Sweet season: how to cook strawberry jam in Berestechko

In Volyn, the strawberry picking season is in full swing. The Berestechkivsky fruit cannery is not idle either. This year it was decided to launch a new type of product under the brand "ZaXaR" - a thick strawberry jam in a 400-gram jar. Thus, the plant's management purchased a batch of fresh strawberries from local individual farms.

"The other day I bought strawberries from a couple who live in a village near Berestechko. Juicy, fragrant, sweet strawberries. But I was struck by the hands of the hostess who sold it - worked and tired of work. It is clear that every penny is given to these people by hard work, and to grow that strawberry also requires a lot of effort. So we decided to buy the first batch of raw materials and launch strawberry jam. No impurities, artificial preservatives or flavor enhancers. Everything is natural and very simple: fresh strawberries and sugar, ”says Natalia Zakharchuk, the plant's director.

So we headed out of Berestechko to see how the locals grow and harvest strawberries.

"Our strawberries are just beginning. Collect once every 2-3 days and wait until ripe. Sweet and juicy. We have several large beds. Of course, there is a lot of work to do with strawberries: you have to plow and weed several times a year. Every 3-4 years I plant new strawberries, because the old bushes stop giving birth so abundantly. And how much you have to "bend over" while choosing it… But what can you do, we don't have such a job in the village, so we try to grow something in the garden and sell it, ”says a local resident Larysa.

After the strawberries are collected in boxes, they are carefully transported to the plant. Local workers clean the berries from the stalks and fill them with water to remove the outer hairs and small stones from the pulp.

"We take fresh strawberries, carefully sort them and wash. The method of preparation is very simple, the recipe is classic: only strawberries and sugar. There are no secrets here, as there are no other preservatives or flavor enhancers. All according to DSTU. Probably that's why this jam is so delicious. We have our own laboratory, where we check each batch of manufactured products. That is why I can say with confidence that our jams and jams are not only delicious, but also high-quality and useful, ”says Olga Strubitska, a technologist at the Berestechko Fruit Canning Plant.

Meanwhile, work is in full swing in the production shops. This is evidenced by the sweet-honey strawberry aroma, which roams around the Berestechkov plant and catches ordinary people from the very threshold. The shop is noisy. On one line, workers pack apple jam with strawberry flavor. Immediately on the second line, the technologist began his magic: washed strawberries sparkled in large basins, and next to Olga Strubitska has already started to put the ingredients in the cooking vessel.

The young woman clearly measures the proportions of sugar and strawberries, loads everything into the tub and mixes thoroughly. In a few minutes bubbles appear, and the honey-strawberry aroma spreads even more abundantly in the shop. After cooking, the jam is packaged in 300-gram jars.

"We wanted to produce a traditional strawberry jam: only strawberries and sugar… and to make the berry feel whole. Probably many people remember this feeling from childhood, when you put a spoonful of strawberry jam on a piece of fresh bread, and how it tastes with pancakes or fresh cheesecakes… Mmmm .. So far we have made only the first batch of this strawberry delicacy. But I already feel that our customers will like this jam. After all, everything that is grown with hard work and done with love will definitely succeed, ”Natalia Zakharchuk is convinced.

Natalia is fully supported by her husband Oleksandr Zakharchuk.

"In this case, I completely trust my wife. Her ideas are always successful, and therefore some new products periodically appear in the production, for which we later see a good demand. This is her favorite business, in which she invests 100%, "said Oleksandr Zakharchuk.