking option will give the product a natural and full of useful components. Cones in the process of making jam retain their bactericidal and antiseptic properties. Such a delicacy removes harmful microbes and microorganisms, toxins and radicals from the body.
A wide list of vitamins in this dish provides a good immunomodulatory effect. From the recipes of jam to improve and strengthen the immune system, cold jam is the best choice, so the cones retain more useful properties and components.
The chemical composition of this coniferous dessert includes carotene, tannins, volatile. All these components together give an amazing healing effect. Vitamin A calms and normalizes the nervous system, increases resistance to diseases and infections. Tannins improve cell regeneration and tissue repair. But volatile production is an unsurpassed “killer” of microbes.
Periodic use of such a treat will make up for the lack of vitamins C, P, B, K. In winter and early spring, additional vitamins are especially useful. The benefits of this product are due, not least, to essential oils, which is very important for skin tone, hair strength and internal organs.
The energy value of such a dish is approximately 185 kcal, it does not contain proteins and fats.
The use of jam
Such a treat is used more as a remedy. The tart and cloying taste will not allow you to eat a lot, but even a small part of it will be enough to enjoy. In cooking, such a component is not used, except for direct use – it is eaten with tea. Cold jam must be diluted in hot water, it will become the healing tea itself.
But in folk medicine there is practically no limit to the use of pine or spruce jam. Those who are not concerned about any serious illness, eat it simply to strengthen the immune system, with which the delicacy works well. Informal medicine uses such a jam against viral diseases, both for prevention and for treatment. They recommend such a sweet remedy against asthma, bronchitis, flu, tonsillitis.
It is believed that the spruce and pine remedy is mandatory for chronic diseases of the respiratory tract and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. But in these cases, official medicine strongly recommends consulting a doctor, since even such a useful product has its own contraindications.
Coniferous jams are recommended for chronic fatigue, loss of strength, seasonal apathy. It is also believed that it increases the level of hemoglobin in the blood and is useful for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
Possible harm and contraindications
Tannins, which are beneficial to many, are dangerous in case of increased blood clotting, which can cause the formation of blood clots. Those who have suffered heart attacks or are suffering from atherosclerosis, such jam can be eaten in very limited quantities so as not to provoke a progression of the disease or a new attack.
Pregnant women and breastfeeding is better not to use this tool. Fruits of spruce and pine have an increased allergenicity, which can cause intolerance in a baby. For the same reason, it is better not to give it to children under the age of three.
Such a treat is categorically contraindicated in hepatitis, kidney diseases, and diabetes. High calorie content of the product can harm the figure, but this is only possible with excessive consumption of jam.
Anyone lucky enough not to enter these groups of people should at least once prepare such an unusual delicacy with a lot of useful properties. Jam can stand more than one winter, but it will save you from ailments, you can present it with care to someone or use it with your whole family.