Redcurrant ketchup: recipes for the winter

Content

1 Useful properties of currant ketchup
2 Ingredients
3 Redcurrant ketchup recipe for the winter
4 What to serve with currant ketchup
5 Calorie content
6 Terms and conditions of storage
7 Conclusion

Red currant ketchup goes well with side dishes and meat dishes. It has a sweet and sour taste. It is canned for the winter from fresh or frozen berries. The finished sauce contains many useful substances, since the red berry does not lose its qualities during processing.

Useful properties of currant ketchup

Red currants are rich in ascorbic acid. Contains B vitamins, including pyridoxine, thiamine, folic and pantothenic acid. The composition includes pectin, antioxidants, carotene and trace elements:

potassium;
iron;
magnesium;
sodium;
phosphorus;
calcium.

Red currant regulates hydrobalance in the body. Improves protein digestibility. Boosts immunity and helps the body fight viral diseases. Positively affects intestinal function. Relieves constipation, waste and toxins. Normalizes metabolism.

Regular consumption of berries strengthens blood vessels and improves the structure of the skin and hair. Helps protect the visual apparatus. Slightly increases blood pressure. Removes cholesterol and increases hemoglobin levels. Stimulates regeneration processes. Helps fight depression.

Important! All the properties of red currant are perfectly preserved in the finished ketchup.And some healing qualities are more pronounced.

Ingredients

Each housewife has her own recipe for red currant ketchup for the winter. The classic includes:

red currants – 1 kg;
ground chili pepper – 0.25 tsp;
ground black pepper – 0.5 tsp;
cloves – 2 pcs.;
ground ginger – 0.5 tsp;
curry – 0.5 tsp;
turmeric – 0.5 tsp;
ground paprika – 0.5 tsp;
peppercorns – 2 pcs.;
salt – 1 tbsp. l.;
sugar – 2 cups;
bay leaf – 3 pcs.

To prepare redcurrant ketchup, you need to prepare a food processor, blender or sieve in advance. Take a deep saucepan, you will need it for cooking the dish, a tablespoon and a teaspoon for stirring and adding ingredients. Get a clean towel. Sterilize jars and lids in advance.

Redcurrant ketchup recipe for the winter

After the preparatory activities, begin preparing redcurrant ketchup:

The currants are sorted and washed. If the berry is frozen, you need to let it thaw naturally at room temperature. Place in a colander and allow the water to drain. There is no need to separate the twigs from the berries. Directly in a colander, pour boiling water over the currants, lightly blanching.
The berries are rubbed through a sieve using a masher. The resulting cake is discarded, and the juice and pulp are used to make ketchup.
The resulting juice is poured into the prepared pan. The above components are added to it according to the list. Mix everything thoroughly and add a little salt. The rest of the salt is added at the end of cooking, otherwise the ketchup can be over-salted.
The resulting mass is placed on high heat and brought to a boil. To prevent the dish from burning, it is constantly stirred. Cook for 6-8 minutes. Then remove the foam. They taste the ketchup.If it seems that there is not enough salt or pepper, then add more spices.
Remove the bay leaf from the sauce. Ketchup is poured into pre-prepared sterilized jars. The lids are placed on top of the jars, but not screwed on. Place jars of sauce in a pan of boiling water and sterilize for 15 minutes.
The sterilized jar is tightly closed with a lid. Turn over and place on the lid. Wrap in warm cloth. Leave in this state for 8-12 hours.

Above is a method for making classic redcurrant sauce. To change its taste a little, you can add to it:

Garlic and basil. For one kilogram of berries, take three cloves of garlic and three branches of basil. The garlic is grated and the basil is finely chopped with a knife. The ingredients are added to ketchup along with other ingredients.
Orange zest. The orange peel is frozen and finely grated, adding at the beginning of cooking. For 1 kg of currants take the zest of 4 oranges. Instead of freezing the peel, you can remove the zest from the orange with a grater until a white, spongy skin appears.
Mint. It adds piquancy to the dish. For 1 kg of raw materials, take 12-15 mint leaves. Add to ketchup at the same time as other spices at the beginning of cooking.
Tomato paste. It is a preservative and helps keep the sauce unchanged for up to three weeks. Take 100 g of paste for a glass of ground berries.

Attention! When preparing ketchup, you should take into account that the skin of the berries contains a large number of bacteria that cause fermentation. Because of this, currants are processed immediately after harvest and are not stored fresh for a long time.

If the sauce is prepared for the winter, then natural preservatives are used. Sugar, vinegar and salt are added at the first stage of cooking, along with the rest of the ingredients.Freshly squeezed lemon juice is poured in at the end of cooking, after which the dish is cooked for another two minutes. For preservation purposes, tomato paste is added to the sauce, which is added towards the end of the cooking process.

If ketchup does not need to be stored for a long time, then it is prepared without preservatives. In this case, its taste will be softer.

Important! You cannot cook food in an aluminum container. Such dishes oxidize upon contact with berry juice and the quality of ketchup may suffer as a result.

It is best to grind the berries using a sieve. But if a large volume of currants is processed, then a blender is used to speed up the process.

What to serve with currant ketchup

Red currant sauce goes well with meat, duck, turkey or chicken dishes. It will highlight the taste of barbecue. Goes well with fried and boiled meat. It can be eaten with any side dish: rice, pasta, buckwheat, potatoes. An interesting taste is obtained when using this sauce with pancakes.

Ketchup is eaten with homemade pita bread, bread, cheese and cold appetizers. It has a refined taste and goes well with any dish.

The sauce is added not only to ready-made food, but also used during cooking: when frying, stewing and during boiling.

Calorie content

Red currants are low in calories. There are 43 calories per 100 g. In addition to currants, ketchup contains sugar and spices. They add energy value to the product, increasing the number of calories to 160 per 100 g.

Terms and conditions of storage

Prolonged heat treatment increases the shelf life of the sauce, but reduces the amount of valuable components in it. If you plan to eat ketchup immediately after preparation, then do not boil it, but simply mix all the ingredients and store it in the refrigerator.In this form it can be stored for up to two weeks.

Red currant sauce is stored in a dry and cool place for the winter. If ketchup is tightly closed with a lid and sterilized, then the shelf life is eighteen months. Once the can is opened, the shelf life of the product is reduced to a week.

Conclusion

Redcurrant ketchup will be an excellent alternative to store-bought sauces. It is natural and does not contain artificial preservatives or dyes. Contains many nutrients. You can cook it to your liking, make it hotter or spicy. And so that you don’t get tired of its taste, you need to experiment and include various additives in its composition.