To make currant jam or use the berries for other culinary purposes, you must first clean the harvest. This is necessary because in the process of collecting fruits, branches, leaves and brushes are torn off along with them. There are several ways to peel blackcurrants using available products.
Preparing the currants
Before using currants for their intended purpose, it is necessary to properly prepare the berries.To clean the fruits, you need to sort through the entire harvested crop, get rid of damaged and wrinkled berries, thoroughly wash the crop, and only then begin cleaning and processing.
How to quickly sort berries?
You can sort blackcurrants at the harvest stage, inspecting each berry. This method will take a very long time, since it is easier to collect berries with brushes, and then carry out the selection. You can sort currants in different ways, using additional devices to simplify the process.
Using a pallet
To quickly clean the harvested crop, you can prepare a tray for the berries, and next to it, place a board at an angle, which is usually used for cutting food. The entire harvest is rolled in portions along the board into a tray, as a result of which the berries fall into the container, while branches and other foreign elements remain on the surface of the board. For convenience, you can use devices with a ribbed surface instead of a board so that branches and leaves cling more securely to the ledges.
Using a bowl and cold water
Currants collected with brushes can be conveniently cleaned using any large container and water. The fruits are poured into a bowl and filled with cold water, after which all small debris floats to the surface of the liquid. Then it remains to remove the excess parts and remove them from the bottom of the brush in portions, removing branches if necessary.
When using this method, you should not flood the crop with hot water, since its impact can lead to damage to the structure and appearance, as well as to the loss of the original taste characteristics.
Is it necessary to remove branches?
The process of removing stems from berries takes a lot of time, so when preparing preserves and jams, many people put the berries in their original state.The presence of tails on the fruits does not affect the taste characteristics of the finished product. As a result of processing, the tails and small twigs are ground, and when further consuming currant jam they are not palatable.
Remove blackcurrant clusters with a fork
Picking black currants with brushes is convenient because you don’t have to waste time separating each berry from the branches. To get rid of brushes, you can use a simple fork when sorting the crop later. To do this, the bunches of berries are pulled between the tines of a fork, causing the fruits to fall off.
When using this method, it is important to be extremely careful, since sharp cloves can damage the integrity of the berries, which will negatively affect their shelf life. Damaged berries should be eaten or processed immediately.
Manual method for red and white berries
There are several ways to sort through red and white varieties of currants. The most affordable option is manual selection to weed out damaged specimens, twigs and leaves.
To simplify the process, you can spread the collected currants on thin paper, wait until they dry completely, and then blow them with a hairdryer. A current of weak air will blow away light leaves and twigs and leave behind the fruit. Then all that remains is to transfer the currants into a colander, rinse thoroughly and use to create preparations.
How long can the sorted fruits last?
Currants are harvested only once a year, so for many gardeners it is important to preserve the fruits for later use. It is recommended to eat fruits collected in rainy weather or send them for processing immediately, since exposure to moisture will quickly spoil them.
If the berry is picked correctly, then it can be stored in several ways:
- fresh or frozen in the refrigerator;
- in a dried state;
- mashed with sugar;
- as a preparation for the winter.
Before storing berries, you need to prepare them properly. To do this, the fruits are plucked from the branches, getting rid of spoiled and wrinkled specimens. Then the crop is thoroughly washed under low pressure of water and spread in one layer to dry.
To store currants for several months, it is best to freeze the crop. The exact timing will depend on the temperature conditions and the correct preparation. Before putting the fruits in the freezer, it is not necessary to wash them, but you need to dry them thoroughly.
The dried fruits are poured onto any flat surface, wrapped in cling film, and kept in the freezer for a couple of hours. When the berries freeze, they are transferred to cellophane, hermetically sealed and returned to storage.
Being in vacuum conditions, at zero temperature, currants can be stored for about 1.5 months, at a lower temperature - up to 3-4 months. Deep freezing in modern freezers at temperatures below -18 degrees allows you to store crops throughout the year without loss of taste characteristics. If it is necessary to defrost currants, it is recommended to transfer the fruits to the top shelf of the refrigerator so that they gradually thaw and do not lose their dense shape.
You can also use the drying method for long-term storage. Fresh berries contain about 85% water, and after drying up to 15% should remain. You can dry the fruits in an oven, microwave, or special dryer, or leave the harvest in the open air, in a place with constant air circulation.
Dried fruits are left for further storage in a dark place with a temperature below 20 degrees. A plastic container, glass jars or cardboard boxes are used as containers. If all the above conditions are met, the shelf life of the crop reaches one year.
