You can collect cranberries or cultivate them in the garden. The harvest of the ripe fruits begins at the end of August and, depending on the region, lasts until October. The berries do not taste good raw and are therefore usually made into jam and boiled down. You can find out how to do this in this article.

Cranberry jam goes well with Camembert

Utensils needed

  • Large saucepan or food processor with cooking function
  • wooden spoon
  • Jars with twist-off lids and intact seal

Sterilize jars

The top priority when preserving cranberries is cleanliness. Therefore, sterilize the jars before you fill them with jam. There are several ways to do this, all of which work equally well:

  • Heat a saucepan with water, put in the jars and lids and leave in the saucepan for ten minutes. Drain the jars briefly and close the filled cranberry jam with the still wet lid.
  • Put only the glasses in the dishwasher and let them run through on the hottest level using a hygienic rinser. To ensure that the device is germ-free, we recommend a cleaning rinse before sterilization.
  • Clean the jam jars with hot water and washing-up liquid. Then dry with a fresh tea towel and place in a preheated oven at 120 degrees for 15 minutes.

Boil down the lingonberry jam

ingredients

  • 1 kg of lingonberries
  • 250ml of water
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 600 - 750 g preserving sugar 1:2

preparation

  1. Wash the cranberries thoroughly, discarding any fruit that is not in perfect condition.
  2. Mix the still wet fruits with the sugar, the cinnamon stick and the liquid.
  3. Leave to cool overnight to allow the berries to juice.
  4. The next day, heat in a large saucepan, stirring constantly, until the cranberries burst.
  5. Simmer for about five minutes and carefully skim off the foam.
  6. Do a jelly test. If the jam is too runny, continue cooking. If it's too stiff, add some water.
  7. Pour the hot jam into the sterilized jars and wipe the rim clean.
  8. Close immediately and turn the jars upside down.
  9. Leave to cool, label, store in a cool, dark place.

If you like, you can replace the water with 125 ml red and port wine or 250 ml red wine. If you want to avoid sugar, you can use birch sugar instead. Since xylitol does not preserve quite as well as jam sugar, you should store the cooked cranberry jam in the refrigerator if possible and use it up quickly.

tips

Cranberries are traditionally served with baked camembert and salad. The jam tastes very good in combination with tart meat dishes such as game dishes or Wiener Schnitzel. The herb-sweet specialty also goes well with Kaiserschmarrn or potato pancakes.

Category:

Vegetable garden