Pickled cucumbers are an excellent snack and a worthy decoration for any table.
At the same time, crispy and juicy cucumbers will perfectly complement any hot dish, as a necessary ingredient they will add piquancy to many salads and simply satisfy the desire for food lovers to try this aromatic and tasty vegetable.
In addition, pickled cucumbers stimulate metabolism and digestive processes in the human body, and also have a beneficial effect on the skin and cleanse it.
And how nice it is to open a jar of homemade pickled cucumbers and canned ones to your taste.
Naturally, you can buy pickled cucumbers in the store, but the productivity of such preservation, put on stream, only worsens their taste.
Therefore, lovers of such a snack, who do not know how to preserve such a tasty and healthy vegetable, often wonder how to pickle cucumbers at home?
General principles for pickling cucumbers at home
• For pickling, it is better to choose freshly picked, dense and small-sized cucumbers.
• Thorough washing of cucumbers from dirt and dust will prevent possible damage and swelling of future preservation.
• In order for the cucumbers to be elastic, crispy and fragrant, currant, cherry, oak, horseradish and even grape leaves are placed in jars with cucumbers, as well as dill (stars), allspice and black peas, mustard seeds.
• For added piquancy, garlic and peeled horseradish are added to the marinade. But it is important not to overdo it with garlic, as it can add excessive softness to the cucumbers.
• For spiciness, you can add a pod of red pepper to pickled cucumbers.
• Before pickling, cucumbers should be soaked in cool water for several hours and do not forget to change the water in them.
In general, you can pickle cucumbers in several ways:
1. Using hot pour;
2. Fill with cold marinade;
3. Using sterilization method.
Recipes and features for preparing pickled cucumbers at home
The process of pickling cucumbers
Preserving greens in jars for the winter is done in several stages:
- Sorting. For convenience, fruits of the same size are placed in a jar, so you can prepare several containers: miniature gherkins are placed in some, larger vegetables in others.
- Washing vegetables. Freshly picked greens are thoroughly washed and cleared of thorns. For convenience, it is recommended to use a soft sponge.
- Soak. Keeping the cucumbers in cold water for at least 7 hours allows them to maintain their juiciness and crispness. After soaking, they are washed in water again.
- Preparation of brine. While the fruits are soaking, you can slowly prepare the marinade, correctly calculating the amount of salt and sugar for the required amount of water. This indicator may vary depending on the canning recipe and the temperature of the brine (hot or cold). But usually 1 tbsp is added to 1 liter of water. a spoonful of salt and half as much sugar.
- Soaking in brine. This stage is present in any pickling recipe. But in some, the cucumbers are first soaked in salt water and then placed in a bowl; in others, the soaking occurs after the jar has been sealed. How long cucumbers are pickled in jars also depends on the cooking method.
Note! To make salting faster, some housewives cut off the ends of the gherkins. This manipulation in no way affects the taste of the finished product.
A simple recipe for crispy, pickled cucumbers for the winter in jars without sterilization
Another recipe for delicious pickled greens. A little easier than the first one, and also without sterilization. We often cook according to this recipe when we come home from the garden tired in the evening and don’t want to bother too much with cucumbers.
Ingredients:
- cucumbers
- Salt – 50g. (for 1.5 liters of marinade)
- Sugar – 40g (per 1.5 liters of marinade)
- Vinegar 9% - 50ml. (for 1.5 liters of marinade)
- Umbrellas of dill, garlic, horseradish leaves, currants,
- cherries, parsley, peppercorns, bay leaf
We start by preparing the cucumbers. Wash well and trim the ends.
If the cucumbers are just picked from the bush, we do not soak them. If it has been sitting for a day or two, then soak it for a couple of hours.
At the bottom of clean liter jars we place two cherry and currant leaves, a piece of horseradish leaf, an umbrella of dill, a couple of allspice peas, 4-5 black peppercorns, a couple of cloves of garlic, parsley and a bay leaf.
Then we place the cucumbers tightly and pour boiling water from the kettle over them.
Cover with lids and let stand for about 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, drain the water from the jars into the pan. The marinade will be prepared from it.
Add salt and sugar to the pan.
Calculate the exact amount of salt, sugar and vinegar based on how much water you drained from the jars. For 1.5 liters of water, the proportions are indicated in the recipe. If you have more or less water, calculate according to the recipe.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 minute. Remove the foam.
And fill the cucumbers again. Cover with lids and let stand for another 20 minutes.
For the third time, drain the water and bring to a boil. Pour vinegar into the pan and immediately pour the marinade into jars.
Roll up the lids. Turn the jars over to make sure nothing is leaking.
When the jars have cooled, put them away for storage.
Bon appetit!
With vodka
Pickles with vodka do not require lengthy preparation and sterilization of vegetables. Place washed and dried horseradish and currant leaves, an umbrella of dill, a sprig of celery, garlic and a few peppercorns into sterilized jars.
Cucumbers with vodka - a very tasty recipe
Cucumbers soaked in cold water are laid out on the spices. 3 tbsp are poured into the container. spoons of salt and 50 g of vodka, everything is filled to the very top with purified water, closed with a nylon lid and put away in a dark, cool place.
Note! After 3-4 days, the greens are ready to eat. The snack is stored in a cool place.
Pickled cucumbers for the winter - cold salting
Our parents also made this recipe. They took water from a spring, and not from every one. There is a village near the city where I live, and my parents said that water for pickling cucumbers is only suitable from two wells. And I remember the story myself: we were vacationing on Lake Argazi, and we ran out of drinking water. We rode a motorcycle to the nearest village, collected water from an ordinary well and came back.
Imagine our surprise - the water turned out to be completely unsuitable for drinking, either fresh or boiled, soapy with a nasty taste of alkali. I couldn’t even imagine that there could be such nasty stuff in the wells. Therefore, I advise you, do not take water for pickling anywhere, talk to the locals, they will know where a good source is.
Ingredients:
- cucumbers
- Salt – 2 tbsp. (per 1 liter of water)
- Currant and cherry leaves, dill umbrellas, garlic
The cold method is different in that natural fermentation occurs in it. Therefore, at the beginning the brine becomes cloudy, but after fermentation is complete, the cloudiness settles. However, just shake the jar and the brine will become cloudy again. This is normal for the cold salting method and you shouldn’t be afraid.
There are several options for cold pickling cucumbers. I will tell you about one of them, the simplest and most time-tested.
We wash the jars with clean water and soda and rinse well. We do not sterilize, this is not necessary.
Wash the cucumbers and soak them in cold water for a couple of hours. During this time, the cucumbers will be saturated with water, and the voids, if there were any, will close. Then rinse with running water and cut off the ends.
We wash all the spices under running water - leaves, dill umbrellas.
At the bottom of a 3-liter jar we place 2-3 chopped garlic cloves, a couple of dill umbrellas, a cherry and currant leaf.
Do not add too much garlic, otherwise the cucumbers may be soft. Salt also affects softness - iodized and fine salt cannot be used. The most suitable is coarse rock salt.
Then fill the jars tightly with cucumbers. It is advisable that they be the same size so that they are evenly salted.
On the very top of the jar we place another umbrella of dill and a leaf of cherry and currant.
Prepare the brine. Add 2 tbsp to a liter of cold water. spoons of salt and stir until dissolved. Fill the jars with brine to the very top and close with nylon lids.
At this point, the salting process is over, and the fermentation process is just beginning. We put the jars in the cellar and put them on plates. After a while they will begin to ferment: the cucumbers will foam a little and become cloudy, and some of the brine will definitely run away. We periodically look at them and add brine. And so on for about a month.
In a month, fermentation will end, all the dregs will settle, and the jars will become clear. Cucumbers can be eaten. One drawback to the recipe is to store it only in a cool place, in a cellar or in the refrigerator.
Bon appetit!
Pickled cucumbers with spices
You will need half a leaf and stems of horseradish, a few cloves of garlic, a couple of currant and cherry leaves, an umbrella of dill, 1-2 black peppercorns and the same number of clove buds. If desired, you can add a pod of red pepper, then the gherkins will turn out with a piquant spiciness.
Preservation with spices with a piquant taste
Half of the spices are laid out at the bottom of a sterilized jar, onto which the cucumbers soaked in cold water are then laid out. The rest of the spices are poured on top and everything is filled with boiling water: first a quarter of the jar, then half and up to the very top. The jar is covered with a lid. After 4-5 minutes. The slightly cooled water is drained and the procedure is repeated a couple more times.
Sterilized greens are poured with boiling brine consisting of 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 tablespoon. spoons of sugar per 1 liter of water, to which a bay leaf is added. The brine can also be prepared from a ready-made mixture for pickling cucumbers. At the very end, 2 tbsp is added directly to the jar. spoons of table vinegar 9%, after which it is rolled up with a lid.
Crispy pickled cucumbers for the winter with ketchup
Let's prepare a recipe for pickled cucumbers with Chili ketchup. The recipe is simple and very tasty. I'm sure it's worth trying at least once.
Ingredients:
- Cucumbers – 1.5 kg.
- Water – 1l.
- Salt – 2 tbsp.
- Sugar – 200g.
- Vinegar 9% – 180ml.
- Chili ketchup – 300g.
- Bay leaf – 1 pc. to the jar
- Black peppercorns – 10 pcs.
- Dill umbrella – 1 pc.
- Cherry leaf – 2 pcs.
- Horseradish leaf – 0.5 pcs.
- Currant leaf – 2 pcs.
Place all the spices on the bottom of clean liter jars: dill, bay leaf, horseradish leaves, currants and cherries.
We wash the cucumbers, soak them in water for two hours, then rinse them and trim the ends. Place tightly in jars.
Prepare the marinade. Pour water into a saucepan, bring to a boil, add salt, sugar, vinegar and ketchup. When the marinade boils again, turn off the heat and immediately fill the jars.
Then we sterilize the jars. Place a towel on the bottom of a large saucepan, pour in water and place on the fire to heat up. When the water temperature is equal to the temperature of the jars, place the jars in a pan on a towel, bring to a boil and sterilize for 15 minutes.
After the sterilization time has expired, take out the jars and roll up the lids. Leave to cool and store.
Bon appetit!
