How to store sea buckthorn at home: timing of picking berries, drying, freezing and canning

All parts of this unique tree have long been used in folk medicine, especially the berries, considered a multivitamin. They contain a huge supply of trace elements indispensable for humans, antibacterial agents of plant origin, oils, acids. How to properly store sea buckthorn so that it does not lose all its magical properties?

Berry picking and preparation for storage

An important feature of sea buckthorn fruits is that they begin to deteriorate within a couple of hours after harvest. The reason for this is the intensive release of the plant hormone - ethylene.

Date of harvesting fruits

Sea buckthorn is harvested in autumn. Choose sunny, dry weather for this. The procedure is combined with parallel processing of fruits, which is required to be carried out in just a couple of hours. The exact harvest time depends not only on the variety, but also on how the crop is planned to be used. The optimal time for harvesting berries is considered to be the end of August - mid-September, but it may vary depending on the region.

How to determine the ripeness of sea buckthorn

For the preparation of compotes, jelly, jam or fresh use of sea buckthorn, it is harvested at a time when the berries become rich yellow, but not yet bright orange. During this period, the skin on them is dense, and there is still little juice, so it is convenient to harvest. Bright orange fruits are considered overripe and only oil and juice are made from them. Light-colored fruits contain the most vitamins and nutrients.

How and what to harvest

Collecting sea buckthorn berries is not an easy process, because gardeners are constantly trying to make it easier by inventing new methods and devices. Popular attachments include:

• cobra;
• scraper;
• special gloves;
• slingshot with a string of fishing line.

As for the ways in which fruits are harvested, the most popular among gardeners are:

• manual;
• with scissors or tweezers;
• squeezing juice directly from branches;
• cutting fruit twigs with secateurs;
• use of various inventions and devices.

Methods and duration of storage of berries

Several ways have been developed to keep sea buckthorn berries at home without losing their beneficial properties.

True, there are certain storage rules that must be observed when choosing one or another option for harvesting a vitamin product for the winter.

Fresh sea buckthorn

To keep sea buckthorn fresh longer, it is better to collect it right on the branch. Vitamin C in berries is not destroyed, therefore the harvested crop can be stored for about 30 days, provided that the air temperature in the storage does not exceed +3 ^{С. Fruits on twigs can be sent to the fruit storage compartment of the refrigerator.}

Freeze

In the freezer, sea buckthorn does not lose its valuable qualities throughout the year. Before sending the berries to the chamber, it is necessary to clean them of debris, sort them out, and carefully rinse them in a bowl of cold water.Spread clean fruits on a napkin, let dry well. Cover the board with cling film, sprinkle sea buckthorn on it in one layer and send it to the freezer for a day. After that, move it to the food container and put it back in the chamber. In no case should the fruits be re-frozen.

Drying

If there are no conditions for freezing or storing fresh berries, then they can simply be dried. True, for this you need to make some efforts. The fruits must be sorted out, washed and allowed to dry. After that, dilute 1 tsp in a liter of water. baking soda and heat to almost boiling point. For a few seconds, throw sea buckthorn into this liquid and immediately rinse with water, let dry and spread out on baking sheets previously covered with paper. In sunny and hot weather, the berries will be ready in about a month.

Preservation

Sea buckthorn canned in different ways. The easiest way is to pour hot syrup over the fruits sorted and poured into a glass container, close the lid, let cool and send for storage in a cool room. You can also arrange the berries in jars, not filling up a little to the brim. Put the container in hot water up to the shoulders and keep it there until the sea buckthorn starts up the juice and sits down. Approximately 20 min. jars are taken out, hermetically sealed and sent to storage.

Candied fruit

For candied sea buckthorn, you will need to take the same amount of fruit and granulated sugar (you can even add a little more sugar). The fruits are sorted and washed in a bowl of cool water, laid out on a towel and allowed to dry. After that, the berries are carefully mixed with sugar (part) and laid out in jars, filling them by three quarters. The remaining volume is filled with sugar, closed with a lid and sent to the refrigerator.

Soaked sea buckthorn

Soaked sea buckthorn is made from freshly picked berries. To do this, they are laid out in glass jars, poured with boiled water cooled to room temperature, hermetically sealed and sent to the refrigerator or to the basement.

Sea buckthorn juice

To prepare a vitamin drink, sea buckthorn is sorted out, passed through a juicer. The squeezed juice is removed in a cold place, and the waste is poured with water so that it covers them a little, and left to infuse for an hour. After that, the cake is squeezed out, and the infusion is poured into the cooled juice, after which everything is filtered through gauze and heated to 75 С. A pure drink is poured into glass containers, pasteurized at 80 ^{С, corked and placed in the cellar.}

Making jam

To make beautiful and tasty jam you will need:

• ripe sea buckthorn fruits - 1000 g;
• granulated sugar - 1500 g;
• water - 0.5 l.

The berries are sorted, washed and allowed to dry. You can blanch them for 3 minutes to get rid of bitterness. Water is mixed with sugar and a thick syrup is boiled, after which it is filtered and sea buckthorn is poured over. The filled fruits are left to infuse for 4 hours, after which the syrup is poured into a saucepan, put on fire and boiled for 15 minutes, then the berries are poured into it and simmered over low heat for 30 minutes. When the jam is ready, they will become almost transparent, and the liquid will become thick. Caramel syrup should not spread when it hits the plate. Dessert is poured into jars and preserved.

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