Jars of pickled and pickled cucumbers are the most important thing that housewives pack during the canning season. Many people like to salt tomatoes, peppers and even cauliflower. But it’s impossible to imagine a cupboard with home-canned goods without cucumbers. Each housewife has her own proven recipe for canned cucumbers. But any, even the best recipe, can be ruined and as a result you will end up with soft, tasteless cucumbers in winter, and even worse - exploding jars. Let's look at the most common mistakes in salting and pickling cucumbers.
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Mistake #3: Tap water
Water is the basis of the taste of pickled cucumbers. Tested by personal experience. Salting according to the same recipe in spring water and in city water gives completely different results. Moreover, “urban” ones turn out much worse. It is best to take well or spring water, not only for brine, but also for soaking cucumbers. If this is not possible, take a high-quality bottled one.
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Preparing water for soaking
Regardless of when the vegetables were collected, they need to be soaked in clean cold water, it is better if it is ice-cold. If there are springs or wells in the nearby area, water from them will be ideal. You should not collect it in advance and for future use; it is better to prepare it immediately before use.
Important! When the fruits are soaked, the container with them should be placed in a cool place so that the sun's rays do not fall on them.
In apartments, the situation with water is much worse. Tap water can be passed through a filter, cooled well and infused with silver or copper. These metals perfectly clean the liquid from microbes, making it more tasty and healthy. This method, although effective, is quite complex and not always justified. It will be easier to buy bottled water and cool it in the refrigerator.
Winter preparations in the process of preparation
Mistake No. 7. Forget about horseradish
It makes cucumbers crispy - one, has antibacterial properties and keeps jars from exploding in storage - two. So it’s best to cover pickles with a horseradish leaf right in the jar.
Pickled vegetables: 12 signs that you shouldn’t buy a jar Read more
How to properly soak cucumbers
Soaking is carried out under certain conditions. Before placing in water for a long time, cucumbers should be washed thoroughly. It is necessary to wash off not only the soil, but also some bacteria from the peel. Whether the cucumbers can be soaked overnight before pickling or whether less time will be required depends on the quality of the vegetables themselves.
The following tips will help you get great results:
- It is better to use enamel dishes as containers, but if there are none, an ordinary plastic basin will do;
- The ends of each cucumber are cut off on both sides, so moisture will enter the fruit much faster;
- After soaking, the vegetables are rinsed well again under running water to prevent mold from appearing in the jar.
Mistake No. 10. Not signing
All homemade products have their own expiration date. Ideally, jars should be stored for no more than a year. But pickles can last for two years. In order not to put expired canned food on the table, all cans that you put for long-term storage must be signed. You can stick beautiful labels on them, you can simply write the date of pickling with a permanent felt-tip pen (it can then be easily wiped off with a swab with a drop of vodka).
The best recipe for pickled cucumbers can be found here >>
Soaking time before salting
An additional pressing issue for housewives is the soaking time. How long should you soak cucumbers before canning? Some recipes say that it will take at least 3 hours, while others require the process to last all night.
For your information! If the cucumbers are just picked from the garden, there is no need to soak them; the vegetables can be immediately put into jars.
Basic recommendations:
- If cucumbers are collected from your own garden and stored at room temperature for at least 3 days, then they should be soaked in cold water for 3 hours. This way, lost moisture will be restored. The smaller the vegetable, the less time it will take to soak;
- if the vegetables were purchased, then they should be soaked for at least 12 hours. It is better to leave all the fruits overnight and start canning in the morning;
- If the vegetables are larger than average in size and have been left at room temperature for some time, they need to be soaked for at least a day.
Preparing fruits for pickling in a barrel
If there is absolutely not enough free time, old cucumbers can be soaked for 8 hours, but this time should absolutely not be reduced. Less time will not allow the water balance of cucumbers to be restored.
For gherkins
Few people know what gherkins are. These cucumbers do not exceed 6 cm in length. If you smell the fruit, you can feel the characteristic spicy notes with a slight bitterness. When breaking, you feel a delicious crunch. There is no need to soak these cucumbers; they can be salted without preparation.
Note! This variety is not used for pickling; they are only pickled using vinegar. Soaking is not used for pickling; it is simply not necessary.
For medium sizes
All experienced housewives recommend soaking medium-sized cucumbers before pickling. The time the vegetable is kept in water will depend on how much has passed since the crop was harvested from the garden. On average, you will need to leave the cucumbers in water for 8 hours. If the fruits were purchased, then a shorter soaking time will not help.
How long should cucumbers be soaked before pickling, pickling or canning?
There are a huge variety of ways to pickle and pickle cucumbers! Just look at homemade recipe books. And how many magical secrets of obtaining delicious pickled cucumbers do housewives know: grandmothers, mothers... An important point is the preparation of raw materials and containers for pickling. This will largely determine whether the cucumbers turn out crispy or whether they will “explode”... Some recipes advise: before pickling and canning, the cucumbers need to be kept in cold water - soaked. But for how many hours? Here opinions differ.
Personal experience: Is it necessary to soak cucumbers before pickling?
Our family has its own wonderful recipe for pickling cucumbers. Grandmother Lucy invented it, and then shared it with another grandmother, Tanya (her cucumbers exploded all the time). The recipe is really excellent, time-tested. The cucumbers invariably turn out crispy, delicious, and everyone likes them! Recipe at the end of the article
