Currants - black, red, white - are grown by many gardeners. This berry is not only tasty, but also very useful, as it contains a number of vitamins and minerals. It can be consumed fresh, or it can be harvested for future use, for example, cook compotes from it.
To cook red currant compote, sort the harvested crop. Berries for compote must be ripe, intact. Separate them from the stems. This is done either by hand or to speed up the process using a stainless steel fork.
Rinse the berries, dry slightly, then immerse the colander in a pot of boiling water. After 1 minute, take it out, rinse the currants under running cool water. This stage (blanching) is necessary in order for the berries in the compote to retain their attractive appearance.
Place the blanched and washed red currants in the pre-prepared glass jars. Of course, these containers must be thoroughly washed, preferably with soda, and rinsed with boiling water. Fill the jars with berries to the "shoulder", pour hot sugar syrup (for 1 liter of water - 400 grams of granulated sugar). Then cover the mouths of the cans with metal lids scalded with boiling water.
Place the containers of berries carefully in a pot of boiling water. To prevent the cans from bursting, there should be a cloth folded in several layers at the bottom of the pan. Sterilize jars of currants over low heat; the water must reach the "shoulders" of the containers. Sterilization time: for half-liter cans - 10 minutes, for liter cans - 15 minutes, for three-liter cans - 25 minutes. Then carefully remove the cans from the pan, roll up the lids, turn over and let cool.
If you want to cook compote for immediate consumption, then this is much easier to do, and besides, you can not separate the berries from the stalks. Rinse the selected red currants in a colander, place in a saucepan, cover with cold water and put on fire. The ratio of the mass of berries / mass of water depends on how concentrated the compote you want to cook. Bring to a boil, add granulated sugar to a saucepan, stir. Here, too, be guided by your taste: someone loves a sweet compote, someone less sweet. Let it simmer for 5 minutes, turn off the heat. The currant compote is ready.
