Summer pleases with an abundance of fruits, vegetables and berries. But with the onset of cold weather, we begin to lack our favorite foods. It is then that homemade preparations will come to the rescue: pickles, jams and, of course, compotes. They diversify the diet and enrich the body with the necessary nutrients.
Garden plum compote is very popular with housewives. Its closest relative is cherry plum, which has a more sour taste. This thermophilic plant is found mainly in the southern regions of our country. It bears great fruit, from one tree you can collect several buckets of fragrant fruits. Most often in gardens you can find yellow cherry plum, as well as pink, red, purple and even almost black.
Selection of fruits and preparation of containers
For preservation, choose only ripe, strong fruits, without signs of spoilage. If you use soft fruits, they will become limp and the compote will turn out cloudy. Cherry plum is not subject to long-term storage, so it is better to process the harvested crop in the first day or two. Compote can be made from whole plums, or from halved, pitted. As a container, two- and three-liter jars are most often used, which have been thoroughly washed and sterilized beforehand. The main condition for cooking is cleanliness and tightness.
Classic recipe
This recipe is considered to be the simplest. A 3-liter jar will require 400-500 grams of cherry plum, 250 grams of sugar, about 2.5 liters of water. It should be said right away that for people suffering from diabetes, sugar substitute can be used instead of sugar, the taste of the drink will not be affected by this. The washed and peeled fruits are laid out in prepared containers, filling them by a third and poured with boiling water for about 30 minutes. A container filled with fruits of different colors looks bright and beautiful. In order to prevent the skin from bursting and sliding off the cherry plum during heat treatment, each fruit is pre-pierced with a toothpick. After that, the water is poured into a saucepan and a syrup is prepared with the addition of sugar. The resulting liquid is re-developed over the jars and tightened with lids. It remains only to turn them over, wrap them up and leave for two days. Compote is ready, but it is better to use it in a couple of months, when it is infused. And remember that it is recommended to store canned compote with seeds for no more than a year, after which substances harmful to the body can form in it.
Sterilization recipe
This original recipe will take more effort and time. The step-by-step recommendations are as follows. Thoroughly washed and peeled fruits are dried. Then cut in half and remove the bones. It is better to use jars of smaller capacity as containers, they are more convenient for sterilization. The proportions of this recipe are as follows: for a 1-liter jar, take 300 grams of fruit, 150 grams of sugar, 600-700 ml of water. Halves of cherry plum are placed in clean jars and poured with pre-cooked syrup. Cover with lids and place in a wide-bottomed saucepan with a towel on the bottom. The cans are sterilized, starting from the moment of boiling, for 5 minutes - cans of 0.5 liters and 10 minutes - 1 liter. The amount of water in the pot should be such that it does not get inside the jars. A nice addition to this recipe will be a few cloves, some cinnamon, or even a couple of orange slices. This hot drink is similar to mulled wine.
Sugarless
Each housewife can adjust the level of filling the jars with aromatic fruits and the amount of sugar for making syrup according to her preference. But there is one among the recipes that perfectly preserves the natural properties of cherry plum. It is completely free of sugar. To make such a compote, use the proportion: 1 kg of fruit 1 liter of water. Peeled and washed in cold water, the ripe fruits are placed in a colander and blanched in boiling water for 5 minutes. Then the liquid is re-boiled and the cherry plum placed in jars is poured with it. Further, the filled containers must be sterilized: 9 minutes - 0, 5 liter cans and 12 minutes - 1 liter. The rolled jars are wrapped, and in 1-2 days the homemade preparation is ready.
Fruit platter
The natural acidity of cherry plum can be brightened by adding a variety of fruits or vegetables to the compote. This variety of plum and apples forms an amazing combination. To do this, cut off the peel from them, remove the seeds and cut them into slices or cubes. First, apples are placed on the bottom of a 3-liter jar, and on top are more tender cherry plums. Then follow the usual recipe for making compote: 250 grams of sugar for 2.5 liters of water. Each housewife selects a good proportion of components individually, but the most successful is when fruits are used in equal quantities, in this case, about 300 grams of each type. In place of apples, there can be apricots, pears and even zucchini.
Cherry plum plus
Not only fruits and vegetables go well with cherry plum. She makes a wonderful duet in combination with cherry. If for the compote, where the plum is in the lead, it is better to take larger fruits, from 25 to 40 grams, then for the preparation of this drink it is better to use small yellow or red fruits. This simple recipe looks like this step by step. Wash and dry 200 grams of cherry plum and cherry. Fold fruits and berries into pre-prepared liter containers and pour boiling water over. After 10 minutes, drain the liquid, add 140 grams of sugar per can and boil the syrup, which you then need to fill the container with the fruits. It turned out to be a real treat for those with a sweet tooth.
Cooking compotes at home for the winter is an interesting and not very difficult task. Perhaps the listed recommendations will help in this, the recipes for making compotes with cherry plum are quite easy, there is almost no trick here, and home preservation is always tasty and healthy. The value of cherry plum is practically not lost during heat treatment. One portion of the homemade drink will pleasantly quench your thirst and enrich your body with vitamins at any time of the year.
