Freshly squeezed apple juice is very good for adults and children. It can even become a staple diet, especially for those who do not have enough time to cook delicious and healthy food, but are worried about healthy eating. Such a drink saturates the body with vitamins and other useful biologically active substances, helps to lose excess weight, remove toxins.
The only disadvantage of apple juice, just like any other fruit or vegetable juice, citrus juice is that it can not be stored for a long time, especially at room temperature. The fragrance will not spoil within a few days, but with every second of “downtime” its beneficial properties fade. So you either need to drink the nectar within 10-15 minutes after squeezing it, or learn how to store it properly. At the same time doctors do not recommend to eat more than 150 ml. Juice a day, as it is high in fructose and lacks fiber. Scientists have concluded that because liquid passes through the digestive tract faster than solid foods, fiber-free fruit nectar causes more rapid and severe changes in insulin levels, glucose. Due to the fact that blood sugar and insulin levels rise, there is a risk of developing type 2 diabetes, coronary disease. Since it is not recommended to drink a lot of fraiche, if you get too much, you need to know how to properly store the nectar until the next use. To learn how, where and how much freshly squeezed juice can be stored, read the article from Expertology specialists.
How long does the fruit keep in the fridge?
So, at room temperature, juice can retain all its useful properties for 15 minutes. Already after 2 hours of storage, despite the fact that the drink will not spoil, vitamins and trace elements in it will remain a minimum. With a longer storage, especially if the juice is sweet and the room is hot, the juice may begin to ferment, it is not recommended to use it.If the juice is in the refrigerator, it remains useful for 4 hours, And keep it good for one or two days.
In order to preserve the maximum useful properties, you can, before putting the juice in the refrigerator, pour it into a hermetically sealed container. To ensure that the iron in the fraiche does not oxidize, limit the contact of the drink with the air by filling the container to the neck. You can also add a little citric acid to the liquid as a natural preservative.
How to preserve the juice
Properly canned apple juice can be stored in a cool place for 6-12 months. But it will not be possible to preserve all the useful properties of the beverage during canning, because the liquid will be heated, as a result of which most of the nutrients will be destroyed. And still the juice will remain as tasty as immediately after cooking.So we suggest you use a simple method of canning:
We prepare the lids and jars – carefully wash and sterilize the glassware.
Prepare a container in which to boil the pressed juice, it can be steel or enameled, but not aluminum pot.
Squeeze apple juice (for recommendations on how to select apples for a delicious and healthy drink that will last a long time, read the end of the article).
We filter the juice, that is, several times filtered through gauze folded in 2-3 layers.
We add natural preservatives that will not harm a healthy person’s body – 1 tablespoon of citric acid and 2 tablespoons of sugar for each liter of liquid.
Bring the beverage to a boil over low heat. If foam appears, be sure to remove it with a skimmer. After boiling, cool the liquid, filter it through a clean gauze, then bring it to the boil again, pour it into jars, seal it.
Cover the jars with a terry cloth towel, let them stand until they cool down completely, move them to a place of permanent storage.
The advantage of hot preservation is that the taste of the drink becomes richer and softer, under the influence of high temperatures pathogenic microorganisms that may be present in the liquid are destroyed. And also in the fact that at one time you can prepare a lot of tasty beverage for several months without any special problems and the use of special devices, because its shelf life is significantly increased. Such canning of juice is especially relevant when you have a lot of apples, they spoil, and throw away the product sorry.
This method of preparing the drink has its disadvantages:
Heating and boiling destroys not only germs and bacteria, but also useful substances.
It requires the use of sugar as a preservative, which increases the nutritional value of the drink, but negatively affects its usefulness. Juice with sugar should be used very carefully by people with diabetes, the propensity to diseases of the cardiovascular system.
Canning takes time, and jars with the drink need to be stored somewhere.
How to freeze freshly squeezed apple juice
Freezing preservation is a method which will help preserve the maximum nutritional value of food. You can store the drink for 12 months, and immediately after defrosting it will have its original taste and qualities.
To freeze the fruit, you need to have on hand a clean plastic container, for example, milk bottles or three-liter cans from drinking water. But keep in mind that the best container for freezing is the one that holds a single serving of the drink, because you will need to drink it quickly, and re-freezing the product is unacceptable.
Juice does not need to be boiled beforehand, but it is recommended to strain it through gauze. Important advice – do not fill the container with liquid up to the neck! Freezing causes the molecules of juice to expand so that full bottles can burst or the caps can come off and the liquid can run out.
You can freeze a small amount of nectar with the help of an ice cube, which will fit even into the freezer of the domestic refrigerator. In the future you can put such cubes in a glass with fresh fruit and get an excellent drink for hot weather.
What apples are suitable for making and storing the fraiche, how to consume the product correctly
To get great, freshly squeezed apple juice, choose varieties that ripen in late summer or early fall. White Nalivka and Antonovka, for example, are excellent for this purpose. But it is better not to use winter varieties, because they give very little juice, but you get a lot of cake. Also discard fruits that have been damaged. Rotten, broken, crumpled, with stains and traces of worms are better used in another way, since the taste of the drink from such raw materials can be unpleasantly surprising. And it spoils much faster and should not be stored.
And finally, a little advice on how to properly drink freshly squeezed apple juice:
Doctors do not advise to drink the juice on an empty stomach, even if you don’t have any problems with your digestive system. It is better to consume it 20-30 minutes before a meal or a few hours after eating. The fraiche has a rich composition, which includes fruit acids, causing not only discomfort in the stomach area, but also in the pancreas and gallbladder. If you want to consume the drink exactly on an empty stomach, at least dilute it with drinking water.
Wash the fruit well,If they are foreign-made and have wax on their skins, try to remove it.
If the apples are too sour, You can add some sugar to the fresh fruit, but it is better to prepare the drink from sweet varieties.
One last thing – start drinking freshly squeezed apple juice with small portions, watch your body’s reaction, if no disorders in its work follow, gradually bring the dose to the recommended daily. If you know how much juice you consume per day, you will quickly learn how to prepare the right amount of drink and it will not need to be stored until the next time.
