Good compote is a drink in which useful properties of berries and fruit, vitamins and minerals are most conserved. In tasty compote the natural sweet of berries, sugar or honey and natural "sourness" are balanced. At the same time drink possesses in pleasant color, from golden-yellow to sated wine - red.
Berries suitable for compote
Ideal option – fresh-gathered berries of cherry, strawberry, raspberry, currant red and black. Apples and apricots, gooseberry and plums. To a lesser extent sweet cherry, peaches and pears approach. Of course, not all berries will be necessary for you at once. Choose combinations of sweet and sour berries, then drink will be more tasty. Apples are combined with any berries in compote. They can be taken as a basis of useful vitamin drink.
It is good to cook compotes from the berries of fast freezing, from the berries wiped with sugar or from house preparations in the form of berries in own juice, which are boiled thoroughly no more than 5 minutes in the winter. It is good to diversify compote with such additives as a branch of mint or a melissa, couple of branches of a carnation or lemon zest. It is very useful to add for health to compote of a branch of cherry, raspberry or blackcurrant. Preservation of vitamins and a mineralovesla of berry are bought, you store them in the fridge. But no more than 2 days. Over time vitamins slowly, but steadily collapse, berries lose juice and useful properties. At more long-term storage use the freezer. Frozen berries perfectly will be suitable for compote. Except vitamin D which isn't in berries and fruit all other vitamins B of different degree quickly collapse in the course of cooking. How to keep them? Process of safety of valuable substances begins with purchase or gathering berries. Touch them. You store in the dark and cool place. Wash berries just before preparation of compote. If it is required to cut apples, apricots or peaches – do it by a sharp knife of stainless steel. Use ware only enameled, from stainless steel or glass. A board – it is better wooden. And the main thing, the boiling water has property to neutralize effect of ascorbate oxidase which in turn, can destroy vitamin C. And if to allow drink to infuse before full cooling, a considerable part of vitamins and mineral salts will pass from berries into compote, having saturated it with useful substances. The correct preparation you kompotavozmit a pan on 3-5 liters. Fill it as much as possible with water, having left only the place for sugar and berries. In time, until water begins to boil, select berries for compote, wash them with cold water, if necessary remove stones. Large berries can be cut. Such berries as large blackcurrant or a gooseberry, it is good to puncture with a fork or a toothpick. Then they "will more stoutly give" to compote the vitamins and minerals. If you decided to add a carnation, – wash out branches of cherry or raspberry and add to the beginning to boil water. It is better to add mint and a melissa, a dried peel to compote after berries. Add sugar to the boiling water, depending on a set of berries and from your tastes is a portion from 3 to 10 tablespoons of sugar. If there is an opportunity, sugar can be replaced with honey. But it is added to the ready, cooled-down up to the temperature not higher than 40 wasps compote. Otherwise all useful properties of honey will be lost. Berries should be put in the boiling water quickly, portions. As soon as you laid out all berries in boiled water, cover a pan and set aside from a plate. It isn't recommended to boil berries to keep their properties. Leave compote to infuse before full cooling, without opening a cover. The compote which reached room temperature is ready. It can be filtered from berries and to cool in the fridge.