When to collect honeysuckle, how best to sort and process it

Honeysuckle is a very tasty and healthy berry, rich in vitamins and microelements. At first glance, it may seem that harvesting is a long and difficult process, but this is not so if you know simple methods and tricks. We’ll tell you in this article how to quickly collect honeysuckle from a bush.

When to collect honeysuckle

Honeysuckle ripens in June - a week earlier than strawberries. Wherein:

• in the European part of Russia, the harvest time for early-ripening varieties is June 12-19, mid-ripening - 20-27, late-ripening - after June 28;
• in the Urals, the honeysuckle harvesting season is mid-June, sometimes late May - early autumn;
• in Siberia, early ripening varieties, for example, Viola, bear fruit in early summer.

Coloring the berries blue does not indicate ripeness; you need to wait 5-7 days. During this time, the fruits will increase in size, the taste and smell will improve, and the flesh will become more tender. Honeysuckle is harvested when at least 75% of the berries are ripe.

The fruits ripen gradually, unevenly, this is especially noticeable in rainy and cold years. Then the collection is carried out in 2 steps. In warm years, the berries ripen almost simultaneously.

Honeysuckle harvesting process

The main disadvantage of honeysuckle is the high shedding of ripe fruits. Many new varieties have now been developed, most of which have berries attached to the stalk with medium strength. During harvest, losses due to shedding are no more than 3-5%.

There are varieties that do not crumble at all: Amphora, Roxana, Kamchadalka, Dessertnaya, Morena, Violet.

Proper collection of honeysuckle

You can pick the berries by hand. It’s better to do this not at once, but in several approaches.: first the ripest and largest ones, then the small ones, when they are also well ripe.

How to collect honeysuckle easily and quickly

An alternative to hand picking is shaking off. The method is suitable for varieties with high shedding. To do this, spread a black film under the bush. They do this until they are fully ripe, so that the berries, which have begun to fall off on their own, do not get dirty, and they can also be collected.

Important! Black film is used so that the blue fruits are not visible to birds, which can eat the crop.

To collect, you need to gently shake the bush. The berries fall onto the film, then they are poured into a container.

Also instead of film, use a sheet, burlap, or an inverted umbrella. Some people really like the latter method and it is widely used for harvesting honeysuckle on a small scale. The principle of operation is the same: place an inverted umbrella under a bush and shake the branches.

How to quickly sort out honeysuckle

After picking the berries by shaking them off the bush, we get a harvest contaminated with all kinds of debris - leaves, branches.

It is very difficult to remove all this manually, so We offer 2 simple options on how to quickly sort out honeysuckle.

Method one - hair dryer

Pour the berries into a large tray with sides to prevent them from rolling, and blow with a hairdryer. Shake the tray a little while doing this. All debris will be blown away by the air flow.

Method two - inclined surface

This the method is widely used for mass collection:

1. Find a long inclined surface (for example, a board), with its bottom resting on the floor.
2. Spread the film.
3. The inclined surface is covered with a wet sheet.
4. Pour the berries onto an inclined surface.
5. The fruit will roll off and the debris will linger on the sheet.

How to prepare and eat the crop

Honeysuckle has many beneficial properties, it contains magnesium, potassium, iodine, iron, as well as vitamins A, C, group B. That is why I want to save all this for the winter. Let's look at the most common methods.

Attention! Among the varieties of honeysuckle, there are decorative ones. They cannot be eaten.

Jam

Recipe for jam without water:

1. We take berries without stalks and add sugar 1:1.
2. Leave for 4-5 hours until the juice releases.
3. Place on the fire, bring to a boil, cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Remove from heat and wait 8 hours for the berries to absorb the syrup.
5. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring constantly, skim off the foam.
6. Pour into dry, pre-sterilized jars and seal with sterile lids.

Juice

Preparation:

1. We take ripe berries and grind them using a blender, meat grinder, or masher. We use enamel dishes.
2. Add water - 1 glass per 1 kg of berries.
3. Heat the fruits to +65°C, stirring continuously. Leave for 30 minutes.
4. We obtain juice using a juicer or through a cloth manually.
5. Boil for 3-4 minutes, pour into jars, cover with lids. Next, pasteurize the jars: half-liter jars - 10 minutes, liter jars - 15 minutes.
6. If desired, add sugar - 100 g per 1 liter.

Canned compote for the winter

Preparation:

1. Making syrup: 300–350 g of sugar per 1 liter of water.
2. As soon as the liquid boils, add 1/3 tbsp. berries
3. Boil for up to 2 minutes, remove from heat.
4. Let it sit for 10 minutes.

When preparing honeysuckle compote, you can use other berries or fruits, such as apples.

There is an original recipe with the addition of rhubarb, which has a sour taste:

1. Prepare syrup from 1 liter of water and 3 tbsp. l. Sahara.
2. After boiling, add honeysuckle berries and rhubarb stems, cut into small pieces.
3. Cook for 5-7 minutes.
4. Strain and cool.

Varietieswhich can be eaten fresh or canned:

• Vasyuganskaya;
• Tomsk;
• Pavlovskaya;
• Blue spindle;
• Blue bird;
• Chelyabinsk;
• Long-fruited.

Conclusion

You can save energy when harvesting honeysuckle using available tools, such as an umbrella or a hairdryer. It is also important to choose the right time: the berries are removed from the bush when at least 75% of the fruits are ripe.

If you take these factors into account, growing the crop will only bring joy from eating this tasty and healthy berry. There are many interesting recipes for winter preparations that will enrich the body with useful substances during the cold season.