Soaking cucumbers before canning is optional. However, thanks to it, you can significantly improve the taste of the finished product, increase its usefulness.
Why soak cucumbers before pickling
To answer the question of whether or not you need to soak cucumbers before pickling, you need to know what this procedure is for at all. Firstly, soaking replenishes the moisture of the fruit lost during transportation or long-term maturation, secondly, it relieves cucumbers from bitterness, and thirdly, it removes nitrates. Therefore, if the vegetables have at least one of the above problems, then it is better not to risk it and carry out the soaking procedure according to all the rules.
How do you know if the fruit needs soaking? There is nothing difficult in this: if vegetables grown on their own plot without the use of industrial fertilizers are taken for pickling, while the cucumbers are not bitter, and they were collected no later than three hours before conservation, then you can do without soaking. If purchased fruits are used for canning, then they must be soaked in water for at least a day. The fact is that cucumbers that have lain after being removed from the bushes for a day or more lose a lot of moisture, become soft, and only soaking can restore their initial elasticity. And under what conditions the fruits were grown, what they were fed with is unknown.
How to soak cucumbers in water before pickling
How to carry out the procedure depends on what the soaking is for. If it is necessary to remove nitrates, then the cucumbers should be thoroughly washed, cut off the "tails" of the fruit on both sides and pour the vegetables with cool water. The total duration of soaking is up to six hours, and the water must be changed every hour or two.
If soaking is done in order to replenish moisture in the fruits, then the procedure should be carried out as follows: it is necessary to rinse the cucumbers, pour them over with ice water and leave them in a cool place for a day. It is not necessary to change the water in this case.
