Gooseberry is a well-known berry. It has many varieties and flavors and is well suited for jam. Moreover, when cooking, you can experiment with the ingredients - gooseberries go well with raspberries, currants, orange, and lemon. But there is another interesting recipe - gooseberry jam with mint. The taste of this dessert is exquisite and original. You will be able to surprise your loved ones with this jam by preparing jars for the winter.
Recipe Features
Often, gooseberries have a thick skin that does not allow sugar to seep inside. Therefore, it is recommended to pierce each berry or cut off the tails with a knife or scissors, lightly cut the skin and expose the pulp.
To add sourness to the jam, you should also use half a lemon. It goes well with mint, and the jam will turn out even more original. In addition, lemon is a preservative. Therefore, its use will ensure a long shelf life of the workpieces.
Required Ingredients
To prepare mint gooseberry jam you will need the following ingredients:
- 1 kilogram of gooseberries;
- 1 kilogram of sugar;
- 2 glasses of water;
- 8 sprigs of mint.
For better storage of jars of jam, it is recommended to add a pinch of citric acid.
Product selection rules
Any variety of gooseberry is suitable for this dessert. But it is better to select only ripe berries - unripe ones will not be able to boil properly in the puree. You should also get rid of spoiled berries, as they can spoil the taste of the dessert.
You can replace mint with lemon balm - then the taste of the finished dish will be different, with a subtle lemon aroma. Also, these herbs go well together and can be combined.
Preparing containers
For winter preparations, it is better to take small glass jars. It is more convenient to use screw caps. Firstly, they dress without special devices. Secondly, after opening such cans are more convenient to use. Thirdly, if you unscrew the caps carefully, you can use them several times.
To ensure that the jam does not begin to deteriorate before it reaches winter, it is necessary to prepare the container in advance. Glass jars should be thoroughly washed and sterilized. You can do this as follows:
- fill them a third with water and put them in the microwave;
- put in a saucepan with water and cook;
- fill with water and put in the oven;
- hold a kettle or pan over the steam.
Then you need to use the jars immediately so that they do not have time to get dirty. There is no need to let the jars cool: the jam can be transferred immediately.
How to make gooseberry jam with mint for the winter
In order to prepare preparations for the winter from gooseberries and mint, you need:
- Wash the berries and sort.
- Trim the ponytails.
- Rinse again and drain in a colander.
- Place the berries in a saucepan and add mint sprigs.
- In another pan you should make sugar syrup: you need to mix sand with water, cook for 10 seconds and stir until completely dissolved.
- The berries now need to be poured with syrup and left to cool under the lid.
- After 5 hours, you need to bring the berries to a boil and then cool.
- Repeat this again, after which you should remove the mint sprigs and pour the jam into sterile jars.
How to store blanks
The optimal storage temperature for jars of jam is from +5 to +20 degrees. Therefore, they will be perfectly preserved on the balcony, in the cellar or in the refrigerator.
Thanks to the use of a large amount of sugar during preparation, as well as citric acid or lemon, such preparations can last for a long time.
But it’s better not to take risks and not keep them for longer than two years.
