You can prepare jam with an unusual taste from chokeberry and apples in several ways; the proportions of the products used will allow you to adjust the taste. The astringency of rowan will not be so noticeable if you prepare the jam with the addition of a sufficient amount of sugar and the use of some spices, in particular cinnamon. Apples will play an important role; depending on the variety, the jam will acquire its own special taste and aroma.
Recommendations for preparation and cooking
Everyone is familiar with apple jam, but few have tried chokeberry jam.As a child, most of us feasted on our grandmother's sunsets from simple products that were in every garden. Some housewives have been growing and consuming chokeberry berries in various forms for a long time; by themselves, they are tart, but in combination with softer berries and fruits they become milder in taste.
The ripened fruits of chokeberry contain a lot of useful vitamins and minerals that have a beneficial effect on the entire body in general, but not everyone can eat them in their pure form. To improve the taste of tart fruits, they are often combined with other products; apples most often succeed in smoothing out the rich taste; pear, plum, and quince go well with shrub berries. Basic tips for cooking are:
- A classic of the genre in sunset cakes is jam made from rowan berries and apples; the products are taken in approximately the same proportions. The taste is adjusted according to the ratio of raw materials: the more chokeberry there is, the sharper the taste of the jam will be.
- Sugar consumption will be standard and directly depends on the quality of apples and berries: the more sour they are, the more you need to add.
- Natural spices will help improve the taste and give it special spicy notes. It’s ideal to add a couple of cinnamon sticks to the brew; lemon zest will add some exoticism to the dish; lemon balm will add freshness.
- It is advisable to prepare the jam in an enamel bowl and stir with a wooden spatula.
Advice! You can make jam from apples and chokeberries; the products are boiled, rubbed through a fine sieve and boiled with sugar until thick.
Sometimes, to improve the taste, a drop of vanilla extract or half a vanilla pod is added to the prepared jam.
Preparing Ingredients
Everyone knows that in order for the jam to be tasty and healthy, the ingredients must be of excellent quality, and the preparation is carried out only at the highest level. Chokeberry jam is no exception; in order to treat yourself and your loved ones with tasty treats in winter, before preparing it you should properly prepare all the ingredients:
- Aronia berries are picked only in late autumn, so the fruits will have more sugars and less astringency.
- Apples choose late-ripening varieties that are firm and not broken.
The products are pre-washed and dried, then the apples are peeled and cut into medium cubes. The rowan berries are removed from the brushes, carefully sorted and washed.
For recipes with the addition of lemon, it is worth choosing the citrus fruit responsibly; it should be medium in size, the skin should be completely yellow, without any inclusions of foreign color.
Advice! In order for the chokeberry in the jam to be soft and tender, you should first pour boiling water over the berries a couple of times.
How to make apple jam with chokeberries
To prepare two liters of jam for next winter, you need to take the following quantities of food:
- A kilogram of ripe apples.
- Half a kilo of sugar.
- 300 g chokeberry berries.
- 1-2 cinnamon sticks.
The work itself is carried out in the following order:
- A syrup is prepared from two glasses of water and sugar, the ingredients are placed in a saucepan and brought to a boil. They throw cinnamon.
- As soon as the water boils, throw peeled and chopped apples into it and boil for 20-30 minutes.
- The signal for adding chokeberry will be the softening of the apples and the darkening of the pieces. Only with such indicators can you add berries.
- Boil chokeberries and apples for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Next, remove from the heat and place in pre-prepared jars and roll up.
Important! The finished jam will have a slightly pinkish tint; the rowan berries should be soft.
A simple and affordable recipe for jam with lemon zest; it is added to the casserole in the last minutes before removing from the heat. The remaining steps are completely identical to those described above.
Storing jam
For safety, the finished seaming is left in the living room until it cools completely. Then they take it to the cellar or basement, where the temperature in winter does not fall below +3, and in summer it does not rise to +20.
Sealing from black, already ripened rowan can be stored in the refrigerator, but this is already an extreme measure.
Making jam for the winter from chokeberry berries and apples is simple; individual adjustment of the ratio of ingredients will allow you to get a new taste of the jam every time.
