Varenye
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Strawberry varenye
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| Course | Dessert |
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| Region or state | Eastern Europe, Northern Europe (Baltic region) |
| Main ingredients | berries or other fruits, sugar |
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Varenye or varenie (Russian: варенье, Belarusian: варэнне, Ukrainian: варення) is a traditional whole-fruit preserve, widespread in Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus), as well as the Baltic region (Lithuanian: uogienė, Latvian: ievārījums, Estonian: moos). It is made by cooking berries, other fruits, or more rarely nuts, vegetables, or flowers, in sugar syrup. In some traditional recipes, other sweeteners such as honey or treacle are used instead of or in addition to sugar.
Varenye is similar to jam except the fruits are not macerated, and no gelling agent is added. It is characterized by a thick but transparent syrup having the natural colour of the fruits.
The making of varenye requires a careful balance between cooking, or sometimes steeping in the hot sugar mixture for just enough time to allow the flavor to be extracted from the fruit, and sugar to penetrate the fruit, and cooking too long that fruit will break down and liquefy. Some fruits with tough skins require cooking for many hours, while others are suitable for making "five-minute varenye" (Russian: варенье-пятиминутка, varenye-pyatiminutka). For the latter, dry sugar is spread over raw fruit in layers and left for several hours to steep into the fruit. The resulting mixture is then heated for just about five minutes.
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Wikipedia