Lingonberry is a wild berry that contains a large amount of useful substances. As you know, during the drying process, vitamins and minerals are preserved almost in full, so we suggest you prepare part of the lingonberry harvest in the form of marshmallows. This is a very tasty treat that easily replaces candy. The most best recipes You will find the preparation of lingonberry marshmallows in this article.
The base of the marshmallow is fruit or berry puree.
Before use, the berries are sorted and rinsed under running water. Puree can be made in two main ways:
- From raw berries. To prepare “live” marshmallows, the berries are pureed raw. To do this, they are punched with a blender until the consistency is as homogeneous as possible. If desired, the remaining skins can be removed by straining the puree through a sieve with a medium-sized mesh.
- From steamed berries. There are also several options here:
- Lingonberries are placed in a pot or stewpan with thick walls. Cover the container tightly with a lid and place it in the oven. Lingonberries should simmer at a temperature of 70 - 80 degrees until completely softened. This usually takes 3 hours.
- The berries are placed in a container with a wide bottom, a large saucepan or basin will do, and filled with a small amount of water. The water should just barely cover the bottom of the container. Then the berries are heated and, with constant stirring, blanched until they release juice. This will take approximately 10 minutes.
The steamed berries are crushed with a blender and, if necessary, rubbed through a sieve.
Methods for drying marshmallows
Pastila can be dried either naturally or using heating devices.
In hot and dry weather, it is best to dry lingonberry marshmallows in the sun. To do this, oiled paper is spread on pallets. Lay the berry mass on top, in a layer of no more than 4 millimeters. After the marshmallow gets stronger, it is turned over to the other side.
To speed up the drying process, you can use the oven. Containers for drying are also covered with oiled parchment, and the marshmallow is laid out in a small layer. Drying occurs at a temperature of 80 - 90 degrees, with the oven door slightly open.
Watch the video from Evgeny Arefiev’s channel “Cooking Healthy and Tasty” - How to dry marshmallows in the oven
An electric fruit and vegetable dryer will help simplify the task even more. Some models of this unit are equipped with special trays for preparing marshmallows, but if your dryer does not have them, then ordinary sheets of baking paper cut to the shape of the dryer will do. Dry the marshmallow at maximum temperature conditions, periodically rearranging the trays for more uniform drying.
Watch the video from Evgeny Arefiev’s channel “Cooking Healthy and Tasty” - Berry marshmallow in the dryer
Recipes for making lingonberry marshmallows
Natural marshmallow without sugar
Puree for such marshmallows is made using any of the methods described above, but the option without heat treatment considered the most useful. The berry mass is laid out on baking sheets and sent to dry.
Lingonberry marshmallow with sugar
- lingonberries – 1 kilogram;
- granulated sugar – 200 grams.
Sugar is added to the berry puree and, stirring constantly, the crystals are completely dissolved. Then the container with the berry mass is placed on the fire and the contents are boiled down by about half. Next, the mass is dried using any of the presented methods.
Lingonberry marshmallow with honey
- lingonberries – 1 kilogram;
- honey – 400 grams.
Lingonberry puree is filtered and boiled over fire. After this, the mass is cooled to a temperature of 50 - 60 degrees and honey is added to it. It is best to use rapeseed honey as it crystallizes very well.
Pastila with apples and lingonberries
- apples – 6 pieces;
- lingonberries – 4 cups;
- granulated sugar – 300 grams.
It is better to take sweet and sour varieties of apples for this marshmallow, for example, “Antonovka”. They are steamed together with lingonberries until softened, and then pureed. The berry and fruit mass, if desired, is passed through a sieve to remove any remaining peel. Add granulated sugar to the warm puree and stir until it is completely dissolved. After this, the marshmallow is distributed on parchment and sent to dry.
“Live” lingonberry pastille with blueberries
- lingonberries – 1 kilogram;
- blueberries – 500 grams;
- granulated sugar – 300 grams.
Fresh berries are twisted through a meat grinder and mixed with sugar. After this, the sweet berry mass is laid out on trays and dried until ready.
Methods for storing marshmallows
The pastille is removed from the paper and rolled into a roll or cut into shape geometric shapes. You can sprinkle the pieces with powdered sugar on top. Store this preparation in a glass jar in the refrigerator. For longer preservation, the marshmallow is frozen in an airtight bag.
The recipe for Belev marshmallow got its name due to its place of origin: this technology for preparing marshmallow was invented in the small town of Belev, in the Tula region, this area is famous for the largest harvests of apples, especially Antonovka, which is ideal for marshmallow. The fact is that Antonovka contains the most pectin, so the marshmallow thickens well and retains its density after baking. If you prefer another variety of apples, you will have to add additional dry apples.
How to prepare Belev marshmallow at home?
Nowadays in production you can find custard Belevsky marshmallow, and marshmallow drenched in chocolate, and one that is prepared on the basis of honey. We'll start with classic recipe this product, which is layers of airy marshmallow, fastened together with pastille mass and rubbed with powdered sugar.
Ingredients:
- apples - 1.6 kg;
- egg whites - 2 pcs.;
- granulated sugar - 165 g;
- - 15 g.
Preparation
At the initial stages of cooking, bake the apples whole until soft, so the puree will not darken and retain the maximum amount of pectin. Separate the finished apple pulp from the skin and core with seeds, then beat in a blender and rub through a sieve. Place the applesauce over medium heat, stirring in half a cup of sugar.
Whisk the remaining sugar into the meringue with the egg whites. Carefully combine the resulting meringue with the applesauce using a spatula. Distribute the air mass (leave about a quarter for spreading) on a baking sheet covered with parchment, level the surface and place everything in the oven for 5 hours at 90 degrees. Well-dried pastille does not stick too much to your hands and holds its shape well.
Next, you can go two ways: brush the pastille with the remaining protein-apple mixture and roll it into a roll, or cut it into pieces and coat each of them, stacking them on top of each other. Afterwards, the Belevsky apple marshmallow is returned to the oven for another 2 hours at the same temperature. Before slicing, the pastille is left to stand overnight.
If you decide to make sugar-free marshmallows, you will have to use a different variety of apples, which are sweeter in nature, as a basis. They are also first baked or boiled whole until soft, then pureed, and the pulp is put on fire. Now you need to add pectin. It should be added until the puree stably holds its shape, that is, after running a spoon over the surface, the trace of it does not disappear. The cooled puree is beaten with egg whites (one egg white per 500 g of puree), and then the airy white mass is dried for 8 hours at 80 degrees. After coating the pastille with the remaining soufflé, it is returned to the oven for 2 hours at 100 degrees.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a delicacy from an ancient Russian town became popular not only in Russia, but also in many European countries. Preparing apple dessert was extremely labor-intensive, so only a limited amount of pastille was available for sale. Technological progress has made it possible to produce delicate delicacies at home.
Pastila recipe:
- Peel the apples, cut them into several pieces and remove the core.
- Place the pieces in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool them and rub through a sieve.
- Combine the puree with half the sugar. Beat the products with a mixer until the mixture changes color. This process will take 10-15 minutes.
- Beat the remaining sugar with the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
- Place 4 tablespoons of apple mixture in a separate bowl. Place the rest of the product in an even layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment. The thickness of the layer should be 3-4 cm.
- Dry the puree in a slightly open oven at 100 degrees for about 7 hours. The workpiece should acquire a golden hue and become elastic. Check the readiness of the marshmallow with a toothpick.
- Peel the layer from the parchment and cut it into 3 or 4 rectangles of the same size. Brush the sheets with applesauce and stack them on top of each other.
- Return the marshmallow to the oven and cook it for another 2 hours under the same conditions.
To prevent the treat from going stale, wrap it in parchment.
Belevskaya marshmallow without sugar
A tasty and healthy dessert is most often prepared from Antonovka. It is believed that these apples give the delicacy a special taste and aroma.
At home it is prepared as follows:
- Peel 2 kg of apples, cut them into pieces and place on a baking sheet. Bake the pieces for 20-30 minutes, and then grind them with a blender.
- Add 5 tablespoons of honey to the puree, beat the products with a mixer. After 10-15 minutes the mass should lighten.
- Beat 4 egg whites with a pinch of salt until thick foam forms.
- Mix the prepared products. Don't forget to leave some of the apple mixture for coating the marshmallow.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and place the mixture on it. The thickness of the workpiece should not exceed 4 cm.
- Place the future marshmallow in an oven preheated to 90 degrees for 5-6 hours. After this, cut the workpiece into 4 parts and brush each with an apple-protein mixture. Stack the sheets on top of each other and dry them for another 3 hours at the same temperature.
This type of marshmallow can be stored in the refrigerator for several months and remain just as tasty.
Interestingly, many did not even suspect that snow-white marshmallows and marshmallows are made from apples. Indeed, there is not enough apple flavor there - everything is clogged with a huge amount of sugar. Meanwhile, there are a number of ancient recipes with a completely different taste, although with similar technology. In most of them, apple marshmallow is prepared in a similar way: puree is whipped from baked apples with sugar and egg white and dried in an oven at a temperature of 70-100C, then the dried layers are stacked on top of each other - and you're done! To prevent such pastille bars from falling apart, they are glued together with pastille mass set aside in advance, and to make them look beautiful, they are coated with it, baked and rubbed with powdered sugar. This pastila is amazingly aromatic, viscous and at the same time elastic, in general, wonderful!
Pastila of this kind came from Kolomna and Belyov, old Russian “apple” cities. In Kolomna there is even a marshmallow museum, and in Belyov this marshmallow is made and sold by local grandmothers. After searching for recipes on the Internet, I realized that they were all poured from one barrel of one bucket of apples. That is, more precisely, there is one recipe for everyone.
Therefore, I simply opened the book of the unforgettable Molokhovets, which contains several recipes for such marshmallows. Molokhovets suggests making marshmallows from green, unripe apples, I don’t know why. But I know that in Belyov pastila is made from ripe Antonovka. Why Antonovka? Yes, because it is baked Antonovka that produces a puree with a high pectin content, which allows you to make excellent pastille. In addition, a sour taste is what is needed for such products.
Elena Molokhovets’ recipe is simple and unpretentious: for two glasses applesauce- a glass of sugar and 2-3 protein. I used the following proportion: for 500g of puree (and from one baked apple you get 100g of puree) - 2/3 cups of sugar and 1 protein.
The main difficulty in cooking is that it is necessary to maintain a low temperature in the oven (70-100C) for a long time (5-8 hours). This can be achieved by cooking with the door slightly open.
What else? It is better to bake the apples whole; the puree will not oxidize and will turn out light.
500g applesauce from baked Antonovka
170g sugar
1 protein
powdered sugar
tray size 20x30cm
Bake the apples until completely soft, scoop out the pulp with a spoon and puree (use a blender or rub through a sieve).
Add sugar to the warm puree and stir.
Cool, cold puree whips better. Add the egg white and start beating.
It takes me 5-7 minutes to get a white fluffy mass (it definitely increases 2-3 times).
Place the mixture on a parchment-lined baking sheet (set aside the glass for greasing). Thickness - 3 cm.
Dry for 5-8 hours at 70C. I dried it for 3 hours at 100C, turned it over and another 2 hours at 100C.
Remove the paper. If the paper is difficult to remove, Molokhovets advises keeping it in a closet for a couple of days. But you can simply moisten it with water and the paper will come off.
Cut into equal strips with a knife. I get three stripes. Coat them with the deposited mass.
Place them on top of each other and coat the outside with it. Dry it in the oven for a couple more hours.
Take it out, rub in the powdered sugar, it will be beautiful.
What a pastila! Slice with tea, milk or cheese!
By the way, if you dry at a lower temperature, the marshmallow will be lighter. I also got a lighter one, but this one tastes better, I think!