Sweet preserving: which vegetables can be turned into delicious desserts?

Key Tips

The method of preserving with sugar is most commonly used for cooking jams, marmalades, jellies, and purees from berries or fruits. When sugar is added to the boiling liquid, the dry matter increases, some water is extracted, creating unfavorable conditions for microorganisms to multiply.

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Sugar not only has preserving properties, it also improves the taste of food products, helps maintain their shape, and increases caloric content. Its amount depends on the characteristics of the goods being preserved.

For example, not all vegetables are suitable for sweet preparations. Delicious ones include pumpkins, carrots, ginger roots, zucchinis, and tomatoes. Preserved pumpkins can be combined with lemons, Caucasian plums, quince, plums, pears, and apples.

Meanwhile, zucchinis cooked with sugar alone will be tasteless, so combine them with apples or lingonberries.

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Here are some ideas we invite you to try this year.

Carrot and Orange Jam

Ingredients:

• 1 kg fresh carrots,
• 500 g oranges,
• 2 lemons,
• a piece of fresh ginger root,
• 1 kg sugar.

Preparation:

1. Dip the oranges in boiling water for a few minutes, then remove and dry. Grate the peels, peel off the white pith, and chop the pulp (don’t forget to remove seeds with the tip of a knife). Squeeze lemon juice into a bowl.
2. Peel the ginger root and carrots. Grate the vegetables finely. Drizzle with lemon juice.
3. Put the chopped oranges, prepared vegetables, grated orange peels, and sugar into a pot and mix. Let stand for an hour.
4. Place on the stove and cook while stirring until the mixture thickens.
5. Pour into sterile jars and seal tightly. Store in a cool place.

Tip: metal lids sealed with a special machine keep best. Microorganisms cannot enter such preserves, so they last longer without spoiling.

Pumpkin and Quince Puree

Ingredients:

• 2 kg common pumpkins,
• 0.5 kg quince (even unripe ones are fine),
• 1 kg sugar,
• fresh mint.

Preparation:

1. Cut the quinces in half and remove the seeds, then grind them.
2. Wash, peel, and cut the pumpkins into small cubes. Mix with the ground quinces and let stand for a few hours.
3. Put the mixture into a pot, add sugar, a handful of chopped mint, pour in a glass or two of water, and cook (remember to stir occasionally and skim off foam!) until the pumpkins soften.
4. Pour the boiling mixture into sterile jars and seal tightly. Store in a cool place.

Tip: such lids are suitable for preserves kept in the refrigerator that you plan to consume quickly.

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