Amla or the Indian Gooseberry has rich source of Vitamin C. It has various health benefits and when consumed on regular basis, aids for a healthy life. When in season Amlas are consumed in various forms. Most common way is to pickle the amla and consume through the year.
Two other methods are to make the Amla into murabba or preserve in honey. We get two varieties of Amlas, the one very big and the other smaller variety which is called Ara Nellikai in Tamil. The smaller ones are not that sour to eat and can be eaten as a snack. While the bigger ones are really sour, though after eating it, you will have a sweet after taste.
So preserving these bigger ones in honey was the simplest way to eat them without much difficulty. We do get those sweeten amla in stores, which obviously have high sugar content in them. Preserving in honey doesn't make it sugary though the sourness gets reduced.
Lets see how we can preserve the amlas in Honey.
Wash and pat dry the Amlas.
See how pretty the fruit looks!
Using the sharp tip of the knife, insert the knife and scoop out the seed in the middle.
Pour the honey into the bottle, place the amlas on them
Slowly pour the honey into the bottle until you cover the entire amlas used.
Shake gently and cover the mouth with a muslin cloth.
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Recipe
How to Preserve Amla in Honey | Amla in honey preserve
Instructions
- Wash and pat dry the Amlas.
- Using a sharp knife, slice the amlas. As the seed inside will be very hard, you can place the knife and using a hard object gently pat on the top. This way you can easily slit open the fruit.
- Using the sharp tip of the knife, insert the knife and scoop out the seed in the middle.
- Have the honey bottle ready. I used another honey bottle, so I didn't have to bother about cleaning, drying the bottle to be stored. Make sure the bottle you are going to use is clean and dry.
- Pour the honey into the bottle, place the amlas on them.
- Slowly pour the honey into the bottle until you cover the entire amlas used.
Harini says
Hey that is very interesting..I have never heard of this before!
Reshmi Mahesh says
Love these honey dipped amlas...Heathy and delicious....
Aarthi says
wow...i should make this for my amma...doctor had suggested her to have this for her health..Thank you so much valli..
PJ says
This is so easy and not to mention nutritious too...
Priya says
Omg, wat a healthy preserve, but unfortunately amlas are super expensive here to make preserves like this:(..
Shiva says
Where do u live? It is not super expensive here in Tamil nadu
Archana says
thanks. will do this pronto.
Kaveri says
That looks so delicious...It is one of my favorites..my mom always keeps stock of these and this is the only way I eat amla.
Priya's Feast says
Thats the real goodness of amla and honey...
Suma Gandlur says
Interesting. I loved to snack on the little berries but never developed a liking to the big sized ones.
The ones we get here are frozen variety and I end up making a short life pickle.
Gayathri Kumar says
Looks absolutely delicious...
vaishali sabnani says
v v interesting...must give it a try.....girls will love these:)
Andy says
Hi Valli,
I dont know if i missed it in your recipe but how long should be store this before use?
Thanks
Andy
Srivalli says
Andy Looks like I wasn't clear myself, have updated the post..thanks for asking.
divya says
Looks absolutely delicious...
Aruna Alla says
Hi Srivalli,
WE are about to put pitted amlas in honey like you did and not putting under the sun. Can you tell me what is the maximum time that you have preserved this way. Because my mom's friend told here that, they did the same and with in week they can see the fungus allover and it smelled horrible, so they threw it away. Thanks!
Regards,
vinaka
Srivalli says
Vinaka I did about for somewhere around 15 days or so, moreover since we made a point to eat them on daily basis, we sort of finished it quickly. But storing it in sun for an hour with muslin cloth and stirring it frequently ensured it was good. I am sorry I haven't tested beyond this time..do try and let me know how it turns out.
Aruna Alla says
Thanks for quick reply,
My only concern putting under the sun is for an hour for 15 days is heating honey kills all the nutritional values of Honey and what's left is a mery honey sugar solution. What we did is bought huge quantity of amlas for whole year, because they only available now. Please find out if you can from your friends or grand parents. In the mean time we are only testing half a kilo to see for a week and if everything is ok then taking risk of complete quantity. But I am guessing since you tried for 15 days, we won't find anything with in a week.
In your case I thought you did not put it under the sun from your comments in the article, but you did put it under the sun, made it tricky for me.
Any way I will let you know how we go. Thanks!
Regards,
vinaka
Srivalli says
vinaka Wow that's quite an amount you got. I really will not want you to experiment like that if you are not sure. Like I said I wanted preserve and eat. And we finished it off within days of storing it. Unfortunately I didn't store it for a longer time to confirm the exact shelf life. However as you said putting it under Sun may make it just a sugar water, unfortunately we may loose some nutrients from honey, I am hoping that would have been absorbed by the amlas...all the best, I hope they stay really good.
raju samuthiram says
frends I am gonna try this out .... can anyone share ur experience on this .......
any help would be great
Srivalli says
Raju As I have said in my previous comment, I was not able to save it up for the entire duration. Will surely try this soon with the next batch.
Anonymous says
At the end of 15 days, are the amlas dry or still liquidy....wat do u do to dry them?
Srivalli says
Anon The amlas were still soaked in the honey, it became soft. I haven't tried drying these though. You could dry some and check it out.
Malinipriya says
Can we cook the amlas before adding honey to them??
Srivalli says
I have not tried cooking the amla before adding. However, going by the cooking process, I think the amlas will turn very soft if you cook and add.
Bharani says
After one one month soaked with honey ,it occurs bubbles on top of the bottle with liquid ,is it ok or any other suggestions?
Srivalli says
Bharani, did you put the soaked amla with honey in Sun?..If it was sun dried, the liquid and amla will be good. However, as said you have bubbles, it could mean it has gone bad. Ideally this is something you will be doing during summer and not during this time.
Gajean says
Hi Srivalli,
The Amla started bubbling , like Coca Cola fizzing, but it's smelling good, what does it mean
Srivalli says
Hello Gajean, what quantity did you use? and did you put it under sun for 15 days? I didn't get the bubbles in mine. So if it is tasting good, then you should use it. I will be doing this again this summer.
C.V.Joseph says
What to do if honey Amla is affected with white fungus?
Srivalli says
Did you experience this fungus after preserving the amla? I haven't seen it happening,so can't really say about it.
Moahan says
Can you reuse the left over honey for another batch
Srivalli says
I haven't used it myself, though I would say, eat a piece of amla along with some honey, so it would be used up.
Niv says
Is it ok to put whole amlas without deseeding them? I have a tree full of amlas in my garden 😊
Srivalli says
Hi Niv, I haven't tried doing it. Maybe the way the fruit soaks with the seeds and without is different. Since you have loads of them, pls do try and let me know..:)
Raj says
Dry the cut amla in sunlight for about 3 days, without drying out completely and then soak it in honey. This should extend the shelf life of amla, without catching fungus.