The gooseberry, popularly called the "royal berry", although it causes a lot of trouble in harvesting and its subsequent processing, enjoys well-deserved respect in home canning. So, for example, aromatic gooseberry jam with orange is not only an amazingly tasty dessert, but also a wonderful remedy for the prevention of respiratory diseases.
The gooseberry belongs to that rare type of berries that can be preserved at any degree of ripeness: from small, unripe fruits, beautiful and pleasant-tasting compotes are obtained; fully ripe berries are good for jams, marmalades, juices, aromatic liqueurs and wines, and overripe gooseberries are usually used to make jams and marmalades.
In order to preserve as many useful qualities of these wonderful berries as possible during conservation, gooseberry jam with orange is prepared either "raw" or with minimal heat treatment.
How to make traditional jam
To prepare this simple, but very healthy dessert, you need only three ingredients: gooseberries, oranges and sugar, taken in a ratio of 3: 1: 1, 5. Depending on the selected berry variety, you can get an emerald or rich amber jam. So, a beautiful green shade is given to the delicacy of the varieties "Malachite", "Beryl", "Ural Emerald". Golden jam is obtained from the varieties "Russian yellow", "Amber", "Honey".
The preliminary preparation of all components comes down to the fact that the gooseberries are washed, cut with small scissors or a sharp knife of the stalk. If very large fruits are used for conservation and it is necessary to preserve their shape, then it is advisable to chop each berry with a toothpick or make a small incision and remove the seeds.
Oranges are also thoroughly washed, cut into pieces and removed grains, which can impart a bitter taste to the finished product.
Using a blender, electric or mechanical meat grinder, the prepared products are turned into a homogeneous mass, transferred to a bowl with a thick bottom and covered with sugar. While stirring, the gooseberries with oranges are kept on low heat for 4-5 minutes, then removed from the stove and allowed to cool slightly. The same procedure is repeated 1-2 more times. Ready gooseberry jam with oranges is cooled, laid out in sterilized jars and covered with lids.
"Raw" way of making jam
If you adhere to strict terminology, then this type of dessert cannot be called jam in the classical sense of the word, because ingredients are not heat-treated. This is the huge advantage of the "cold" method of making gooseberry jam with oranges: the delicacy not only has a pleasant fresh taste, but also retains all the vitamins.
The composition of the original ingredients is as small as in the previous recipe: 1 kg of "royal berry", 2 large oranges, 1.5 kg of sugar. By adding various additives to the base components, you can get several varieties of this jam: for example, lemon, used with the zest, adds a pleasant sourness to the finished dessert and provides a beautiful golden color; bananas and cinnamon add spice to the jam and highlight the refreshing citrus notes.
The cooking method is very simple:
- gooseberries are washed and sorted, removing berries with mechanical damage;
- oranges washed in warm water, cut into small slices together with the peel and take out the grains;
- in any convenient way, berries and fruits are crushed to a state of homogeneous mass;
- sugar is added to the fruit and berry mixture and several times they are thoroughly mixed together: you need to mix the jam especially thoroughly after the berry juice has appeared.
After the sugar is completely dissolved, we can assume that the "raw" gooseberry jam with oranges is ready. The fruit mass is laid out in sterilized jars and stored on the lower shelves of the refrigerator or in a cool cellar.
