Doctors all over the world recommend eating spinach. It promotes rejuvenation and makes your health stronger, and preparing spinach for the winter does not require much effort. This plant is simply overflowing with useful substances. In summer, finding greens is a piece of cake, but in winter, finding fresh leaves is quite difficult, and the question arises: “What to do?” The answer is simple, you should prepare it in the summer. This will be discussed further.
Spinach recipes for the winter
There are quite a few recipes for preparing this useful plant, but we will consider only a few methods. All recipes are quite simple and require a minimum of time.
Pickled spinach
The process of pickling greens is the simplest method of harvesting this crop. Before canning you need to prepare the following:
- Spinach;
- Iodized salt.
The proportions are as follows: one part of greens will require at least one tenth of salt. The process itself on how to prepare spinach for the winter is as follows:
- You need to remove the petioles, because only the leaves are salted. They need to be washed well and placed on a towel, thereby drying them.
- Next, you need to prepare the containers by sterilizing them, throw the greens in there and sprinkle salt on top (amply) so that it completely covers them.
- A weight is placed on the leaves so that they sink to the bottom.
- Then the load must be removed, replaced with new leaves and sprinkled with salt. This is done until the jar is full.
- After this, the container should be closed with a lid and sent to a cool place to wait for winter.
Spinach puree
For preparation you need:
- Green leaves;
- Water;
- Soda.
Regarding the proportions, everything is 1 to 1.
Preparing canned spinach is very simple; you just need to rinse the greens and then boil them in pre-salted water. You also need to add a little soda to make the liquid softer. Afterwards, it needs to be rinsed again under the tap, dried and wiped using a sieve. The puree should not be too liquid, so that, for example, it does not spread from a tablespoon.
Next, you need to let it cool, put it in jars and put it in the refrigerator, first sealing it with lids.
Of course, in this recipe, soda is by no means the most important ingredient; you can do without it. However, with it, it will remain the same green throughout the winter, but it’s up to you to decide whether you need it or not, based on your own preferences.
Unusual cubes
This recipe is much more complicated, but also more effective. In this case, we have to freeze ice cubes with these greens, but do it correctly. Prepare spinach for the winter at home as follows:
- To begin with, all preparatory procedures are carried out, such as removing excess, washing, drying;
- Next, the green leaves should be cut into small pieces, even medium ones;
- Then scatter them into ice cube trays and fill them, but use boiled water;
- Place the result in the freezer;
- When the water hardens and turns into cubes, you need to transfer them to another container and store them in the freezer.
Frozen this way, it is perfect for stews, soups, and sauces.
Canned sorrel and spinach
To prepare this recipe you need:
- Spinach;
- Sorrel;
- Water (one fourth liter).
The ratio of the first two ingredients is one to two. Take spinach and sorrel leaves, wash them and place them in an enamel bowl. Pour water there in the specified volume. Next, put it on the stove and wait until it boils.
You should not cook for a long time, literally two or three minutes is enough.
What you get needs to be scattered into jars, which must be sterilized, and closed. Preservation is sent for storage in a cold place.
Drying spinach
How to preserve spinach? If you don’t want to bother with greens at all, as an option, you can simply dry the spinach. Green leaves should be washed, dried and placed on sheets of paper at room temperature.The sun should not hit them. It will be much easier if you have a special electric dryer. It is better if the room temperature is 30-35 degrees. If you have a question about how to store spinach after drying it, then everything is simple, in glass jars, in a dark room.
Preparing winter greens for sauces
The recipe is quite simple:
- As usual, rinse and dry the main ingredient.
- Using a blender, puree until you get something like a puree.
- The resulting mixture should be scattered into special ice trays.
- Take the butter and melt it, for example, in the microwave.
- Pour it over the greens and put it in the freezer.
Such cubes can be used, for example, when preparing risotto pasta or various sauces. Sometimes, it is better to use frozen vegetables in a cooked form.
Conclusion
As you can see, you can preserve greens for preparing any dish in winter; for this you can use dried or frozen spinach, or simply for consumption. Harvesting spinach for the winter is a simple process and will not take much time, but will bring many benefits to the body. We recommend this to every housewife who cares about herself and her loved ones.
