Sea buckthorn jam: 10 recipes

Many folk names are very precise and descriptive. You can't call these golden berries anything else but sea buckthorn. They are tightly stuck to the twigs, as if fused with them, stuck to them. The plant is known for its medicinal properties. The taste of the berries is not as bright as that of raspberries and other plants popular on the dacha plot. But most far-sighted people have 1-2 sea buckthorn bushes necessarily growing in the corner by the fence. In the list of ways to make berries for the winter, jam takes center stage, second only to frozen fruit.

Sunshine on a branch

Sea buckthorn for most of the year has no decorative appeal. Its branches are covered with thorns, the flowers are small and unsightly. They do not need large petals and sweet nectar. The plant is pollinated by the wind and reproduces by offshoots and seeds, which are carried over long distances by birds that have pecked at the juicy berries.

Only by the time the berries have ripened does the branchy bush or small tree transform, as if lit by a thousand little suns. Up to 14-15 kg of sour-sweet berries, remotely resembling pineapple in taste, are produced from 1 plant. The ornateness of the fruit is emphasized by the narrow bicolor leaves. The front side is darker speckled and the inside is silvery. In some regions sea buckthorn is called the "golden tree" for its bright appearance during the fruiting period.

The plant is known since the Paleolithic period. Its unique properties were gradually disclosed and people began to grow it purposefully. The merit of breeders is considered an abundance of varieties and hybrids, among which there are species without thorns, resistant to typical diseases and pests, frost-resistant and easily tolerated drought varieties. Varieties also differ in terms of maturity, being subdivided into early, medium and late. Many of them are zoned and do well in the central and northern regions of the country.

There are two main varieties: buckthorn and willow-leaved buckthorn. They grow along rivers and lakes, climb to heights of up to 2,100 meters, and are found in the Altai, the Caucasus, Tibet, and Scandinavian countries.

The berries of the wild ancestor are sour and astringent. The cultivated varieties have acquired a greater sugar content and richness of flavor. Among the dessert species, the most popular are:

• Favorite.
• Giant.
• Ruet.
• Moskvichka.
• Moscow pineapple.
• Claudia.
• Nizhegorodskaya sweet.
• Tenga.
• Sunny.
• Altai.

It is these varieties that are most often used for the preparation of aromatic jam, which has medicinal and preventive properties.

Composition and calories

The little sun-filled berry contains:

• vitamins A, C, P, K, group B;
• flavonoids;
• coumarins;
• carotenoids;
• fructose;
• betaine;
• choline;
• tannins;
• organic acids;
• quercetin;
• magnesium;
• silicon;
• nickel;
• iron;
• molybdenum;
• manganese.

When picking berries for jam, it is worth giving some time to harvesting the leaves as well. They contain ascorbic, ursolic and oleanolic acids. The bark of the branches is rich in serotonin, which influences the processes in the nervous system and prevents the development of malignant tumors.

The caloric value of 100 grams of berries is 82 kcal, but they are not eaten by the bucket, usually limiting themselves to a small handful per day.

In cooking, berries are valued for their delicate taste with a slight sourness, and they are used to prepare jams, jellies and compotes. To preserve berries for the winter, they are frozen, rubbed with sugar or make a terrific jam. Sea buckthorn fruits and oil from them are widely used in medicine and cosmetology.

How is sea buckthorn jam useful?

During boiling, B vitamins suffer a great loss, the other elements lose only a small part of their usefulness. And if you cook raw jam, mashing the berries with honey or sugar, then all the benefits remain intact. Store such jams only in the refrigerator on the vegetable shelf.

Berries and juice have a complex effect on the body. They are used to prevent avitaminosis and anemia, to restore strength after injuries and long-term illnesses.

Sea buckthorn strengthens the walls of blood vessels, returning them elasticity, stimulating the removal of toxins and normalizing blood pressure. Immunomodulatory properties spur the rate of regeneration, the level of the body's resistance to viral and bacterial infections.

Interesting: Sea buckthorn is not recognized by official medicine, but it is recommended as a multivitamin complex for people employed in harmful industries.

Juice, tincture of berries, decoction from the leaves has anti-inflammatory properties and is indicated for gargling the throat and mouth with angina, stomatitis, inflammation of the gums.

Fruits help relieve colds, diabetes, ENT diseases and upper respiratory tract infections. Regular use of the product increases potency, prevents the occurrence of prostatitis. A mild laxative effect is useful for hemorrhoids and constipation. Antioxidant effect allows you to slow the aging process, preserving skin elasticity and luster of hair.

Most of the unique properties of plants are preserved in jam, if you apply a minimum temperature treatment during its preparation.

When and how to harvest sea buckthorn for jam

The timing of the collection depends on the purpose of using the fruit. For compote, jam, jam or fresh consumption go for berries in late August or early September. Berries at this time are quite dense and are easy to pick, transport and store. The main criterion is the color. It should be bright golden.

For juice and oil, you will have to wait a couple of weeks until the fruits have an orange glow. They will become soft and juicy, but they won't be suitable for jam. A correction for the fruiting dates of a particular variety is mandatory.

It is better to pick them yourself, without relying on a purchased product. Many sea buckthorn plantations are located along the roads, accumulating harmful emissions and heavy metals. Some unscrupulous sellers bring to the market the harvest, collected not at all in environmentally clean places, and there will be no benefit from such a purchase.

The berries of the plant are very small, tightly attached to the branches, and it is not very convenient to pick them. There are two problems: not to be scratched by the sharp thorns and not to crush the berries when harvesting. The first problem is easily solved. You can choose thornless varieties or wear thick gloves with cut fingertips to preserve the tactile sensation.

The second issue is more complicated, but with a little ingenuity, it has a solution. It is better to pick berries from the base of the branch to its edge, wearing an apron or old clothes, and place an upside-down umbrella or spread a film under the bush. In this way you will be able to save the berries that have fallen off during the picking process.

You can speed up the process if you cut the so-called "blind" branches together with the berries with a secateurs. Their distinctive feature is the absence of leaves at the tips. They will no longer give growth, the next season they will wither, and it is still necessary to thin the bush. For the mass collection, special devices are used to help remove berries from the branches.

After the collection, it is desirable to immediately separate part of the berries for jam, and do not delay with its preparation for a long time.

How to cook sea buckthorn jam: recipes

The most useful version of the preparation remains fresh berries, rubbed with sugar in the proportion of 1:1. It is not boiled, but immediately placed in jars and stored in the refrigerator. But the harvest of sea buckthorn is rich and allows a lot of experimentation, making on its basis a few tasty and original treats.

The classic variant

The structure of berries is very delicate and does not require long boiling. For the preparation, take equal amounts of sea buckthorn and sugar, insist a few hours in a warm place to extract the juice. The mass is boiled for 15 minutes and placed in sterilized jars. The jam is resistant to external factors and stored safely at room temperature.

With pumpkin

The specific oily smell of sea buckthorn quickly disappears when combined with other ingredients. Pumpkin is versatile in its use, it is easy to prepare a diet soup, a side dish and dessert. In the latter case, take orange varieties with sweeter flesh, such as Michurinskaya, Orange Honey, Novinka, Muscatnaya.

For 2 kg of already peeled pumpkin slices, 300 g of berries and 1 kg of sugar are needed. If the juice will not be enough, it is allowed to add 250 ml of water. First, the syrup is boiled, then the sea buckthorn is gently put in the boiling liquid, followed by the pumpkin cubes. Boil the mass until the pumpkin slices are ready. They will become soft and almost transparent. Keep the dainty only in hermetically sealed jars.

With oranges

When adding citrus, the immunostimulatory and antibacterial effect of both components is enhanced. 2-3 spoonfuls of jam can relieve chills, ease a feverish state, give the body the strength to fight the approaching cold.

The dessert is made simply. Take 300 grams of sugar and berries and a large orange. Cooked with juice or whole slices, along with the skin. In both variants, the berries are pre-sugared for 2-3 hours, then boiled. In the first case, freshly squeezed juice is poured into the boiling mass 3-5 minutes before cooking. In the second, thin slices of orange, cut together with the peel, are put into a container after the berries and syrup boil, and boil over low heat until the crusts are soft. On average, it will take 40 minutes at a single boil.

With apple

For the preparation you need 2 kg each of sugar and sea buckthorn. Apples are taken by 1 kg more. This is not jam in the strict sense of the word, but more like jam, since the ingredients are crushed. The berries are pureed and the pips and pulp are removed. Apples are run through a meat grinder. After combining all the components, put them on a slow fire in a thick-walled pot.

It is worth taking into account: For cooking jam, a pot with a thick bottom or a special basin made of stainless steel, Teflon, ceramic, glass is best. In an enameled crock, the sweet mass quickly burns.

The jam is boiled for 20 minutes with constant stirring. It is immediately placed in containers for storage. As it cools, it thickens.

Jelly with cranberry

This dessert has a peculiar taste with a slight bitterness. Raspberry is valued as a stabilizer of blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol levels. The berry is very useful for people with cardiovascular diseases, when the body is severely clogged. It is indispensable for those who regularly experience prolonged stress, have a weak nervous system and are subject to frequent colds. But not everyone will dare to eat cranberry fresh. Combining it with sugar and honey also slightly improves its taste. But in conjunction with sea buckthorn and with a little heat treatment, you get a completely different version.

The recipe uses only the juice of berries at the rate of 150 ml of sea buckthorn for 1 liter of sea buckthorn, 1 kg of sugar and a bag of gelatin. The juice with sugar is boiled until the volume decreases three times. Then, in the ready mass add pre-soaked gelatin, heated, without allowing it to boil, and placed in jars.

With walnuts

To prepare the berries, they will have to be carefully separated from the vegetable debris obtained during harvesting. To speed up the process, the berries are put in a wide basin and pour water. All of the sticks and leaves quickly float to the top. It remains to catch them with a colander or slotted with a skimmer, before they are saturated with moisture and sink to the bottom again.

Rinsed and lightly dried berries pour sugar in the ratio of 1:1. They are allowed to stand for 1.5-2 hours, and boiled for 10 minutes. After cooling, 1 cup of peeled walnuts is added to the mass, and you bring it to the boil again, keeping it for 15 minutes until it's ready.

The recipe has complete freedom of action. You can pre-mash the berries, picking out the pips or leave them whole. Nuts are also cooked in pieces or halves. It is allowed to replace them with hazelnuts or pine kernels. In any case, just a delightful dessert will turn out.

Frozen sea buckthorn

The berry perfectly tolerates freezing, without losing its basic qualities. If the harvest is so plentiful that it is impossible to process part of it at once, or if you have guests coming and want to treat them to something unusual, then frozen sea buckthorn comes in handy. For the dessert you will need;

• buckthorn - 500 g;
• granulated sugar - 750 gr;
• water - 1 cup.

Especially berries do not need to defrost. Boil the syrup, boil until sugar crystals dissolve. Pour the berries in it, and leave the mass for 4 hours. Then the pot is again put on low heat and boiled until it is ready. It is checked by a drop on a saucer. If it does not spill, then you can pour the delicacy into a jar or immediately distribute in vases.

Honey Fudge

For 1 cup of fresh berries you will need 130 grams of any honey. For a richer color it is better to take buckwheat or sunflower. Juice is squeezed from the berries, honey is heated to 40 degrees in a water bath.

Important: The recipe does not provide for boiling, otherwise the honey will lose all its useful properties.

The ingredients are mixed, the mass is spread in dry sterilized jars and stand for 1 hour in a warm place, then put in the refrigerator.

Sea buckthorn with ginger

For cooking, you need only fresh products, no dried or frozen components. Then the jam will be truly healing. For 750 g of sea buckthorn you need 1 kg of sugar, 3 tablespoons of fresh ginger shavings and half a cup of water. In a separate saucepan boil the syrup, add the ginger cloves and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Then add berries and boil the mass for another 20 minutes with constant stirring. Leave the dessert without attention, it will immediately burn. If you need a more concentrated jam, you will have to cool the mass, and then put it on the stove again, bringing it to the desired consistency.

In the oven

The method of cooking saves a lot of time and effort. The mixture is prepared according to the classic recipe in a 1:1 ratio of berries and sugar. Add a glass of water, stir the mass again and put it into a container with high sides, evenly distribute. Cooking time - 1 hour with periodic checks and stirring. The dessert turns out thick and very flavorful after simmering in a hot oven.

Interesting facts about sea buckthorn

1. Shrubs are used as reinforcing plantings, fixing the slopes of ravines and high banks of reservoirs.
2. From an adult bush in a productive year receive up to 15 kg of berries.
3. The medicinal properties of the fruit were used as early as the 2nd millennium B.C.
4. In China the plant is cultivated on an industrial scale.
5. Breeders have bred varieties and hybrids without thorns.
6. Berries contain more than 190 nutrients.
7. The bark contains serotonin, called the happiness hormone. Its concentration is 100 times higher than in bananas.
8. The plant is able to endure prolonged frosts down to -45 degrees.
9. Sea buckthorn oil has a wide range of action, having anti-inflammatory, regenerating, antibacterial action.
10. Regular use of the fruit can significantly slow the aging process.

Sea buckthorn jam will decorate any celebration or a quiet family evening, giving strength to resist seasonal illnesses.

Photo of sea buckthorn jam