Healing pine needles jam
The medicinal properties of conifers have been known for a long time. Near them, even the air becomes cleaner, breathes easily and freely. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to arrange a pine forest near the house in order to have such useful helpers at hand. However, while walking in the woods, a few twigs are often brought home. You can put them in a vase, and soon the room will be filled with a fresh pine scent. And you can make incredibly tasty, fragrant and medicinal jam from pine needles.
Usually, the preparation of jam begins in mid-summer or autumn, when fruits, berries and vegetables ripen. But jam from coniferous needles is best prepared in winter - then they contain the greatest amount of nutrients.
Read also: pine cone jam - tasty and healthy delicacy!
How to prepare pine needles correctly?
Before proceeding with the preparation of the jam, freshly picked pine branches must be doused with boiling water. Then break off the needles and sort them out, removing the dried ones. In total, you need 2 glasses of needles.
Now you should grind the needles. To do this, pour them into a blender and add about 700 g of water.
What else is needed for medicinal jam?
In addition to pine needles, for a delicious medicine you need to prepare:
- 1.5 liters of water;
- 0.5 tbsp. rose hips;
- 500 g sugar;
- 1 lemon.
Spruce needles can be used instead of pine needles.
Making jam step by step
The resulting infusion will acquire a yellowish tint. It must be filtered through three layers of cheesecloth or through a fine sieve and poured into a saucepan where the jam will be prepared. Further preparation of the dessert is as follows:
- Pour sugar into a saucepan with infusion.
- Simmer over low heat until the pine-rosehip infusion thickens to a consistency like fresh honey.
- At the end of cooking, squeeze juice from one lemon... It neutralizes the bitterness from needles.
Pour the finished jam into jars and roll up. You can store it both in the refrigerator and in a cool dark place (basement, cellar). In winter, a jar of such a "medicine" will help protect loved ones from colds and strengthen the immune system.
Hello! I wanted to cook pine needles jam and did everything according to your recipe, but it doesn’t thicken, I don’t understand what the matter is, I added the next cooking and added more sugar, it didn’t work again. Why is that???
Try to boil it down longer.
I tried to cook it for two hours, but alas, nothing has changed, and you can't keep the jam on the stove for that long either, the vitamins will disappear.
Then try adding gelatin. I do this if the jam is liquid.
Thanks for the advice! I will try. If you add starch? or is gelatin better?
Starch is not suitable for these purposes. Only gelatin.