How to preserve cucumbers for the winter

How to preserve cucumbers for the winter, the vast majority of hostesses know. Each family has a great-grandmother's recipe, which is inherited. And each next generation brings something new from itself. But sometimes it happens that the recipe is here, on a piece of paper or in a notebook, but there are no secrets of skill or step-by-step actions. And great-grandmothers too. How to find out what needs to be done correctly? Everything is simple. You just need to carefully read and follow the recommendations.

What cucumbers can I preserve

You can cram any fruit into the jar. That's just the result can be disastrous. Sour, smelly cucumbers or ripped lids - this is not at all what was intended.

Many people like Zelentsy with small pimples. They are so neat, fluffy and look beautiful. In winter, you open a jar, bite off this and ... at least grimace. This is a salad grade. Fruits suitable for preservation are coarse-grained with black spikes.

Another sign: the presence of a color transition from dark green to white or light green. If the cucumber is completely uniform in color, boldly pop it fresh or make salads. The exception is huge cucumbers, the so-called Chinese, but more on that later.

Naturally, the ripeness of the vegetable is also important. Overripe cucumbers, yellow or brown in color with hard seeds, are never canned. They have a hard peel and loose flesh. But they are not thrown away. Having removed the skin and rubbed on a coarse grater, you can use the resulting mass for the base of the brine. Cucumbers in their own juice are original and fragrant.

Too small fruits are also of little use. They have not yet gained the juiciness and aroma inherent in this variety. The exception is pickles and gherkins. They need to be preserved literally microscopic.

The standard size of greenery is 7-9 cm in length. It is convenient to eat, put in cylinders and looks beautiful on the table.

Preliminary preparation

Someone will say - why cook them? I washed it in a jar too! No doubt, you can. If you are going to cook anyhow, then there’s nothing to break your head. And if you preserve cucumbers for your taste and your beloved ones, then be kind enough to work a little. Do not worry, seven pots will not work. It only takes time.

First, the cucumbers are washed gently. Do not use a brush. A soft cloth or sponge is ideal. Then they are put in a large bowl and filled with cold water. Purchased for 7-8 hours, you can at night. From your personal plot for 2-3 hours. Why do this? Then, so that the greens absorbed as much moisture as possible and during the conservation process there were no voids in the pulp. Then they will remain tight and crispy in the jar for a long time.

Why is there such a time difference? And when you buy cucumbers, do you know how long they have been plucked? No. Or on their site - bushes are in the water, as in rice plantations? Also no. And the water from them evaporates very quickly. Therefore, do not spoil the workpiece, soak.

If the room is very hot, then at least once we change the water to cold.

Tip. In the water that you will fill the cucumbers with your fingers, rub several branches of green dill. A lot is not necessary. For 10 liters of liquid, 5 pieces are enough. Let them soak in a magical aroma.

Proper utensils

Traditionally, cucumbers canned in three-liter jars or oak barrels. That was accepted by our grandmothers. But then in families there were many children. I got such a container from the cellar, she all left at dinner.Now there is no such need. A family of three will eat such a bucket for a long time. And an open and standing jar is far from it.

Capacity of 1 and 1.5 liters is the most convenient container. And about the oak barrels ... You will not find them now in the afternoon with fire. Why exactly oak? Wood tannin allows cucumbers to remain crispy for a long time. Well, what prevents you from throwing a pinch of oak bark into a pickle? Moreover, it is sold in every pharmacy, already shredded.

Tip. Before laying, pour boiling water over the bark, just in case.

Sterilization for canned cucumbers

There is no need to sterilize vegetables with brine. From 2 minutes of boiling, there’s no benefit, and from 10 minutes the greens will be boiled. Why the hell are we? It will be enough to process the container itself and the lids. Any familiar method is suitable: oven, microwave, boiling kettle. Do as you are used to or look for information on the network, since now it is full of information.

Tip. If you are sure of the good quality of your water, then stop torturing yourself and your home clubs with steam and temperature, as in a bathhouse. Hot water and the most common baking soda. With a stiff brush, rub the jars well, rinse thoroughly and use.

Spice. Which ones are needed?

The classic recipe suggests such a set of necessary spices (calculation for a 3l jar):

• green leaves of black currant, 5 pcs.
• dry dill umbrellas with seeds, 3 pcs.
• black pepper peas, 5 pcs.
• allspice peas, 4 pcs.
• peeled garlic cloves, 3 pcs.
• rock salt, 2 tbsp. l
• granulated sugar, 3 tbsp. l
• vinegar essence 70%, 1 tbsp. l

This is a standard set, it must be by all means. And then let your imagination not be tired and limited only by personal taste preferences. Horseradish roots or burdocks, cherry and raspberry leaves, basil, tarragon, hot red pepper, mustard seeds, nettle sprigs ... The list of everything that the hostess adds when preserving cucumbers is very long. Try it, experiment. Perhaps your personal set of spices will go down in cookbooks as a reference!

Tip. Do not chop the cloves of garlic. Its juice gives the fill an unpleasant cloudy appearance. Put them in a container intact.

Pickle or pickle

How to preserve cucumbers for the winter? It depends on what vegetables are intended for. If you put it on a table among assorted ones, fill in pies or add to salad, then choose pickling in a hot way. If the cucumbers are intended for pickle, hodgepodge or vinaigrette, then give preference to pickling with the cold method.

How do these options differ? The set of spices is the same, the size of the cans, too. The difference in preservative and harvesting technology.

Pickling
The preservation of the fruit is ensured by acetic acid and boiling water. The procedure is described below. The calculation is taken on a standard set of spices for a three-liter bottle. With an increase or decrease in volume, recount. The technology is the same for cans of all sizes:

1. Prepare greens, dishes and spices.
2. Seasonings are laid at the bottom of the can. Salt, vinegar and sugar are not yet taken.
3. Set vegetables strictly with ponytails down. Without fanaticism, do not shove with all the dope!
4. Boil 2 liters of pure water, pour cucumbers in a jar, cover with a lid.
5. Leave for 35-40 minutes. During this time, add 2 times the remaining water.
6. The liquid is poured into a saucepan, the right amount of “white poisons” is added, boiled.
7. The cucumbers splash the essence and pour brine.
8. Roll up, turn upside down, leave to cool.

Many housewives after seaming still sterilize the containers, then wrap the finished cans with sweatshirts and blankets. Why such difficulties? Is there too little work? Then in the winter they wonder why the greens are shriveled and soft. So they themselves "cooked"!

If something is done incorrectly, then the bank will open in any case, even if you wrap it up like a princess, at least not. So why these dances?

Tip.If there are no dill umbrellas on hand, then you can simply pour dry seeds into a jar. Taste and aroma will remain at the level.

Pickling
Preservation occurs due to natural fermentation and the presence of lactic acid. The set of spices is identical to the first recipe, except for the essence and sugar. They are not needed here. Procedure:

1. Zelentsy and spices are placed in a container.
2. In cold water, salt is dissolved in a proportion of 1 liter of liquid 3 tbsp. l without a slide.
3. Pour vegetables and close with plastic lids.
4. Leave at room temperature for 3 days.
5. Under the container, be sure to substitute a deep tray or bowl. A wandering pickle briskly “runs away”.
6. After 3 days, add brine to the top.
7. Then the cans are gently wiped with a dry cloth and put away for storage in the cellar.

After fermentation, some add crushed aspirin tablets to the containers. It is not necessary. A sufficient amount of lactic acid has been generated in the preform for good preservation.

Tip. Such cucumbers do not clog tin lids, only kapron. The fermentation process continues for some time, so why do we need a flight of caps and a brine fountain in the cellar?

Chinese giants

Today, cucumbers longer than 50 cm will not surprise anyone. The so-called Chinese vegetables have already firmly occupied their niche in our personal plots. It is generally accepted that they are all salad type, and external signs clearly indicate this.

However, they behave perfectly in the marinade! Of course, it’s problematic to push them all into a jar, but even cut into barrels, they are simply gorgeous! The marinade is always transparent, the taste can not be distinguished from lightly salted, even if the bottle stood before spring. Hard, crispy, amazing!

Nobody knows how breeders achieved such qualities, but many thanks to them for such a gift. Try to preserve one jar of these giants. There are suspicions that you will be disappointed ... that you made so few blanks.

Delicious canned cucumbers. Subtleties

1. To prevent the appearance of a mold film on the pouring surface, it is recommended to pour under the lid of the chip from the horseradish root. Occupation is very cruel and causing a flood of tears. You can do much easier. Either the roots are frozen and only then they are cut, or instead of roots, leaves are laid. Everything is easy and without sobbing.
2. If you got a piece, ate a few cucumbers, and the jar did not end, then sprinkle the brine with a thin layer of mustard powder. The taste will hardly change, but a nasty white film will not appear.
3. Extra, marine or iodized salt is strictly not recommended for conservation. Covers will always tear. Good old cookery - tested by many generations.
4. Bay leaf - a very strong natural antiseptic, and even fragrant. Therefore, it is also added to spices. Only very little, otherwise the cucumbers will be bitter.
5. By the way, there is a misconception that fruits with a bitter aftertaste are not suitable for harvesting. Nonsense! In the process of conservation, all the bitterness disappears and is absolutely not felt in the pulp or brine.
6. No normal recipe will give accurate information about the weight of cucumbers. Always consider the volume of the marinade in relation to the volume of the jar. And how many Zelentsy will fit in there depends on their size. You can sprinkle three handfuls of pickles or cram 2 Chinese giants with barrels. How to determine by weight? No way. Overlay how much will go and that's it.

How to preserve cucumbers for the winter? Feel free, not afraid of new experiments and old familiar tastes. Homework will certainly appreciate your ability to make blanks, and girlfriends will ask for the exact recipe. Good pickle to you!

Video: a recipe for crispy pickled cucumbers for the winter