Hawthorn for the winter - 5 recipes with step-by-step photos

Harvesting hawthorn for the winter is a simple matter if you know when to pick the berries correctly and how to preserve them without losing their properties and qualities.

In terms of beneficial properties, it ranks alongside cranberries, sea buckthorn, viburnum and rose hips. But due to ignorance of some of the features in the preparation, housewives pay little attention to this healthy berry.

In the article we will give complete instructions on how to preserve fruits for the winter. We will offer methods: drying, freezing, recipes for making jam, compotes, juice, berry marshmallows.

What is the value of hawthorn fruits?

Those who have this tree or shrub growing in their garden have no idea what wealth they have. What are the benefits of hawthorn?

Hawthorn, from fruit to root, is rich in a whole list of vitamins. It contains many trace elements such as copper, iron, zinc, potassium, manganese, calcium, magnesium. It is also rich in pectin. This is a valuable sorbent that absorbs harmful substances, toxins, heavy metal salts, and removes them from the body.

The benefits of this plant for

work of the heart muscle,
liver cleansing,
removal of harmful cholesterol,
increasing the flow of bile,
prevention of very serious diseases of all organs.

It is impossible not to note the properties of this plant to slow down the aging of the body.

In medicine, medicines with these fruits are used for

improved sleep,
relief of nervous disorders, increasing contraction of the heart muscle.

Sweet, slightly sour fruits should be used to prepare healthy winter preparations. If everything is done correctly, the preparations will retain most of the beneficial properties of this miracle plant.

The benefits and harms of hawthorn

Hawthorn is recognized as a gift of autumn. Popular large-fruited varieties for growing in gardens are: “Crimean”, “Chinese-2”, “Pauls Scarlet”, “Zbigniew”, “Bloody Red”.

Breeders advise paying attention to North American varieties: Arnold, fan-shaped (C. flabellata) and dotted (C. punctata). They have the most delicious fruits, bright red in color. The height of a hawthorn tree can reach up to 6-7 meters. It looks beautiful as a hedge.

From history, medical reference books indicate that hawthorn was previously used in folk medicine as an astringent for dysentery and diarrhea. In the 19th century, tea made from leaves and flowers was famous, which helped cleanse the blood. Later in the 20th century, the fruits of the tree began to be used in the treatment of the cardiovascular system.

Scientists have determined that hawthorn fruits have a rich healing composition, which includes:

flavonoids, which can increase the tone of the heart muscle, affect the heart rate;
fixed oils;
organic acids;
vitamins and microelements;
pectins, which cleanse the body of waste and toxins;
ursolic acid, considered the most valuable component. It is rarely found in other plants. Has hepatoprotective and antitumor effects. Ursolic acid stimulates collagen production. Therefore, for older women it is especially useful to use berries, which help prolong youth;
fructose (very good for diabetics).

Hawthorn inflorescences, no less valuable in their composition, unlike fruits, have the following properties:

normalize blood pressure;
lower blood cholesterol;
improve the functioning of the heart muscle;
reduce the excitability of the nervous system;
strengthen the immune system.

For a healthy person, the norm is to consume no more than ½ cup of hawthorn per day. Use in large quantities causes a sharp decrease in blood pressure and pain in the heart.

People with low blood pressure, as well as young children, should not take compotes, juices and other products based on tree fruits.

Compote for the winter from hawthorn

All vitamins and nutrients will be retained by ordinary compote prepared for the winter. Thanks to a little heat treatment, the berries will transfer their valuable substances into the liquid.

How to prepare compote for a 3-liter jar? Prepare

Hawthorn - 1 kg.
Granulated sugar - 300 gr.
Water - 3 l.

Making compote

Sterilize jars. Place washed hawthorn fruits in them.
Boil water and pour over berries. Leave to stand covered for 10 minutes.
Pour the liquid back into the pan, add granulated sugar, and boil.
Pour into jars up to the neck. Screw on the lids and put them under the blanket without turning the lids down.

This is the simplest recipe for preparing berries.

Recommendations for the selection and preparation of raw materials

In addition to the common hawthorn, about 50 more varieties of this plant grow in our latitudes, 3 varieties are officially registered in the State Register of the Russian Federation. The fruits have different colors: orange-yellow, bright orange, red and even almost black.

The photo shows ripe fruits suitable for harvesting

The berries contain vitamins A, E, C, P, K and group B, sugars, flavonoids, tannins and pectin, tartaric, citric, caffeic, ursolic and other acids. Eating hawthorn is recommended in the treatment of the cardiovascular, nervous, gastrointestinal and genitourinary systems, as an analgesic, vasodilator, sedative, and immunostimulant.

For preparations, it is recommended to choose ripe berries with an easily detachable stalk, whole and without flaws. Experts say: the brighter the color of the fruit, the more useful substances they contain.

Before cooking, the berries must be cleared of inflorescences and stalks, washed thoroughly and dried on a towel. Removing seeds from fruit is a painstaking and optional process, with the exception of recipes that provide for obtaining a homogeneous product.

Winter preparations without heat treatment: drying berries

In order for the fruits to retain all their vitamins, they can be frozen in this way: collect ripe fruit, rinse with water, then dry on a napkin, select the seeds. Place the prepared product in a container for freezing and put it in the freezer.

All useful substances are preserved in dried fruits. How to dry hawthorn? If the weather is good, then you can spread it out in a thin layer under a canopy, covering it with gauze to prevent flies. The raw materials must be turned over more often to dry on all sides. Drying can last up to two weeks.

To check the quality of drying, you need to squeeze the fruit with your fingers. If the juice no longer appears, then the fruits are dried correctly. The fruits can be put into tea, boiled into compote, or added to pies when steamed.

You can also dry it in the oven:

Wash and dry freshly picked berries.
Spread evenly on a baking sheet.
Preheat the oven to 60 degrees. Place a baking sheet with the boyarka.
Open the oven door slightly. Readiness can also be determined by pressing.

Attention! You can turn on the “Convection” mode, then you do not need to open the door.

Place the workpiece in paper bags or cotton fabric bags, then store in a dry place. Dry preparations can be made in an electric dryer. To do this, place the prepared raw materials on the racks of an electric dryer and set the temperature to 50 degrees. Continue drying until the berries are ready.

You can also get a dried product in an air fryer. Pour the raw materials into a special mesh, set the “Drying” mode, set the fan to medium speed.

If there are hot radiators in the house, then put the raw materials into cardboard boxes and place them on the radiators.

Preparations without cooking

An excellent way to preserve the vitamin composition of hawthorn is to freeze it. Its correct implementation allows you to preserve the vitamin and mineral composition as much as possible. To freeze, place the berries in hot water for 15 minutes, then drain in a colander, rinse under running water and lay out in a layer to dry. After this, pack them in portions into bags. Place in the freezer (t° -20-25°C), where it can be stored frozen for up to 6 months.

An alternative to freezing is drying hawthorn. To do this, it is laid out in 1 layer on a baking sheet and dried in a non-hot (t° 50°C) oven or oven, in the sun or radiator, dehydrator or special electric dryer. Dried berries can be used to make drinks, and if you grind flour, you can also use them to make dough.

Frozen berries last 6 months

Advice. If the collected hawthorn is placed in a basket or other container that allows free access of air, it can remain fresh for a week.

Another type of cold harvesting of hawthorn is candiing the berries. To do this, washed and dried fruits are rolled in powdered sugar and then placed in jars (preferably with a wide neck). Sprinkle sugar on top and close it with gauze. The shelf life of such a product is 2 months.

Hawthorn in sugar can be stored for 2 months

Healthy dessert

You can make a treat with sugar from berry products without hot processing.

Products: berries – 1 kg, granulated sugar – 1 kg.

Preparation procedure:

Remove the seeds from the prepared fruits.
Roll all the berries in granulated sugar and transfer to a dry jar, pressing down each layer. Fill the container three-quarters full.
Fill the neck with sand. To ensure that the sand penetrates all layers of the product, lightly tap the can on a soft surface.
Cover the container with the treat with gauze folded in 4 layers. Place in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf. After 60-70 days, the treat can already be consumed.

Berries ground with sugar

Products: berries – 1 kg, sugar – 700 g, citric acid – 2 tbsp.

Harvesting process: remove the seeds from the berries, then crush them with a wooden pestle. Rub the mixture through a hard sieve. The result is a puree that is mixed with sugar and citric acid.

Transfer the berry mass into sterilized containers, leaving 1 centimeter from the neck. Pour sand into jars. Cover the layer of granulated sugar with parchment soaked in vodka. Close the containers with lids and transfer to the refrigerator.

Jam

Fruits - 1 kg.
Sugar - 0.7 kg.
Water - 1 glass.
Juice of 1 lemon.

How to make jam:

Place the product in a saucepan and add water.
Place on the stove and cook until softened. Watch the process so it doesn't burn.
Drain the water, but do not pour it out, and rub the fruits through a sieve, adding the drained liquid.
Mix the mixture with sugar, pour in the rest of the broth, and cook until it becomes thick sour cream, stirring constantly. At the end add lemon juice.
Pour into jars, roll up and wrap.

Boyarka jelly

Ingredients: fruits – 1 kg, water – 1 tbsp., sugar according to the volume of juice.

Pour a glass of water over the hawthorn, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and steam until soft.
Mash the berries, transfer the puree to gauze folded in 3 layers, squeeze out the juice.
Measure the amount of juice, add the same amount of sugar - 1:1.
Mix the ingredients, place the resulting syrup on the stove, bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes. After hardening it will turn out to be jelly.

Generous autumn gift

Indeed, the hawthorn harvest is always very generous, just have time to process it. Hawthorn contains ursolic acid, which restores collagen in the skin. Any preparations are useful for improving the condition of the skin, and the jam is also very tasty.

To obtain it you will need:

Hawthorn – 9 kg (62 cups),
Granulated sugar – 3.4 kg,
Water – 31 glasses,
Citric acid - 1 tsp.

Preparation:

Pour water over the berries (half a glass of water for 1 cup of berries), cook for 20 minutes until soft. Drain the broth, but do not pour it out.
Rub the berries through a colander. What remains in the sieve - peels and grains - is waste. Pour the broth over the waste, boil for 15 minutes, strain again through a colander.
Combine with previously pureed puree and weigh. Add 1 kg of sugar to 1 kg of pureed mass and pour in the drained broth. Let sit overnight to dissolve the sand.
Boil, stirring over low heat for 2.5 hours. Check the readiness like this: drop it on a plate, if it doesn’t spread, then the jam is ready. Roll hot into jars.

What can you cook

The original, sweet and bitter taste and a huge supply of organic acids, pectins, vitamins - A, C, K, E and group B, are the reason that hawthorn harvesting is becoming more and more popular. For those who have not yet tried this berry and do not even know what it looks like, below are its photos. It grows on bushes, which, when grown in gardens, are often used as hedges.

For the preparation of culinary dishes, fruits collected from wild bushes and cultivated varieties are used. Garden forms are characterized by large fruit, the most popular varieties include: “Crimean”, “Chinese-2”, “Pauls Scarlet”, “Zbigniew”, “Blood-red” and others.

Attention! The harvest of raw materials is carried out in the fall - in clusters or individual berries, always before frost appears.

Considering the most popular recipes for preparing hawthorn for the winter, we should highlight:

drying and freezing;
jam, marmalade or marmalade;
compote, kvass, juice, tincture;
candied fruits and pastilles;
puree or sauce.

As you can see, these berries provide great opportunities for those who would like to try preparing them for the winter.

The most delicious jam

For this jam you will need:

Apples – 1 kg
Berries - 1 kg
Sand - 500 g

Preparation:

Peel the apples and cut into 4 parts. Hawthorn - halve, remove seeds.
Boil apples and hawthorn separately until soft with a little water.
Rub through a sieve, add granulated sugar, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cook for 1 hour, stirring constantly.
Lay out the hot jars and roll them up.

Berry wine for a good sleep

Wine will help relieve nervous tension and improve sleep.

Hawthorn - 5 kg.
Granulated sugar - 4 kg.
Citric acid - 4 tsp.
Water - 10 liters
Wine yeast - 5 grams. You can take some grapes, or 200 grams of raisins.

Advice! Before adding wine, it is better to freeze the hawthorn, then let it defrost for an hour.

Preparation procedure:

In water – 10 liters, dissolve 1 kg of granulated sugar.
Pour it over the fruits in the container in which the wine will ferment.
Add yeast, grapes, or raisins. Put on a water seal, maybe a glove with a hole, and put it in a warm place for 3 or 4 days. Be sure to stir it once a day.
After the specified time, drain 1 liter of wort, pour 2 kg of sugar into it, stir, then pour into the future wine. Put on a glove or water seal.
After 7 days, strain the wine (throw away the cake).
Again, dissolve 1 liter of liquid in 1 kg of sand and pour it back.
Close with a water seal and leave to stand for 1 month.

If 55 or more days have passed since the day when the water seal or glove was installed, and the wine is still fermenting, then it must be drained through a straw into another container, without touching the sediment at the bottom. Otherwise, the wine will taste bitter.

When the wine becomes lighter and stops fermenting, it must be drained without touching the sediment and tasted. If there is not enough sand, then you need to add it to taste. Seal the container with the drained wine, but not tightly so as not to swell.

If sugar was added, then it should be kept under gloves for 7-10 days after filling.

Place the drained wine in the cellar for 3 months to allow it to ripen. Drain periodically without disturbing the sediment. When there is almost no sediment, it is necessary to bottle it.

Recipes for hawthorn sweets

Delicious jam with seeds will be a good winter dessert for the whole family. For 1 kg of berries take 0.6 kg of sugar. First, the berries must be covered with sand and left for 4 hours to release the juice. Next, boil the mixture for 5-6 minutes. The next day, boil again. On the third day, boil, pour into jars, and roll up the lids.

Juice

The juice from the fruits of the boyarka is useful in winter, especially during a flu epidemic. You need to select seeds from the berries and boil the pulp until soft. It should be 2 kg. For this amount of pulp, take 0.2 kg of sugar and 4 liters of water.

Next, rub the pulp through a sieve, add sugar, pour in water, bring to a boil, but do not boil. Pour into jars, seal, wrap in a blanket.

Hawthorn marshmallow

Marshmallow with honey is an excellent substitute for sweets.

Ingredients:

Fruits – 1 kg
Honey – 2 tbsp.

What to do:

Peel the hawthorn and add hot water.
Grind the softened fruits through a meat grinder.
Melt honey in a water bath and add to the rolled mixture.
Next, take a baking sheet and moisten it with cold water. Place the mass on it in a layer, no more than 1 centimeter.
Set the oven temperature to 70 degrees, place a baking sheet in it. Open the door slightly.
After 6-8 hours of drying, the marshmallow will be ready. Press the pastille with your finger, if it does not stick to your hands, then it is quite ready. For drying, you can use the “Convection” mode.

Cut the delicacy into slices, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and place in jars. Keep refrigerated.

Is it possible to freeze berries

With the advent of modern household appliances, and in particular refrigerators with spacious freezers, people are increasingly beginning to resort to freezing berries in order to preserve all their beneficial properties. Naturally, hawthorn can also be prepared in this way.

Champignons for the winter: recipes and secrets

Berries frozen according to all the rules will not stick together

You just need to follow a number of rules so that the berries remain as healthy as possible and do not spoil:

use the quick freeze function;
freeze only ripe fruits;
the berries must first be washed and dried;
in the freezer you need to spread film or foil, and put hawthorn on it;
Only after the berries are completely frozen, package them in bags.

Berries frozen according to all the rules will not stick together. You can take the required amount at any time without defrosting the entire package.

The well-known hawthorn berries can be added not only to tea. It is from these beautiful, richly colored fruits that a huge number of preparations can be prepared. Each of them will turn out to be not only tasty, but also healthy. At the same time, you just have to take into account that such preparations cannot be abused, even if it is jam or compote. Still, this is not a simple delicacy, but a medicine. And when taking any medications, you must follow the dosage, even if you prepare them yourself.

Magical hawthorn tinctures

The root of this plant will help to get relief from many diseases, including epilepsy, varicose veins, rheumatism, arterial hypertension, diabetes, pneumonia and other ailments.

Hawthorn root infusion

In order for the root to be beneficial, it is necessary to prepare a healing infusion: you need to take 15 grams of dry roots of the plant, brew a glass of boiling water, and hold for 20 minutes in a water bath. It is recommended to drink the finished infusion three times a day, 2 large spoons per dose.

Vodka tincture

If you drink because of your blood pressure, take measurements more often, otherwise you may significantly reduce your blood pressure.

To always have a healing remedy on hand, you need to make a vodka tincture.

Tincture of fresh berries has the following beneficial properties:

Slows down the aging of the body.
Is a cancer prevention.
Normalizes the work of the cardiovascular system.
Eases attacks of rheumatism.
Improves memory and performance.

There are different recipes for preparing the tincture. But we are interested in a medical medicinal tincture, which must be taken regularly in small doses. Table hawthorn liqueurs are consumed in large quantities, but they are not endowed with a strong healing effect.

The tincture is especially beneficial for the heart. For complex treatment of CVS, doctors often prescribe hawthorn tincture.

Diseases for which the tincture is prescribed: heart failure, atherosclerosis, ischemia, arrhythmia, tachycardia, angina pectoris, condition after a heart attack. It is a good idea to use the tincture as a preventive measure for heart disease.

How to use the tincture?

You need to drink the medicine three times a day, 30 drops per 100 ml of water, half an hour before meals. Can be added to tea. For severe nervous disorders, it is recommended to drink 50 drops per appointment. The course of use is 20-30 days. If you miss a dose, you don’t need to drink it twice.

How to prepare: 100 grams of ripe berries, pour 0.5 liters of vodka. Let it brew for 2 weeks. You need to shake it daily.

Tincture for vasodilation

Elderly people need to take the tincture according to this recipe: 5 tbsp. pour a tablespoon of fruit into a glass of vodka, close tightly, heat in a water bath to 50 degrees, then squeeze. Take 1 teaspoon, diluted with a small amount of water, before each meal.

How boyarka works: it increases blood circulation, dilates blood vessels, breaks up plaques attached to the walls of blood vessels, relieves stress on the heart, relieving it of tension and heaviness. In addition, it improves blood supply to the brain with oxygen and relieves headaches.

Dear friends, do not leave the berries to rot on the ground. Moreover, now you know what can be prepared from hawthorn.

Teas and decoctions

Hawthorn tea is also called a decoction. Sometimes it is made from fresh berries. But more often from dried fruits or flowers. In several popular recipes.

With rosehip. Dried hawthorn and rose hips are mixed in equal quantities (usually 1 heaped tablespoon). Place in a thermos and pour 800-1000 ml of boiling water. Leave for 2 hours. With fireweed tea. Eat 1 tablespoon of hawthorn berries with 1 teaspoon of fireweed tea. Add a few mint leaves. Pour 300 ml of boiling water into a regular teapot. Let it brew for at least 15 minutes.

Here is another option for brewing and drinking hawthorn. With lemon.