The prepared sweet crispy cucumbers for the winter are a non-standard original version of your favorite snack, which, like the classic versions, has a lot of fans. Sweetened with the appropriate marinade, vegetables are a great addition to potatoes, chicken or other meats.
Cooking sweet cucumbers for the winter is simple and affordable for everyone, but in order for them to remain crispy, juicy and delight with an excellent fresh taste throughout the year, you need to know a few time-tested secrets.
To prepare delicious and crispy cucumbers in sweet sauce for the winter, medium-sized fresh fruits of the correct shape are selected, which are prepared properly by rinsing under running water, soaking for several hours. Whole copies are placed in a jar, or after cutting off from each edge.
Ingredients:
Preparation
The following recommendations will help to close sweet and sour cucumbers for the winter without sterilization, which can be safely stored under room conditions. The appetizer turns out to be harmonious in taste, moderately sweet, with a pleasant sourness. To preserve the crunch of the fruits, they should be poured not with boiling water, but with water cooled to 90 degrees.
Ingredients:
Preparation
The recipe for sweet-hot cucumbers for the winter will satisfy the needs of eaters who especially respect snacks "with a twinkle". The desired pungency will be provided by a chili or hot pepper pod, the amount of which can be varied to taste. Sprigs of parsley and carnation buds will add extra piquancy.
Ingredients:
Preparation
The following recipe for sweet-pickled cucumbers for the winter is also performed without sterilization and does not take much time. In this case, the appetizer turns out to be spicy, with the desired crunch, moderately salty and with a sweetish note. If storage is supposed to be in the cold, you can not wrap the jars, but let them cool in the room upside down.
Ingredients:
Preparation
Another recipe for sweet cucumbers for the winter is presented below. In this case, vinegar 9% is used as a preservative, and chopped carrots and onions are added to give the appetizer special taste characteristics along with other spices and spices. The calculation is given for one can of 3 liters.
Ingredients:
Preparation
This recipe for sweet crunchy cucumbers for the winter is performed with citric acid, which will be especially appreciated by opponents of using vinegar in preparations. The appetizer works out to be softer in taste, without an unwanted vinegar aftertaste. For perfect preservation, cucumbers are poured twice with boiling water and for the third time only with brine.
Ingredients:
Preparation
Cooked sweet pickled cucumbers with mustard for the winter acquire a special piquancy and an unusual spicy taste. The workpiece, as in the previous case, is heated twice with boiling water, which will ensure its ideal safety for a long time. The number of products is based on one liter can.
Ingredients:
Preparation
For those who prefer to harvest assorted for the future, sweet cucumbers and tomatoes can be rolled up for the winter, following the recommendations from the following recipe. Sprigs of fresh parsley, onions and bell peppers will add a special aroma and pleasant taste to the appetizer. The calculation is given for a three-liter can.
Ingredients:
Preparation
Cooked sweets with added oil are characterized by original presentation and exquisite, unusual taste that will surprise every gourmet or fastidious eater. Such a workpiece differs from the classic one both in the way the recipe is executed and in the final result.
Ingredients:
Preparation
Another sweet one can be prepared based on the recommendations below. The resulting appetizer will be very appropriate for serving with side dishes, potatoes or meat, will emphasize the taste of the accompanying dish and make it more appetizing. If desired, the composition of the workpiece can be supplemented with hot pepper.
Cucumber is one of the oldest vegetables, known about it 6000 years ago. It is irreplaceable on our table: we eat it raw, prepare salads from it, preserve and salt it. There are two ways: hot and cold. We will tell you about the cold method.
In order for the cucumbers to turn out delicious, first of all it is necessary choose the right product:
Our grandmothers used barrels for future use - oak barrels are especially good. But in our time, not every housewife has them, and you can put it in your house, and not in your apartment. Therefore, we will use banks. And, of course, we need nylon caps.
To make the cucumbers tasty and aromatic, you need to add spices. Each hostess uses her own set. We will use the classic version.
For a three-liter jar, we will need the following products:
We will use the experience of our ancestors. We will divide the salting process into several stages:
Important! The higher the room temperature, the faster the fermentation process will take place. Care must be taken to ensure that vegetables are not over-oxidized.
Vegetables salted without sterilization must be stored in a cool room. This could be a basement or a refrigerator. At positive temperatures, the fermentation process will continue, and the jars will swell. It is necessary to store at a temperature of about zero.
We have already said that you need to use only pickling varieties. But there are some more tricks that will serve as a guarantee of getting delicious cucumbers:
The taste of salting directly depends on the composition of the spices:
Did you know? If you put cherry leaves next to berries or fruits, then their freshness will last longer.
It is best served cold pickles. Any side dish will suit them: it can be porridge, meat, and many other dishes. Pickled cucumber is used to prepare pickle, vinaigrette and, of course, Olivier salad. But it is not compatible with some products - together with milk it can cause diarrhea.
There are many lactic acid bacteria in pickled cucumbers, which normalize the intestinal microflora. The pulp, due to the presence of fiber, improves digestion.
Did you know? The inhabitants of the Pacific Islands, to preserve cucumbers, wrapped them in banana leaves and buried them in the ground. Our ancestors came up with another way: they salted vegetables in a cold way.
We want to offer you interesting and original salad.
Good afternoon, hostesses! Today I will write 4 step-by-step pickled cucumber recipes. Conservation is troublesome, but important. You open a jar in winter and rejoice. Cucumbers for all 4 recipes are crispy. The difference is in canning technology (choose the most convenient option) and flavorings. If you do everything as written in the recipes, pickled cucumbers will be well stored, the cans will not explode.
Before you start learning the recipes, be sure to read which cucumbers are suitable for canning and how to prepare them properly. A bad result can be precisely because of the admission of these mistakes.
See also:. Even "ugly" fruits will do.
Pickled cucumbers must be made with vinegar. They are savory, sweet-sour, with a spicy smell and always crispy. For pickling, it is important to choose the right varieties of cucumbers. There are salad cucumbers that are not suitable for canning because they have a thin skin and are soft. When poured with marinade, they will become even softer and will not crunch. Salad cucumbers have white bumps or are generally smooth.
For pickling, you need to choose cucumbers with black spines that are sharp enough. These cucumbers have a denser flesh than salad cucumbers. Pickled cucumbers have a flavonin pigment that is not found in white-spiked cucumbers. It is this pigment that prevents the cucumbers from souring and becoming soft. Therefore, the choice of cucumbers for pickling is a very important point.
It is also important that the cucumbers are fresh, not sluggish, firm, with a green tail. If the cucumbers are too dark in color, this indicates an excess of nitrates.
Before pickling cucumbers, you need to wash, cut off the tails and pour cold water for 2-4 hours so that they are saturated with moisture. This should always be done, no matter what recipe you marinate them.
For preservation use only rock salt... Iodized salt must not be taken for these purposes!
Banks and lids should be washed with baking soda. In the recipes, where necessary, also sterilize the jars. The lids must be sterilized by boiling them for 5 minutes. You need to roll cucumbers with hot lids, which you can take out of the boiling water with tweezers or a fork.
Dill with umbrellas and garlic must be placed in pickled cucumbers. It is these additives that give cucumbers their unforgettable scent. It is important to take dill green, not yellow and not dry, otherwise the cans may "explode".
Cucumbers according to this recipe are very tasty. They have a good balance of acid and salt. They will be hard and crunchy. Cucumbers will not need to be poured with boiling water for a while. They will not be sterilized for long in banks. This method helps to keep them tight and firm. And for the crunch you need to use horseradish.
Ingredients:
Marinade for 1 liter of water (enough for about 2 liters of conservation):
Method for preparing pickled cucumbers with sterilization:
1.Wash the cucumbers, soak and cut the tails.
2. Wash the cans with baking soda and dry.
3.In each liter jar, put 2 dill umbrellas (of course, washed). The umbrellas can be rolled up and placed on the bottom. Then put horseradish leaves - 2-3 pcs. A couple of large cloves of garlic, or three smaller ones. Cut the garlic in half. Add 2-3 bay leaves and 5-6 peppercorns each.
If desired, you can put currant or cherry leaves in the jar.
4. Now put the cucumbers in the jar. Place them fairly tightly. You can do it vertically or horizontally. It will depend on the size.
5.Pour the marinade water into a saucepan. It is impossible to guess exactly how much it will be needed. This will depend on the packing density of the cucumbers. Approximately 1 liter of marinade is enough for 2 liter jars and a little more remains. Put sugar and salt in the water in a proportion of 2 tablespoons. salt and 3 tbsp. sugar in 1 liter of water. And pour in 100 ml of 9% table vinegar. If you have acetic acid, then it needs to be diluted to 9%. To do this, 1 tbsp. acid, dilute with 7 tbsp. water, get vinegar 9%.
6.Place the marinade on the stove. Wait for the marinade to boil and the sugar and salt dissolve.
7. In a wide saucepan, put a dry towel and put jars of cucumbers on it. Pour boiling marinade over the cucumbers all the way to the top. But first, pour a little of the marinade into each jar to keep the jars warm and not burst.
8. You need to sterilize the can lids in advance. To do this, boil them for 5 minutes. Cover the cucumbers with sterile lids. No need to roll up, just cover the cans. Pour hot water all the way into the pot.
9.Put the pickled cucumbers on the stove to sterilize. When you see bubbles in the jars, then from this moment you need to sterilize the cucumbers for 3 minutes.
10. Remove the cans from the pot and roll up. Turn over to check for leaks. Wrap the cucumbers with a blanket and let them cool completely. That's all. The cucumbers will only have to marinate in vinegar. And if you really want to, then after 3 days you can eat them.
This is another way to roll cucumbers for the winter. The canning technology differs from the previous recipe, but the result will also be excellent - crispy cucumbers with a pleasant sourness.
Ingredients for 1 L can:
Preparation:
1.Sterilize cans for preservation in any way: at least over steam for 10-15 minutes, at least in the oven (put in a cold oven and heat up to 150 degrees, sterilize for 15-20 minutes).
2. Wash and soak the cucumbers, as I wrote at the beginning of the article. Trim the ends as desired. Wash all the leaves that you add to the preservation.
3.In clean sterilized liter jars, put 2 cherry leaves, on a sprig of tarragon, 3 cloves of garlic (cut in half), 1 bay leaf, a few peas of black pepper.
If you have 2 or 3 liter cans, then proportionally increase the amount of these flavors.
4.Place the cucumbers tightly into the jars. Cover them with a sheet of horseradish on top and put a sprig of dill with an umbrella in a circle.
5. Boil water and pour boiling water over the cucumbers. To prevent the cans from bursting, place them on top of something metal or place a knife under the can. Fill with water to the very brim. Cover the jar with a sterilized lid and let the cucumbers sit for 30 minutes. During this time, the water will be absorbed into the vegetables, and its level will decrease. Therefore, if necessary, top up boiling water to the brim.
6. When the cucumbers stand, drain the water into a saucepan. The marinade will be cooked from this water. It is convenient to use a lid with holes for draining.
7.Add salt and sugar to this drained water. On the marinade from 1 liter jar, you need to put 1 flat tablespoon of salt (20 gr.) And the same tablespoon of sugar. If you drain water from two liter cans, then take 2 tablespoons, respectively. salt and sugar, etc.
8. Place the marinade on the stove, bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.
9.Pour the boiling marinade over the cucumbers without adding a little to the brim. And pour 2 tablespoons of vinegar into each quart jar. You get a full jar.
10.Cover with a sterile lid and roll up. Turn the can over, make sure the lid is closed tightly and nothing is leaking out. Leave the jars upside down, wrap them with a towel or blanket, and leave to cool completely.
Cucumbers according to this recipe will turn out to be spicy and crispy. Try this preservation option.
Ingredients for 1 L can:
How to pickle cucumbers with mustard:
1.Cucumbers, as usual, wash and soak for several hours. Wash greens (leaves, dill) and pour / scald with boiling water. Sterilize jars and lids.
2. At the bottom of a sterile jar (1L), put an umbrella of dill that has previously been in boiling water. Then put 4 currant leaves and 2 cherry leaves. Cut hot peppers into rings and place 2 rings in a jar. Also, in a 1 liter jar, put 1 clove of garlic, cut into several pieces, 1 bay leaf, a few peas of black pepper.
3.Fill the jar with cucumbers. Top with a couple more chopped garlic cloves.
4.Pour boiling water over the cucumbers to the very top of the jar and cover with sterilized lids. Leave it on for 20 minutes.
5. Drain water from cucumbers into a saucepan and boil it. Pour boiling water back into the jar with cucumbers, cover again and leave to warm up for 20 minutes.
6. Drain the water from the cans into the pot again and bring it to a boil. Add half a teaspoon of mustard seeds to each jar. Pour 2 tsp into each jar. salt with a slide and 2 tsp. sugar with a slide. And pour in 50 ml of vinegar.
7.Pour boiling water over the cucumbers to the very top and roll up the lids. Turn the cans over and wrap them in something warm, let cool completely. And in winter, get spicy and fragrant pickled cucumbers.
Cucumber jars according to this recipe will need to be sterilized. The marinade is cooked with spices, which allows the spices to open better and the cucumbers will be more aromatic.
Ingredients (for 1 liter can):
Cooking fragrant cucumbers:
1. Take clean jars. Place currants and cherries, a clove of garlic and a dill umbrella on the bottom of a liter jar. Put the pre-soaked cucumbers in a jar, stacking them tighter. Place another dill umbrella on top. Fill all jars this way.
2. Cook the marinade. Pour 1.3 liters of water into two liter cans. Add 2-3 bay leaves to this water, 4-5 pcs. allspice, 5-6 pcs. black pepper, 3-4 pcs. cloves, 1 tbsp. sugar, 2 tbsp. salt. Boil the marinade and cook for about 2 minutes, the sugar and salt should be completely dissolved. Turn off the heat and pour in 70 ml of vinegar, stir.
3.Pour the hot marinade into jars in cucumbers. Pour a little at first so that the jar warms up and doesn't burst. Remove the bay leaf from the marinade, do not put it in jars.
4. Cover the jars with sterilized lids, but do not roll up. Place the cans in a saucepan lined with a rag on the bottom. Pour boiling water into this saucepan and put on fire. Wait for the water to boil and then sterilize liter cans for 7-10 minutes, one and a half liter - 10-12 minutes, three-liter - 15-17 minutes. After sterilization, remove the jars from the boiling water and roll up immediately. Turn over and let cool. You do not need to wrap cucumbers according to this recipe, otherwise they will cook and will be soft.
Pickle cucumbers according to these recipes and get a delicious preparation. Cook for dessert. Come visit my blog more often and get delicious and proven recipes.
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Welcome to my blog! In the last article I wrote. This time we will consider recipes for pickling without sterilization.
First of all, in order for you to succeed, you must follow a few simple rules:
Observing these principles, you will definitely succeed!
These cucumbers are perfect for the winter, crunch with potatoes. Plus, it's a pleasure to cook Olivier and vinaigrette with them. What can I say, take note of it, and be sure to try.
Ingredients:
For a 1.5 liter jar (for a 3 liter jar, simply multiply (*) all ingredients by 2):
Preparation:
1. Wash and soak the cucumbers in salted cold water for 2-5 hours.
2. Clean the jars and lids with baking soda. And also spices: leaves of laurel, horseradish, currant or cherry; and dill.
Mandatory leaves of currant or cherry (or you can take leaves of oak and cherry), and horseradish (or horseradish root).
3. Put the spices in the prepared jars: all the leaves, garlic, pepper, dill umbrellas.
4. Get ready-made washed and standing cucumbers and cut off their butts.
5. Place the large cucumbers on the bottom and small cucumbers on top neatly into the jar, so that the distance between them is minimal.
6. Pour preferably pure (chlorine-free) water into a saucepan and boil. As soon as the water boils, carefully pour into the jars in portions, trying to pour into the center so that the jar does not burst. Cover with lids, let it warm up. And put the second portion of water to boil in a saucepan.
7. As soon as the water on the stove begins to boil, drain the water from the cans into another saucepan. And repeat the process of pouring boiling water a second time (this time you can pour it boldly, since the jars and cucumbers have already warmed up). Then cover again and wrap up until the third boil of water.
8. Before the water boils 3 times, drain the cans. Then put salt, sugar and vinegar in them directly on top of the cucumbers. Then quickly pour boiling water up to the very top (3 times the water should boil). Even if the water spills a little so that there is definitely no air left in the jar.
9. Then dip the lid in boiling water, remove and close the jar. Take it to a prepared warm dark room, turning it up and down on the go so that the salt and sugar dissolve, put the lid down until it cools. Then take it to the cellar for storage.
Many people try to use as little vinegar as possible in their dishes or do without it altogether. In preserving or pickling cucumbers, vinegar can be replaced with citric acid, it turns out very tasty.
Ingredients:
Preparation:
1. Put in clean sterilized jars: dill; cherry leaves, currants; a small piece of red pepper; 2 cloves of garlic; Bay leaf; black and allspice peas.
2. Fill the jars with cucumbers. And then gently pour boiling water in the center. Cover with lids, after pouring boiling water over them. Leave it on for 10 minutes.
3. Empty the cans into a sink. And pour boiling water 2 times. Close the lids and let sit again for 10 minutes.
We will prepare a marinade from the 2nd drained water.
4. Pour the water from the cans into the pot. Add 2 tablespoons to it. salt and sugar. And put on the stove until it boils.
5. Pour an incomplete teaspoon of citric acid into the jar. And cover with hot marinade from a saucepan. Cover and roll well.
6. Take and shake to dissolve citric acid better; turn over and put the lid down. Cover with a towel until it cools, then store in a dark place (such as a cellar).
The author of this video, Helen, will share with you a recipe for pickling cucumbers with lemon wedges and citric acid. Quite an interesting recipe, I think it's worth trying, especially for those who love something new.
Ingredients:
For a family of 5 or more people, it is best to pickle cucumbers in 3 liter jars. Of course, the result will not differ in any way from the liter ones; in the end, all the same crispy, tasty, pickled cucumbers will be obtained. Let's look at another cooking recipe.
Ingredients:
Preparation:
1. Rinse jars and lids with baking soda. Let the cucumbers sit in cold water for at least 2 hours. Prepare all the ingredients you need.
2. Put a pot of water to boil, and in the meantime, fill the jars as described in the next step.
3. At the bottom of the jar, place dill umbrellas and a few currant leaves washed with cold water. Fill the jars with cucumbers to the middle, and again put the dill umbrellas with currant leaves in a new layer.
4. Now fill to the very top with cucumbers. And put 2 cloves of garlic, cut in half, on top. Cover with a lid, set aside and in the meantime fill the other jars in the same way.
5. Fill the jars with boiled water and leave for 10 minutes under the lid. And we put clean water to boil again (as much as was needed and used in the first fill).
6. Once 10 minutes have passed, drain the water from the cans into the sink.
7. Now add spices to them: black pepper and sweet peas, 2 tbsp. salt, sugar, citric acid on the tip of a knife and 2 aspirin tablets.
8. Fill the cans with new boiled water and roll up. Flip and wrap as usual.
Cucumbers are among those garden crops that are distinguished by high yields. Even if you have only planted a few rows of cucumbers, the harvest will be so plentiful that it will be unrealistic to consume all the vegetables fresh. But, in order to provide yourself with tasty preparations for the winter, cucumbers can be canned. There are a lot of recipes for winter preparations from cucumbers, and every year new canning options appear so that each housewife can stock up on preparations according to her own taste.
Cucumber preservation is considered a simple process, but it also has some nuances that must be taken into account. Only by observing all the details of the process, you will get a tasty preparation that can be saved until the next harvest. You will find the basic rules and simple recipes for canning cucumbers for the winter in this article.
It is not difficult to collect a rich harvest of cucumbers, but it is almost impossible to eat all the vegetables fresh, even for a large family. But eating the entire crop fresh is not at all necessary, because cucumbers are quite suitable for making homemade preparations for the winter. The taste of this vegetable is perfectly complemented by various spices and herbs, as well as additional ingredients: gooseberries, currants, celery, etc.
There are a lot of recipes for canning cucumbers for the winter. Some of them are simple and suitable even for novice cooks, others require more thorough preparation. We will consider the main ways of preparing winter cucumber preparations at home, and detailed instructions for each recipe will help you choose the one that is right for you.
There are several ways to preserve cucumbers. In the past, our grandmothers used to use the pickling method, but now pickling is considered more relevant. Nevertheless, pickled cucumbers are not inferior in taste to pickled cucumbers, so we will present each of these recipes.
First of all, you should understand the difference between the canning process itself when pickling and pickling. In the first case, the safety of the vegetable is ensured by natural fermentation processes and the release of lactic acid. Therefore, it is recommended to store such blanks in a cool cellar, on the balcony or in the refrigerator.
Pickled cucumbers remain tasty and crispy thanks to vinegar, which acts as a natural preservative. Such blanks can be stored at room temperature, for example, in the pantry of a city apartment.
To make it easier for you to decide which method of preparing cucumber blanks for the winter is right for you, we will consider each of them in more detail.
Pickling cucumbers is a traditional way to preserve the harvest of this vegetable throughout the winter. In the past, cucumbers were salted in large barrels, but now other containers can be used for this purpose, for example, ordinary three-liter jars.
Note: Properly selected salt plays a key role in successful salting. It is better to take ordinary rock, but coarse salt without any impurities. Only in this case, the taste of the workpiece will turn out to be bright and rich. It is not recommended to use fine salt, as it can soften the cucumbers.
There are two main methods of salting: cold and hot. The first method is considered simpler, but you need to store the finished preservation only in the cold (in the cellar or refrigerator). In this case, the washed cucumbers are simply laid out in jars along with the selected spices, poured with cold water with salt dissolved in it and closed with nylon lids. In order for the lids to tightly seal the container, they must be preheated over hot steam. After that, the workpieces just need to be removed to a cold room. With this method of salting, the cucumbers will be ready to eat in a month.
The hot method is more troublesome, but cucumbers with such salting turn out to be more spicy and crispy. As in the previous case, the cucumbers need to be laid out in jars, but there is no need to add spices, since they will enter the brine. To prepare it, you need to dissolve salt in hot water, and add several dill umbrellas, horseradish leaves and roots, oak, cherry or currant leaves to it. The brine should boil for several minutes, after which it is poured into the jars while still hot. It is not necessary to cover the containers with lids, since the main task is to start the natural fermentation processes. We put the cans in a large basin, into which the excess brine will drain, and leave for a week. At the end of this period, add the missing amount of brine to each jar, tightly seal the containers with nylon caps and put them in a cool room for storage.
You can prepare pickles not only in a jar, but also in a large enamel saucepan. To do this, you will need 1 kg of small cucumbers, 2 liters of water, 2 heaped tablespoons of salt, a few cloves of garlic (from 1 to 3, depending on your preference), herbs and dill umbrellas (Figure 1).
Salting cucumbers according to this recipe is carried out as follows:
If you think the cucumbers are already salted enough, you can always stop the fermentation process. To do this, it is enough to remove the oppression and the saucer, cover the container with a lid and put it in a cool place for storage.
Lightly salted cucumbers are considered a seasonal delicacy, because it does not take much time for vegetables to acquire their characteristic taste. If the cucumbers stay in the brine longer, they will become just salty, and this is a completely different dish.
But for lovers of lightly salted cucumbers, there is a special recipe that will allow you to feast on your favorite vegetable in winter. To prepare such a winter preparation, you will need the cucumbers themselves, water, bay leaves, garlic, mustard seeds and black pepper in a pot (Figure 2).
Cooking lightly salted cucumbers for the winter is carried out as follows:
After that, you just need to pour the cucumbers with hot marinade and immediately roll up the lid. Next, the jars need to be turned over so that all the ingredients are evenly mixed. But it is not recommended to turn the containers upside down: if they cool in their normal position, the cucumbers will turn out to be crisper.
There are many modern recipes for crispy pickled cucumbers for the winter, but we suggest you preserve according to an old recipe, which has not lost its relevance now.
To make the marinade, you will need 5 liters of water, 10 tablespoons of rock salt, 20 tablespoons of sugar, and 500 ml of nine percent vinegar. From the spices, you will need one horseradish and laurel leaf, 1 large clove of garlic, 5 black peppercorns and 1 dill umbrella. If desired, you can add a pod of hot pepper to the workpiece (Figure 3).
Note: This amount of marinade is sufficient for a fairly large amount of cucumbers, but if you are not canning too many vegetables, you can safely divide all the ingredients in the marinade in half.
Cooking crispy pickled cucumbers looks like this:
Next, the cans just need to be sealed with lids, turned upside down and left to cool at room temperature. These cucumbers are delicious and crispy. If you like more savory flavor, you can use more horseradish, garlic, or pepper.
Modern housewives prefer canning and pickling cucumbers, whereas in the past, this vegetable was predominantly salted in barrels or other large containers. This is due solely to the convenience of storing winter preparations in jars, but if you have a suitable container and place to store it, you can always pickle cucumbers, cabbage or other vegetables.
Preserving cucumbers for the winter includes several important stages that relate to the preparation of the vegetables themselves, as well as the jars in which they will be stored. The preparatory stages cannot be ignored, since the storage duration of the blanks will depend on this.
At first glance, it seems that absolutely any cucumber can be rolled into a jar. This is partly true, but the result of such canning may not be at all what you expected.
Note: For pickling and canning, only special varieties are suitable - with large pimples and black thorns. Small cucumbers with small white pimples are only suitable for fresh consumption.
If you have a very large harvest of salad cucumbers, you can still make a blank out of them, but it is important to consider that they are only suitable for canning in the form of salads with other vegetables. In addition to the variety, it is important to choose the right cucumber and the optimal ripeness. Overripe fruits of a yellowish or brown hue are not suitable for winter harvesting, since their skin is too hard and the flesh is loose. But you shouldn't throw away such cucumbers either: they can be peeled, grated and used as a basis for making brine.
Medium-sized cucumbers are considered suitable for canning, from 7 to 9 cm in length. It makes no sense to harvest smaller fruits for the winter, since they have not yet acquired a characteristic taste and aroma. The only exception can be pickles and gherkins, which can be preserved very small (Figure 4).
There are other nuances of preparation that will help make delicious winter preparations from cucumbers:
In addition, you need to prepare in advance the spices that will give the workpiece a special taste and aroma. In this sense, the modern market provides a wide scope for imagination, but many prefer to use old proven recipes, adding currant, cherry, horseradish or oak leaves, pieces of horseradish root, garlic, mint and mustard to cucumber jars.
Sterilization of cans is a mandatory step in preserving cucumbers. The fact is that it is not customary to sterilize these vegetables together with the brine, since in this case the cucumbers will simply cook and will not be juicy and crispy.
To properly prepare the jars, you must first rinse them. For this purpose, it is better to use regular baking soda instead of chemical dish detergents. It perfectly cleans dust and small dirt without leaving a chemical film on the glass surface. The jar is simply rubbed with soda, then rinsed with warm water and dried. Next, the containers need to be sterilized. To do this, you can use any convenient method: heat the jars over hot steam from a saucepan or kettle, or ignite in the microwave for 10-15 minutes (Figure 5).
If you are covering a lot of workpieces, you can use a regular oven as well. You need to put jars in it and only then turn on the oven. The temperature inside will rise gradually, so the glass will not burst from the difference in indicators. The duration of sterilization in the oven should be 20-25 minutes. During this time, you can boil lids in a separate saucepan, which also need sterilization.
You can preserve cucumbers in jars both hot and cold. To do this, you need salt, water, and your favorite spices. In the case of using vinegar, salting can only be carried out hot.
Note: It is better to use only ordinary rock salt without impurities. Only she gives the vegetables a bright taste. As a rule, a little more than 2 tablespoons of salt will be needed per liter of brine.
If you are using the hot method, dissolve the salt in water, add oak and currant leaves to it, as well as a few dill umbrellas and pieces of horseradish root. The brine should be brought to a boil and allowed to simmer for a few minutes. After that, the ready-made liquid should be poured over the cucumbers, laid out in jars and left unrolled for a week, leaving them in a dark place at room temperature. The remains of the brine must also be saved. A week later, when part of the brine has evaporated, the missing amount of liquid must be poured and the jars must be sealed tightly.
Cold-prepared cucumbers for the winter can only be stored in the refrigerator or cool cellar. For such a preparation, you need to put the washed and prepared cucumbers in jars and add your favorite spices to it. Salt is simply mixed with cold water and the resulting mixture is poured into jars of vegetables. Next, the containers must be sealed with plastic lids, preheated in hot water. Jars with blanks must be placed in a dark, cool place: vegetables will be ready for consumption in a month, but it is better to let them stand until winter.
The main purpose of preserving cucumbers for the winter is to keep the vegetables crisp while giving them a rich, spicy flavor and aroma.
To make such a preparation for the winter, you will need small cucumbers intended for canning, three cloves of garlic, one medium-sized carrot, several branches of dill and parsley umbrellas. Also prepare spices: 5 black peppercorns, two cloves, three allspice peas, a few currant and laurel leaves (Figure 6).
Separately, it is necessary to prepare the components of the marinade. Its amount will depend on the volume of the cucumbers. On average, a liter of water requires a heaped tablespoon of salt, two tablespoons of sugar and an incomplete teaspoon of vinegar essence (70%).
Crispy pickled cucumbers are prepared like this:
After that, the containers must be turned upside down so that all the vegetables are evenly saturated with the marinade. Banks should be wrapped in a blanket and left in this position for a day. During this time, the containers will cool down and they can be hidden in the pantry.
Not all housewives like to sterilize winter preparations, because this process requires a lot of time and effort, and during the sterilization process it becomes too hot in the house. Fortunately, cucumbers are among those vegetables that can be easily rolled up into jars without the tedious process of sterilization (Figure 7).
The recipe for canned cucumbers without sterilization is very simple. Its main secret is in the right marinade. For a liter of water, you will need 2 tablespoons of salt, a tablespoon of sugar, and 2 tablespoons of regular nine percent table vinegar.
Pickling cucumbers without sterilization is carried out as follows:
After that, the containers need to be rolled up with lids, turned upside down and wrapped. When the pieces have cooled down, they can be transferred to the pantry for storage. Despite the fact that this recipe does not include sterilization, such cucumbers are stored just fine.
Many housewives like to preserve not ordinary cucumbers, but spicy vegetables, which will be an excellent addition to dishes. You can use garlic or hot pepper to spice up the blanks, but there are also more modern recipes, the component of which is chili ketchup.
Cucumbers, canned with this ketchup, have a pronounced pungency and serve as an excellent winter snack. Despite the fact that vegetables are heat-treated, they remain crispy, and ketchup gives them an original taste and aroma.
Canning cucumbers with chili ketchup is easy. Having just tried such a preparation once, you will make such preparations annually, since the finished vegetables really have an unusual taste (Figure 8).
Note: It is better to preserve such cucumbers in liter jars. This way you can be sure that vegetables of any size will fit into the container. In addition, it is better to cut the cucumbers into 4 pieces. This will soak them much better with the hot sauce, but will remain crispy.
For one liter jar, you will need cucumbers themselves, one or two bay leaves, a few black peppercorns and garlic. The ingredients of the marinade are Chili ketchup (300 grams), water (1 liter), vinegar 9% (300 ml), salt (1.5 tablespoons) and sugar (200 grams).
First of all, you need to pour cold water over the cucumbers and leave for 30 minutes. After that, the vegetables need to be washed and the ends cut off. Fill sterilized jars with spices, putting 2 cloves of garlic, 5 peppercorns and bay leaf in each. After that, lay out the cucumbers. If you are canning small vegetables, you can lay them out whole. If the fruits are large enough, it is better to cut them lengthwise into four parts.
Next, we start preparing the marinade. All its ingredients must be mixed in one saucepan, mixed thoroughly and brought to a boil. It is important that the number of components listed above is calculated for 3 liter cans. If you canning more vegetables, then the amount of marinade should be higher. When the marinade is ready, it is poured into jars, the containers are covered with lids and set to sterilize. For a liter can, the sterilization time is 10 minutes, but if you use larger containers, the sterilization time should be longer.
After that, you just need to tightly seal the jars with lids, turn them upside down and let them cool at room temperature without wrapping them up.
The salting process is significantly different from canning or pickling. In the case of pickling, the preservation of a vegetable occurs due to the processes of natural fermentation and the release of lactic acid, while when pickling, the preservation of vegetables is ensured by hot water and acetic acid (Figure 9).
Cooking pickles for the winter is very simple. It is necessary to rinse the cucumbers in advance and fill them with cold water. In the meantime, we prepare and sterilize the jars. To do this, it is better to take three-liter containers: even after opening, cucumbers in jars can be stored in the refrigerator for a long time.
The procedure for salting cucumbers for the winter will be as follows:
You need to close pickles only with nylon lids, since tin cans do not allow enough air to pass through, and the fermentation processes that are actively taking place in cans can rip off such a lid.
A simple recipe for delicious crispy cucumbers for the winter is presented by the author of the video.