How to keep sorrel fresh in the refrigerator at home: how much will be delicious, as well as ways to save for a few days, a week and for the winter Russian farmer

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Many housewives want to know how to preserve sorrel for the winter at home in order to be able to enjoy the aroma and taste of fresh herbs all year round. The plant is actively used in cooking to give dishes a slightly sour taste and a touch of freshness.

For storage, choose only whole, beautiful leaves without pests or signs of rotting. This will allow you to store greens for as long as possible, without losing their taste and beneficial qualities.

In addition, greens are rich in vitamins, minerals and other substances, which makes them not only tasty, but also healthy. Simple tips and recipes collected in the article will help you prepare the preparations correctly, as well as preserve the taste and benefits of greens until the next harvest.

There are other names for this plant, for example, “sorrel”, “kislitsa”, “kislichka”, “kislenitsa”, “kislinka”, “kislinka”, “kislyatka”, “kisled”.

Preparation for storage

To preserve sorrel for several days, you can simply place it in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator. For long-term supplies, the leaves should be pre-treated. Having bought or picked greens, it is recommended to do the following:

You should sort out the sorrel. Remove flower shoots, yellowed leaves, excess grass, and cut off damaged parts.
Soak them in a large bowl of cool water - this will help them straighten out, releasing particles of earth that will sink to the bottom. Placing the plant in salt water allows you to get rid of small insects that remained unnoticed at the first stage of treatment.
Using a slotted spoon, remove the greens from the liquid and lay them out on towels to dry.
They cut into portions, making subsequent preparation of dishes easier.
Packaged in containers in which storage will be carried out.

Sorrel is a perishable plant. To maintain freshness, do not delay preparation. More than a dozen varieties are known, and all of them are suitable for storage.

Benefits and contraindications

Sorrel contains a lot of useful components. Rich in ascorbic, folic, pantothenic acid. Mineral salts are present. The product has anti-inflammatory properties. This is a great helper for the immune system. Only most substances die when boiled. This is why most people prefer freezing to canning.

Some more beneficial properties of sorrel:

cleanses and thins the blood;
lowers sugar levels;
removes harmful cholesterol, increases the elasticity of blood vessels;
improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, accelerates digestion;
cleanses the liver;
has a mild diuretic effect, improves kidney function;
prolongs skin youth, increases elasticity;
raises tone, gives energy, improves brain function.

In addition to its benefits, sorrel can be harmful to health. It should not be used for stomach diseases with high acidity. The product is contraindicated in cases of salt metabolism disorders, the presence of kidney stones and osteoporosis. For children, frozen leafy vegetables can be added to dishes from 10 months. It is offered raw after a year.

Methods for preserving without refrigeration

Drying vegetables is an affordable way to prepare them for future use. The shelf life in this form is one year, provided that the sorrel is placed in a container that prevents moisture from entering. The taste remains unchanged.
The prepared plant is placed in a sieve. The container is placed on the balcony or in the kitchen cabinet. The greens are mixed twice a day. You can determine readiness by assessing the fragility of sorrel - the dried leaves should not crumble.
Sorrel is collected in small bouquets, which are hung on the balcony, hidden from the sun's rays. After 1-1.5 weeks the plant will acquire the necessary condition.
Canned sorrel can be stored for about two years. In this way, an assortment of greens is prepared, adding parsley or dill. The leaves are washed, cut and tightly placed in sterilized jars, poured with boiling water. The containers are rolled up with lids and left to cool, turning upside down. Subsequent storage temperature is no more than 25 degrees.
The sorrel is washed and loaded into the pan, chopped or whole.
Pour boiling water so that the leaves of the plant are slightly under water. After boiling for 5 minutes, pour into sterilized jars, which are tightly sealed. At room temperature the shelf life is 12 months. The recipe can be supplemented using salted water (2 tablespoons of salt per 1 liter of boiling water). A similar method is preservation in cold water. In this case, jars of fresh sorrel are sterilized for a quarter of an hour in a pan of boiling water, after which they are twisted.

The convenience of these methods is that the sorrel is completely ready for use. Add as many greens to the dish as you deem necessary.

Preparation for borscht

Preparation for preparing sorrel borscht is a great help in winter. Just add it to the boiling broth and crumble the potatoes there, and the aromatic green borscht is ready! Ingredients you will need:

1 kg of sorrel leaves;
500 g green onions;
500 g dill and parsley;
8 tbsp. l. coarse salt.

Chop the greens, sprinkle with salt and rub in your hands until the vegetable juice is released. The ground mixture is placed tightly into the jars, sterilized for 15 minutes and sealed with metal lids. Borscht is stored in a cool, dark place.

Sorrel is an excellent source of useful vitamins and microelements; a huge amount of it grows in meadows and fields. From several harvesting methods, it is easy to choose the option that suits you. The main thing is not to be lazy, then the winter menu will be replenished with new tasty and aromatic sorrel dishes.

Preparation methods with cooling, but without freezing

How to save for a week? Without a freezer at +5 degrees, properly prepared greens will last up to 2 weeks, depending on the method chosen. The best place is a box for vegetables and fruits.

In containers. Salt has been used as a preservative since ancient times. Sorrel can be pickled as part of an assortment or on its own. To do this, it is washed, cut, and moisture is removed. Place the greens in a bowl and add 3 tablespoons of salt per kilogram of product and mix. The mixture is compacted into a dry, sterilized jar and stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.
Vacuum packed. A device that removes air from packages allows you to increase the shelf life of products. The sorrel is sorted, removing debris and rot, washed in clean water and dried. You don’t have to waste time on cutting, because during compression the greens will break naturally. Place in a bag and turn on the vacuum sealer. In the refrigerator, safety is guaranteed for up to two weeks.
In cellophane. Sorrel is soaked in salted water, then washed under running water and dried. The chopped leaves are placed in a cellophane package, the air is removed by hand and tied tightly. The vegetable should be consumed within a week, after which it will begin to rot.
In water. Washed and prepared sorrel is collected in the form of a bouquet, which should be placed in a jar of water. Only the stems of the plant should be in the liquid. On the middle shelf of the refrigerator against the wall, greens will remain fresh for no more than a quarter of a week.
In the towel. The washed leaves are wrapped tightly in a damp towel. The package is placed on the refrigerator shelf.

Sorrel can stay there for up to three days.

Frozen sorrel preparations and recipes

After the preparatory work, it’s time to proceed directly to freezing. And then a stupor arises. There are a lot of ways. Here are the most current time-tested options that have collected the maximum number of positive reviews. When choosing, base your choice on your culinary needs. You can also harvest frozen wild garlic.

Freezing fresh sorrel whole

A common, simple, popular, but not very convenient option. Sorrel frozen in whole sheets will have to be chopped with a knife before use. You can’t just throw it into a dish straight from the freezer. But you can chop it in a blender for sauce, okroshka, and some other dishes. The advantage of this method is that it saves time.

How to freeze sorrel for the winter whole in bags in the refrigerator:

Place washed, dried sheets tightly in bags. It is advisable to immediately make buns - ponytails in one direction. Then there will be no problems with cutting frozen sorrel.
Grab the sorrel with your hands, press it, and wrap it tightly in the free part of the bag with a roll. If necessary, secure with a rubber band.
Place the packages in the freezer.

Sometimes sorrel is first dipped in boiling water. It becomes softer and takes up even less space. But we do not recommend doing this if you want to maintain the benefits of the product.

Preparing and freezing sorrel for the winter

Preparing chopped leaves without cooking

Frozen sliced sorrel is much more convenient to use. It can go straight from the freezer to the pan. There is no need to crumble after thawing.

Instructions:

Divide into bunches and cut crosswise in the classic way.
Place in a bowl and knead lightly with your hands to reduce volume.
Pack into bags and tie.
Transfer the blanks into the chamber and freeze.

Sometimes sorrel is immediately salted if it is planned to be used for green cabbage soup. Or grind with sugar. In this case, we recommend marking the bags so that you don’t accidentally mix them up in winter.

How to freeze blanched sorrel

If you have very little space in the freezer, we recommend this method of preparation. The frozen product is suitable for use in hot dishes. The advantage is that the leaves do not need to be dried - we collect them, wash them, and put them to use.

Instructions:

Cut the sorrel into large pieces, it is important not to chop it.
Place in a colander. Place in boiling water. Let stand for 40-60 seconds or until the next boil
Remove the colander. Let the water drain and the sorrel cool.
Pack into containers and send to the camera.

Be careful not to overcook the tender leaves. Otherwise, all the taste will go into the water, and the result will be an incomprehensible dark-colored mush.

For pies

Frozen sorrel in baked goods resembles apples, apricots, and gooseberries. It really makes a wonderful filling. And it easily tolerates freezing.

Instructions:

Finely chop the sorrel along with the stems.
Add a couple of handfuls of granulated sugar.
Put on a glove and knead with your hands until the volume decreases.
Pack into containers and seal tightly.
Place in the freezer.

It can be frozen in a similar way without granulated sugar. Only this ingredient helps preserve the taste and extends the shelf life.

For soup

Sorrel frozen using this method will immediately fly into the soup. The product does not require thawing and is extremely easy to use.

Instructions:

Chop, lightly salt, mash a little with your hands.
Place in silicone molds. Pack tightly.
Add 1-2 tablespoons of cold water. The quantity depends on the volume of the molds.
To freeze.
Remove the soup preparations from the molds, put them in bags or containers, and close them.
Return to freezer.

We recommend freezing other greens together with sorrel - parsley, dill. It is also added at the end of cooking. Approximate proportion 3:1.

Sorrel puree for the winter

Purees are often packaged in jars. The only drawback is the temperature treatment. We recommend making a healthy alternative - a frozen semi-finished product.

Instructions:

Coarsely chop the leafy vegetable.
Chop with a food processor and grind with a blender.
Package and seal tightly.
Place in the freezer.

It is not necessary to make a homogeneous puree. Lumps are allowed. If you don't have a food processor, use a meat grinder.

Freezing sorrel in batches in batches

In briquettes with the addition of nettles

Green cabbage soup or borscht is often prepared with young nettle leaves. Another useful ingredient. And it will not be superfluous in the winter diet. We suggest freezing together. Add other greens if desired.

Instructions:

Chop the nettles and sorrel with a knife.
Lightly add salt, stir, wait for the juice to release.
Pack the wet mass into bags. Make dense briquettes. We try to let out as much air as possible.
Place in the freezer.

It is for this method that it is convenient to use plastic bags. They are easily cut into frozen semi-finished products, and the workpiece is immediately sent to the dish.

Are these methods suitable for saving for the winter?

Which method is suitable for harvesting for the winter at home so that the leaves remain tasty? Not all methods boast long-term storage. To be able to eat tasty and healthy sorrel all year round, choose the following preparation methods:

drying;
canning;
vacuum packaging, placed in the freezer;
freezing whole or cut leaves.

Contact with air accelerates decomposition processes. Therefore, storage at sub-zero temperatures or in an oxygen-free environment is considered preferable.

Sorrel will retain its properties and last longer if proper preliminary preparation is carried out. There is no need to try to cut the leaves as finely as possible - this will cause all the juice to leak out and the plant will turn into mush. There are recommendations to wipe dirt off greens with a piece of cloth. This is fundamentally wrong - sorrel leaves are delicate, and under mechanical stress they will become like rags. After rinsing, the water is removed by shaking off.

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Benefits of sour leaf

Sorrel contains many useful substances, and, most importantly, if properly harvested, it practically does not lose them for a whole year. Even in winter, this green vegetable will help the body fight vitamin deficiency and maintain a healthy immune system. The plant has a positive effect on the body:

Accelerates metabolism and normalizes the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
Fights inflammatory processes in the oral cavity.
Acts as an antispasmodic and pain reliever for stomach colic.
Normalizes the functioning of the heart muscle and smoothly regulates blood pressure.
Has antihistamine properties.
During menopause, it alleviates the symptoms of its manifestation.
It has a good effect on the functioning of the male reproductive organs.
Saves you from the blues and depression during periods of acute vitamin deficiency.

Considering that this is not only healthy, but also a very tasty leaf vegetable, there is no doubt about the advisability of preparing it for the winter. With sorrel, the winter menu will become more varied and healthy.

How to store sorrel in the refrigerator: pickle the vegetable

Sorrel can be stored in the refrigerator, salted, in jars. You can salt the vegetable with either salt or brine. In the first case, the workpiece needs to be washed, cut into strips and covered with salt. The proportions are as follows: for 1 kg of sorrel you need to take 2 tablespoons of salt.

For the second method, you must first sterilize the jars. Place the chopped sorrel in a container and fill it with brine, previously cooled to room temperature. The proportions are: 1 liter of water, 2 tablespoons of salt.

Close the jars with nylon or roll up with metal lids. The workpieces should be stored in a dark and cool place.

How to prepare sorrel leaves for storage

For long-term storage, greens must be processed.

Sorrel is moved to remove:

flower arrow;
yellowed leaves;
damaged parts;
excess grass.

The leaves are soaked in cold water, and this frees them from stuck lumps of earth and small insects. After these procedures, the sorrel is dried, cut and packaged.

Important! These are perishable plants, so preparations must be made quickly.

For simple storage, sorrel is not washed. Place in the refrigerator without processing. Because moisture promotes rotting and the greens will not last long.

Rules for canning sorrel

Unfortunately, even the most gentle preservation kills a significant part of the vitamins in sorrel. Despite this, the plant still retains an impressive amount of useful components. And the product has a specific taste, but pleasant and fresh.

Fans of winter preparations should try the following recipe:

For 750 g of green leaves we take 250 g of water. It is better to roll the product into small jars, which must be sterilized in advance.
After standard preparation, blanch the elements (the specified number of leaves in the specified volume of water) for several minutes and immediately put the product into jars.
Fill the leaves with the water in which they were blanched. We simply roll up the jars without adding anything else.
Such preservation can be stored in the basement or even in the refrigerator.

If freezing, pickling or classic canning of sorrel is not suitable for some reason, the product can be rolled in its own juice. To do this, pour water into a deep basin and place several pre-sterilized jars filled with leaves. Turn on the heat, after some time the components will begin to settle, then add new prepared leaves. We continue until the jars are full and press them lightly, after which we simply close them with plastic lids. We place the containers in a cool place; they can be stored all winter. No need to add salt or other homemade preservatives. The acid in the product will handle this on its own; the mixture will not turn sour if air does not get into it.

Pros and cons of keeping fresh herbs refrigerated

Storing fresh sorrel in the refrigerator has its positive aspects:

all the vitamins and microelements that the greens are rich in are preserved;
Compared to freezing, it has a natural taste and is suitable for preparing salads and baking;
Compared to drying, it retains vitamin C in full.

Advice

The vitamin C content is reduced by 3 times within two hours after assembly.

The only drawback is the short period during which sorrel has a marketable appearance and is suitable for fresh consumption.

Sweet sorrel with sugar in jars

Pies, buns and pancakes with sweet sorrel are a warm memory from our childhood. However, many have never even heard that sweet dishes can be prepared from sorrel. If you haven’t tried sorrel in this version yet, be sure to prepare something.

Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes.

Cooking time: 30 min.

Servings: 2.

Ingredients:

Sorrel – 500 gr.
Sugar – 250 gr.
Water – 100 ml.

Cooking process:

1. Sort out the sorrel. Throw away all yellowed and damaged leaves and weeds. Weigh the sorrel dry before washing.

2. Place the weighed sorrel in a deep bowl, cover with water and leave for 20-30 minutes. Then rinse the sorrel leaves under running water to remove any loose debris. Place on a sieve and let dry.

3. Pour sugar into a deep saucepan or bowl of sufficient volume. Place sorrel cut into small strips on top and mix gently, but do not crush. We need the sugar to be evenly distributed throughout the sorrel. Leave the sorrel with sugar to stand for 30 minutes. During this time, it should release a fairly large amount of juice.

4. Add additional water. Place the pan or bowl on the stove. Bring to a boil over low heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Then place into prepared sterilized jars and close with lids.

5. This is how you can prepare sorrel with sugar. Don't worry about excess liquid, it will thicken over time.

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Methods for drying sorrel for storage

Fresh plants are dried so that they can be used for a long time. Such dried leaves are used as a seasoning for about 2 years.

Natural way of drying

The sorrel is being prepared. The leaves need to be dried. Therefore, they are laid out in a thin layer on a dry towel, and lie in this form for several hours.

Then the sorrel is collected in bunches of 10 - 15 stems. Hang in a well-ventilated area. The bunches need to be stirred occasionally to prevent mold from appearing. Also, some housewives tie greens into loose bunches without washing them first.

They dry in 1 - 1.5 weeks. Then the dry greens are laid out in trays or boxes and stored in dry, dark pantries, cabinets, etc.

You can use another method. Spread the sorrel on a horizontal surface in a thin layer, covering it with paper, and dry under a canopy, but so that direct sunlight does not fall on it. The leaves must be turned over at least once a day.