What do we know about jelly? Healing properties of jelly
Without giving anyone a way out, which suddenly caused a great hunger. In such trouble, the citizens gathered a veche and said: “I had to die of hunger, but there is no help from the prince; Let's surrender to the Pechenegs: some will be killed and some will be left alive; We all die of starvation at different times.” That's what we decided. There was not one old man at this veche, and when he asked afterwards: “Why was this veche held?” - they answered him that tomorrow they wanted to surrender to the Pechenegs. The old man sent for the city elders and told them: “What did I hear that you want to surrender to the Pechenegs?” They answered: “What are you going to do? people don’t want to endure hunger.” Then the old man said to them: “Listen to me, don’t give up for another three days and do as I tell you.” When they promised to obey him, the old man continued: “Collect at least a handful of oats, or wheat, or bran.” The elders carried out his will. Then he ordered the women to make a solution, with which jelly is boiled; He also ordered to dig a well, insert a tub into it and fill it with solution; He ordered to dig another well and insert a tub into it. Then he ordered to find honey somewhere; They brought him his whole basket: it was hidden in the prince’s cellar; the old man ordered to make sweet stuff out of it and pour it into a tub that stood in another well. The next day he ordered to send for the Pechenegs; the citizens went and told them: “Take hostages from us, and go yourself, about ten people, into the city and see what is happening here.” The Pechenegs were happy, thinking that they wanted to surrender to them: they took hostages, and they themselves chose the best men and sent them to the city to see what was going on there. When the Pechenegs came to the city, the residents told them: “Why are you ruining yourself? Even if you stand under our city for ten years, you won’t do anything: our land itself provides food; if you don’t believe it, look with your own eyes.” Having said this, they led them to a well where there was a solution, drew it from it with a bucket and poured it into the cauldrons; When they had cooked the jelly, they took the Pechenegs and led them to another well, drew enough to eat, and began to eat, first themselves, and then they gave it to the Pechenegs as well. They were surprised and said: “Our princes will never believe it if they don’t taste it themselves.” Then the citizens poured a pot of solution and fed from the well and gave it to the Pechenegs; they went to their people and told them everything that had happened to them. The Pechenezh princes cooked jelly for themselves, ate, marveled, then got ready and walked away from the city.
Original text(Old Slav.)
At the same time, she saw the pechenzi, as if the prince was missing, and came and stash near Blagorod. And I was not allowed to leave the city, and there was a great famine in the city, and Volodymer could not have been helped, if he had not had a war, and he baked a lot. And stay in the city, and there would be a great famine. And then he went to the city and said: “Behold, we already want to die from hunger, but from the prince help him. Would we rather die? Let's go to hell, and decide who to live and who to kill; We are already dying of hunger.” And so it was done. Only the old man was not at the ceremony, and asked: “What happened last night?” And the people told him that in the morning they wanted to hand over the people to the Pechengs. The elders of the city heard this, and said to them: “I hear that you want the transfer of the Pechengs.” They say: “The people cannot endure famine.” And he said to them: “Listen to me, don’t give up in 3 days, and do whatever I command.” For the sake of communication, they listened and spoke to them: “Get a handful of oats, or wheat, or bran.” They walked for the sake of ingratiation. And he commanded the wives to make tszha*, and boil jelly in it, and he commanded them to dig a well, and put a cauldron there, and pour cuzha cauldron. And he ordered another well to be dug, and a tub was put in there, and he ordered a search for honey. They walked along, taking the honey with a bow, so that it was buried in the princes of Medusha. And he commanded the velmi to pour water into the wells and pour them into each other's wells. In the morning he ordered the Pechengi to be sent. And the townspeople went to the Pechengom: “Understand our tal*, and you will go to the city before 10 o’clock, so you can see that everything is going to our city.” For the sake of the pastry, imagining that they wanted to indulge, they belted their waists, and they themselves elected the best men to the birthplace and sent them to the city, so they could see in the city what to eat*. And she came to the city and asked the people: “Why are you ruining yourself? If you can get past us? Even if you cost 10 litas, what can you do for us? I feed from the earth. If you don’t lie, you will see with your own eyes.” And I brought it to the treasure chest, and I scooped it up and put it in my patches. And as if I had cooked some jelly, I brought some of it to another treasure trove, and after scooping it up I was full, and I ate the first bowl myself, and then baked some cookies. And she was surprised and said: “Our princes will not have food if they do not eat it themselves.” The people poured the pot of tszha and were full from the well, and drank the pecheng. They came back and everything was gone. And when the princes cooked it, they were full of baked goods, and marveled. And they took their own people and let them go, got up from the hail, and went to their own place.
Kissel is a native Russian dish, but its preparation was also borrowed from the cuisines of other peoples and countries, adding their own traditional seasonings, for example, in German jelly adds cinnamon and cloves, and in French - vanilla.
Although jelly - a high-calorie dish(due to the presence of starch), it retains many vitamins. Kissels are recommended to be included in baby food, as well as in the diets of people suffering from gastritis, high acidity, and peptic ulcers of the stomach and duodenum.
Our ancestors loved jelly immensely - the banks of jelly, together with milk rivers, became a kind of symbol of well-being and material wealth, a symbol of a well-fed and free life. Perhaps, jelly - it was the most popular dessert. They dedicated more than one proverb to this seemingly simple and unpretentious dish. “It’s good for those who have jelly and mash”, “You can’t spoil your belly with jelly”, “There’s always a place for jelly and the king.” And these are not all Russian proverbs that are in one way or another connected with jelly.
The history of the appearance of jelly is lost in the centuries. It is unknown when exactly it appeared in Russian cuisine. Most likely, they began to prepare jelly around the same time when they learned to cultivate grains, since in the old days jelly was prepared not from fruits or berries, but from wheat, oats, rye and even peas. Information has reached our days that during the reign of Grand Duke Vladimir the Red Sun, jelly was already almost the most favorite dish of our ancestors. This means that it is definitely more than 1000 years old. Kissel is also mentioned in the famous "Domostroy", a collection of instructions for conducting household, compiled in the 16th century by order of Ivan IV.
How Russians loved jelly and how much they ate it is evidenced by the fact that V major cities there was even such a profession - "kiselnik". And jelly prepared in large quantities, were sold in many public places. In modern Moscow, the names “Bolshoy Kiselny Lane”, “Maly Kiselny Lane”, “Kiselny Dead End”, where the kiselny workers once lived and worked, are still preserved.
Origin of the name "Kissel"
Kissel got its name from the word “sour”, since in ancient times it was nothing more than a product of fermented milk fermentation. They began to cook it using starch quite recently, after potatoes appeared in Rus' and they learned how to make potato starch from it. IN Ancient Rus' Kissels were prepared on the basis of rye, oat and wheat decoctions, sour in taste and having a grayish-brown color, which was reminiscent in color of the coastal loam of Russian rivers. The jelly turned out to be elastic, reminiscent of jelly and jellied meat. Over time, in order to so that the jelly is not sour, they began to add honey, jam, and berry syrups. Kissels became a dessert dish served after dinner. With the advent of potatoes in Russia, jelly began to be prepared with starch.
Kissel made from quality berries, fruits or juices, in terms of the amount of organic acids it ranks first among other drinks and has healing qualities, which largely depend on what fruits the jelly is made from. Therefore, it is impossible to say unequivocally which jelly is the most useful. Each type of jelly is useful in its own way! And yet, most of us consider oatmeal jelly to be the most useful and healing jelly. This is probably also because the oats themselves have a mass useful properties.
Nowadays preparing jelly using starch is a matter of a few minutes. But in the old days, preparing jelly took several days. First, the crushed grain was poured with slightly warmed water and left to ferment in a warm place. Sometimes a little sour milk was added to the mixture to improve the taste and speed up fermentation. Sour-lactic fermentation lasted about two days. The mixture was then filtered and left to settle for several hours. After which the top liquid layer was drained, and jelly was cooked from the remaining jelly-like mass. Thus, the first jelly was not sweet at all. Oatmeal jelly was most often served with milk, wheat and rye jelly with honey, and pea jelly even with meat gravy. They prepared jelly of different consistencies and very often so thick that they had to be cut with a knife.
Prepare oatmeal jelly as follows:: half a pack of oatmeal is poured into a pan and filled with boiled water (2-3 fingers). Place in a warm place for a couple of days to sour. Then the jelly is filtered. Place the strained liquid on the fire and, stirring constantly, bring to a boil (bubbles will appear on the surface of the jelly). After this, remove the pan from the heat and pour the finished jelly into suitable containers (for example, bowls). Place the jelly in the refrigerator to harden. This jelly is served with milk.
Here is one of the recipes for complex jelly: Separately cook thick cranberry jelly and separately thick blueberry jelly. First pour a layer of cranberry jelly into a deep enamel bowl; when it thickens, pour in a layer of slightly cooled but not thickened blueberry jelly. Once everything has hardened, the jelly is cut into portions and can be served with milk. One serving of jelly is prepared at the rate of: 15 g cranberries, 15 g blueberries, a tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon of starch, 150 g of milk.
Bon appetit and be healthy!
Based on materials from edamka.ru, da-shef.ru
Kissel is a traditional Russian dish made from starch and flour.
Nowadays it is prepared mainly from fruit or berry syrup, to which diluted starch, potato or corn, is added. But a thousand years ago, neither corn nor potatoes were known in Rus', and jelly was made from flour.
Refined oat grain contains up to 50% starch, rye - more than 60%, wheat - about the same. But wheat was expensive, and rye had a rough taste, so the most common jelly was oatmeal and pea. Smooth-grained pea varieties contain 45-61% starch, while wrinkled (brain) pea varieties contain only 21-33%.
Various starches
Traditional jelly, oatmeal or pea, was not sweet and was not a dessert. They sipped the hot jelly like soup, and when it froze, it became so dense that it was quite suitable as a bank for a milk river. This jelly was eaten by cutting it into pieces.
Kissel could be an everyday or festive dish, depending on what it was prepared from and what it was served with. Liquid oatmeal jelly was eaten with bread or vegetable oil, and thick oatmeal, boiled with honey, fruits or berries, was washed down with milk. Sweet oatmeal jelly with currants or other red berries was called red. “Domostroy” includes jelly in the list of Sunday and holiday dishes for servants, along with pancakes and pies.
Why "jelly"?
The name jelly comes from the common Slavic verb “kysati”, which means to sour. Flour or crushed grain was poured with water, a crust of black bread was added and left in the oven for a day or two. Hot water washed starch out of flour, and it formed a colloidal solution. The fermented mixture was filtered through a sieve and evaporated in the oven until thickened. Now this is done over low heat with continuous stirring.
When heated to 60-80 degrees, the starch solution turns into a swollen gelatinous mass - a paste. If you cooked thick jelly, it was poured into special forms, jelly, with a relief pattern on the bottom. When the jelly hardened, it was laid out on a tray with the pattern facing up. A kind of gelatinous printed gingerbread. Starting from the 17th century, the production of jelly began to be carried out by special people, jelly workers, who carried their goods along the streets in trays.
Kiselnik in St. Petersburg
The Legend of Belgorod Kisel
This story inevitably comes up when talking about jelly, but it is impossible to keep silent about it. It was told by the chronicler Nestor in The Tale of Bygone Years. In 997, the Pechenegs besieged Belgorod-Kyiv, a city on the banks of the Irpen River, southwest of Kyiv. Prince Vladimir the Red Sun was not nearby at that time, and there was no one to defend the city.
The townspeople, exhausted by hunger, were ready to give up, but one elder told them: “Gather at least a handful of oats, wheat and honey and cook a hearty jelly. Dig a well and put a barrel of jelly in it.” People scraped the bottom of the barrel, cooked jelly, invited the Pecheneg ambassadors and treated them to jelly from the well: “Why are you ruining yourself? Can you besiege our city endlessly? If you stand there for ten years, what will you do to us? We have food from the earth." The Pechenegs tried the jelly, marveled and lifted the siege.
Oatmeal jelly, accelerated recipe
This recipe is taken from The Book of Tasty and healthy food» 1947: two glasses of oatmeal or oatmeal (flour made from oat grains, which are first steamed and fried, and then cleaned) are poured with four glasses of warm water, stir well, add a crust of black bread and leave, covered, for six to eight hours in a warm place. Then add four more glasses of water, strain, add two teaspoons of salt (and a tablespoon of sugar, if you need sweet jelly) and cook over low heat, stirring continuously. After boiling for five minutes, the jelly is poured into deep plates and served with butter or milk.
Pea jelly
Unlike cereal jelly, it is not fermented, so cooking takes less time. Grind one glass of split peas, add 2.5 - 3 glasses of water to the flour and cook over low heat, stirring continuously, until thickened. The process takes 30-40 minutes after boiling. At the end of cooking, the jelly is salted and poured into molds. It is eaten cooled, with meat gravy, pickles, pickles, fried onions, mushrooms, and herbs.
Pea jelly is tasty, but very high in calories, it can cause allergies or bloating.
Starch comes into the picture
In the 19th century, inexpensive potato starch appeared in Russia, followed by sweet fruit and berry starch jelly. There was no need to ferment anything, just dilute the starch and pour it into boiling fruit syrup. These instant dishes have replaced traditional Russian jelly.
Alas, not only jelly saves time, but also food for unscrupulous cooks. Often it is a starchy liquid with a weak fruity taste. However, starch jelly should not be considered a third-rate dish. This is a wonderful dessert if prepared correctly.
First of all, you need to determine the desired consistency. If you take a tablespoon of starch per glass of liquid, the jelly will be so dense that it can be cut into pieces and served on a plate with milk, whipped cream or syrup from another type of berry. Or you can brew several multi-colored jelly (milk, chocolate, apple, cherry) and layer it in large transparent glasses. Layer the jelly after it has cooled slightly and, before adding the next layer, cool the previous one until completely thickened.
To get drinkable jelly, take a teaspoon of starch per glass of liquid. Very liquid jelly is good as a gravy for sweet omelets or cottage cheese dishes.
These calculations are based on potato starch, the most common starch. If we want to prepare milk or almond jelly, it is better to use corn starch: unlike potato starch, it does not have a yellowish tint, and the dessert will turn out snow-white. However, corn starch is weaker and requires twice as much as potato starch.
The fact is that starch grains contain small quantities of proteins, fatty acids and minerals, including phosphoric acid, and the degree of viscosity of starch depends on the amount of phosphorus. Potato starch contains about 0.18% phosphoric acid: three to four times more than cereal starch.
The thicker the jelly, the more sugar you will have to put in it to overcome the starchy taste, and the higher the calorie content it will turn out to be.
What are sweet jelly made from?
Kissels are prepared from fresh or dried fruits and berries, including chokeberries and rose hips; from berry juice or syrup, jam, honey, wine, kvass, coffee, tea, milk or cream, eggs, almonds, pumpkin, melon, rhubarb, sorrel or sorrel. In addition to sugar, spices are added to jelly: vanillin, lemon or orange zest, cloves, cinnamon.
To make the jelly tasty, it is important not to skimp on the fruit ingredients and to dilute the starch correctly. It is thoroughly stirred in cold liquid (boiled water, fruit decoction, milk or kvass), the volume of which is one fifth of the total volume of the jelly. This ratio was recommended by Pokhlebkin.
The diluted starch is poured into the already prepared boiling syrup, from which the foam has been skimmed, quickly mixed and removed from the heat. Potato starch should not boil, but corn starch should be boiled for three to four minutes to thicken it. If the jelly recipe contains berry juice, it is added to the mixture of syrup and starch. The less the juice boils, the better the taste of the jelly.
And concentrates
For those who do not have the time to master these intricacies, the industry produces dry jelly concentrates. They contain potato starch, granulated sugar, organic acids: citric, lactic or tartaric, food colors and flavors, as well as extracts of fruits and berries or their crushed or dried pulp. Kissels are produced in the form of briquettes and powders. The powder should not be sticky, otherwise the jelly will turn out liquid.
Jelly concentrates are used not only for their intended purpose, but also for baking. The briquettes are kneaded to a powdery state, wheat flour is added (it should be taken in half as much as dry jelly) and a little soda. Mix all this thoroughly and beat in the eggs one by one. For 200 g of jelly you will need three eggs. The resulting dough is similar in thickness to sour cream. You can mix dried fruits, nuts, jam, honey, spices into it - whatever your imagination tells you. Bake the cake for 40 minutes at 180 degrees.
What are the benefits of jelly?
Kissel is an enveloping agent. It is useful for people suffering from high acidity of gastric juice, colitis, gastritis, and protects against dysbacteriosis. Oatmeal jelly is especially good for this quality.
Of course, jelly also contains vitamins, microelements, and organic acids. Their composition depends on the products from which the dish is prepared. In any case, it makes sense to talk about the benefits of jelly only when it is made from natural products. And don’t forget about calories: 100 ml of berry jelly contains from 55 to 70 kcal (depending on the amount of sugar and starch), oatmeal with water - about 70 kcal, with milk - from 90 kcal, pea jelly without additives - about 90 kcal.
The history of the appearance of jelly in Rus' Kissel is an original Russian dish. It is unknown when exactly it appeared in Russian cuisine. Russian proverb - “There is always a place for jelly and the Tsar.” and obesity. It also helps with cardiovascular diseases and in the fight against excess weight. After adding starch, the jelly does not need to be boiled again. Remove from heat as soon as the starch is poured and mixed - when the thickening process begins. Milk jelly - cooked like regular thick jelly. We use milk boiled with sugar as a basis. Sprinkle cinnamon on top of the jelly and eat with a spoon. Even in Rus', pea jelly was very popular - as a source of valuable protein. You don’t need whole peas, but finely crushed ones; it’s better to grind them into flour in a coffee grinder. Pour a glass of pea flour into three glasses of salted boiling water, cook on the lowest flame, stirring continuously, for about 15 minutes. And then lightly grease the plates or molds with sunflower oil and pour the jelly into them until it hardens completely. Often, frozen pea jelly was poured on top with sunflower oil and onions fried in it, and that’s how it was eaten. Kissel, as we understand, is a tasty and healthy food. Our ancestors had great respect for oatmeal or milk jelly, which served them as excellent food to maintain strength and health. It is traditionally called "Russian balsam". Nowadays, he is undeservedly forgotten. But it is precisely this that can be beneficial for many diseases. Here are the types of jelly that can help with diseases: Cranberry - for colds, flu, fever. Blueberry - for gastrointestinal diseases, The legendary author Nestor the Chronicler told an amazing story about how, during the siege of one of the cities, Russian troops suffered a terrible famine. On the advice of the wise old man, the residents gathered their last supplies, cooked thick oatmeal jelly, then poured it into the well, sat around and, in full view of the enemy, drew jelly and spruce from the well. “The Russian land itself feeds them; such people cannot be defeated!” - the Pechenegs decided and lifted the siege. In the old days, jelly was made from wheat, oats, rye and even peas. The jelly turned out to be elastic, reminiscent of jelly and jellied meat. In the old days, Russian jelly was very popular; in large cities there was even such a profession as “jelly maker.” And jelly, prepared in large quantities, was sold in many crowded places. Despite the fact that jelly is a high-calorie dish due to starch, it contains many vitamins. Kissels are recommended to be included in the diet of people suffering from stomach ulcers, gastritis, and high acidity. Oatmeal jelly also lowers cholesterol levels, which are the cause of atherosclerosis and strokes. The substance contained in oatmeal reduces the risk of atherosclerosis, literally liquefying sclerotic plaques. Therefore, the risk of developing hypertension is reduced, diabetes mellitus infectious diseases
, as well as for vision. Apple - for the prevention of anemia, vitamin deficiencies, to improve digestion. With red rowan - for diseases of the liver and gall bladder. Cook at home Russians
traditional recipes
Of course, jelly in those distant times was not at all the same as what we are used to today, and they were prepared from oats, rye, wheat, and peas. And to cook such jelly, it took not a few minutes, but several days. And to this day, the name of the Moscow “Kiselny Lanes” preserves the memory that kiselnik masters lived here before.
Fruit and berry sweet jelly appeared here relatively recently, at the beginning of the last century, following the spread of potatoes and the production of starch, and have not left our table to this day. Only they have become thinner now. If old recipes suggested taking a whole glass of starch for six glasses of liquid, then new recipes advise taking 40-45 g (1.5 tablespoons) of starch for 1 liter of liquid jelly, and twice as much for thick jelly.
Kissels are cooked all year round. In summer - from fresh fruits, berries, rhubarb, in winter - from prepared juices, syrups, jams. You can make jelly from tea with the addition of citric acid, from a decoction of crackers with the same acid, from dried apricots, dried fruits (boiled and pureed), from a rosehip decoction, from oranges and tangerines (the juice is squeezed out, and syrup is boiled from the remaining pulp), from milk and cream with vanilla flavor, from jam and jam, from coffee with milk.
A Belarusian jelly is prepared from oatmeal"Hercules": dilute them with warm water (300-400 g per 1 liter of water), leave for fermentation for about a day, filter, add 200-250 g of sugar and cook jelly. It is served with jam, honey, syrup.
If you are preparing jelly from juicy berries: black and red currants, cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, we must try to preserve their aroma, taste, color, and lose less vitamins. Mash the berries, squeeze the juice through cheesecloth. Fill the pomace with water and boil. Add sugar to the strained broth. Mix the starch well with the juice and pour in a thin stream, stirring continuously, into the boiling broth. Immediately pour the thick jelly into glasses, vases, cups and refrigerate. To prevent a film from forming on the surface of the jelly, sprinkle granulated sugar on top.
Delicious jelly is made from fresh apples. Cut the washed apples into slices, remove the seeds, pour hot water and put on fire. Rub the cooked apples through a sieve, combine the puree with the broth, add sugar, a little citric acid (if the apples are not sour), bring to a boil and brew with diluted starch cold water, as described above.