Juniper, spruce, pine jam, pine honey, as they call it a delicacy. But it is prepared exclusively from the cones. Not those that are brown and dry, only green young specimens are used. What attracted the attention of jam cones?
Should I make jam from the cones
Jam cones can not only cook, but also buy. If you look at the label, you will find a lot of interesting information. She is on sites on the Internet. The statement about high concentration of vitamin C attracts the most attention. In fact, this simply cannot be. All vitamins die at 60 degrees. When cooking jam syrup with cones heats up to 100 degrees. Sad but true.
So, jam is not worth cooking? This is not true. Vitamins die, but tannins, catechins and a number of other natural antioxidants, tannins and aromatics remain. They help to cope with cough, depression, the product improves digestion, the aroma of pine needles soothes and sets the festive mood. You can pamper yourself with this delicacy, but you should not expect a miracle.
By the way, there are also no vitamins in raspberry, strawberry and other types of berry jam. So, if you need to prepare a really useful delicacy, you should use recipes without cooking.
Which bumps to use
Most often they say that bumps should be collected in May. In fact, a lot depends on the climatic conditions. Far from everywhere in May it is warm, in some places it still snows. Therefore, it is better to focus on maturity, or rather its absence. What cones are suitable for jam:
- exclusively pine, cones of other conifers are rarely used;
- small in size, the smaller, the better, ideally no more than an extreme phalanx of a finger, better with a claw;
- green, brown copies should be thrown away immediately.
As far as the quantity is concerned, it is arbitrary, it is only important to respect the proportions of the prescription. On average, almost 1 liter of jam goes out from a kilogram of small pine cones. It may turn out to be less or more, depending on the intensity of boiling, moisture content of sugar, cooking periods.
What makes jam cones
Cones contain resin, so enameled pans and basins are not suitable. No, they can be cooked in them, but it will be problematic to wash it all. Therefore, it is wiser to take a stainless steel. It is easier to clean it and jam will not burn.
You can also take a slow cooker. But it is necessary to foresee that in the next two days it will not be possible to use it for cooking other dishes, since jam from the cones is boiled in several stages.
Cooking Recipe
Here is the classic recipe for pine cones jam. Used kilogram of the main product. But at will we take more or less, not forgetting to count water and granulated sugar.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg of pine cones;
- 1, 2 kg of sugar;
- 600 ml of water.
Preparation:
- Wash the cones, then pour boiling water, leave literally for 30 seconds, drain the water. You can simply put in a colander and slowly pour it out of the kettle. Then pour in the pan.
- Add sugar and water. Since these are not berries, there is little moisture in the cones, we immediately put them on the stove. We give a good boil, a lot of foam will not appear, but still remove, they will gather mote. Give the cones to simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Turn on the stove, leave the bumps soak until the syrup cools. On average, 5-7 hours.
- Re-turn on the stove and boil the jam again 2-3 minutes after boiling. Leave to cool. Repeat two more times. Nowhere in a hurry, the syrup must completely saturate the bumps.
- The fourth time we boil the cones and immediately place the jam in sterile jars, close the lids. Liquid syrup should not scare, after cooling it will become thicker.
It is important during the infusion of the cones to cover the pan with the jam so that dust and other debris do not fall into it. It is better to use a cloth, a piece of gauze, as a regular cap will collect condensation on itself.
Quick jam recipe with syrup
On average, cooking jam from cones takes two days. In the absence of such an amount of time, you can use the quick method. If you start in the morning, then in the evening the delicacy will be ready. Lemon juice is added here, but sometimes zest is also added, this is a matter of personal taste.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg of cones;
- 700 ml of water;
- 0, 5 lemons;
- 1 kg of sugar.
Preparation:
- Add prescription sugar with water, put it on the stove, boil until boiling and pour lemon juice from half a citrus. Boil another minute.
- Add washed and scalded young cones to the syrup. Boil a quarter of an hour on low heat. Cover, leave to soak until the evening or for 6-8 hours.
- Put the jam on the stove again, boil for another quarter of an hour, then put it into jars, put it away for storage.
It is not necessary to put boiling jam in jars, you can pack up the cooled billet, but do not forget to keep the dishes clean, use dry spoons and jars.
Storage of pine jam from cones
Sugar is so strong preservative that it inhibits the growth and development of any bacteria. Therefore, the jam does not need to keep in the refrigerator or freeze. It is well worth it even at room temperature, but it is still advisable to remove the jar from the sun. Let the product retains its color, as well as the remaining beneficial substances.
Contraindications
Pine jam contains a huge amount of sugar, 100 g is about 70 grams, which is 35 teaspoons. Therefore, it is not necessary to lean on the delicacy in case of problems with excess weight, diabetes mellitus is also a direct contraindication.
Other contraindications:
- lactation period;
- children up to 3 years;
- old age of 65 years;
- renal failure.
You can often hear the information that jam from the cones can replace honey for allergies. In fact, this product can also provoke a reaction, all individually. You should stick to the familiar rules - in everything should be a measure. To improve your health, it is enough to eat 1 lump of jam and a teaspoon of syrup a day. More than the human body does not need.
