Soaked apples will enrich the diet when there are no fresh fruits left in the kitchen, will help restore the intestinal microflora, fill the lack of vitamin C. For a long time, fruits were harvested in oak and beech barrels with the addition of various spices. In a modern apartment, you can soak apples for the winter in jars, pots, and other containers and get a refreshing delicacy with an original sourness.
Soaking apples: 4 helpful tips
- If you want to soak apples at home and get excellent results, first of all, carefully select the raw materials. Late sour varieties are recommended for harvesting, Antonovka, Renet Simirenko, Slavyanka, Anis, Aport and some others are especially good. Make sure all fruits are medium-sized, ripe, firm, free from damage and not a single wormhole. Do not collect padanes! Apples plucked from the branches should lie down a little before urinating.
- The purity of raw materials and containers is the key to successful procurement! Rinse the fruit well, especially if the apple tree has been treated with chemicals. In a city apartment, it is easier to wet apples for the winter in glassware, enameled, pre-washed with soda. Sterilize the jars, scald pots and buckets with boiling water when fermenting fruits under pressure.
- The fruits will ferment normally at temperatures from 15 ° C to 22 ° C, and even better - up to 18 ° C. If the room is colder, lactic acid bacteria will develop poorly; if it is warmer, apples will taste bitter.
- Before pouring the brine into the container, put mustard powder at the rate of a tablespoon per 3 liters, then you will not be afraid that the soaked apples will become moldy.
Apples soaked under pressure
Try to soak apples under pressure in a suitable container: an enamel saucepan (tank, bucket). Rinse the dishes well and pour over with boiling water. Make the bottom litter from a small amount of pure currant, raspberry or cherry leaves. You can use washed and scalded rye or wheat straw from a fresh crop that smells good and is mildew-free.
Lay out clean fruits in dense layers, repeat a small lining of leaves between them. Upstairs - a couple of sprigs of mint, then cover the apples with leaves or straw.
Prepare a brine for soaked apples at the rate of 200 grams of granulated sugar and 80 g of salt per 10 kg of fruit. In a liter of boiling water, completely dissolve salt and sugar, then dilute with cooled boiled water to five liters. You can wet apples for the winter with honey, taking it instead of sugar at the rate of 250-300 g per 10 kg of raw materials.
Fill the fruits completely with cooled brine, put oppression and keep the container cool for 40 days. Do not forget that pickled apples should always be in liquid, so if necessary add brine without removing the load. If foam or mold appears, immediately remove them, regularly rinse the oppression in hot water.
Apples soaked in jars
It is most convenient to soak apples at home in sterile glass jars, which will be easy to clean in the cold. Put currant or cherry leaves or small twigs on the bottom of the prepared container, and lay the layers of apples with them.
Pour with brine: for 10 kg of apples - 5 liters of liquid with a tablespoon of salt and 200 g of granulated sugar dissolved in it. You can prepare the filling, as when wetting the fruit under pressure. If the brine remains, keep it in the refrigerator - you will add it during the fermentation process.
Keep jars of apples at room temperature, covered with clean gauze, remove the foam and add pouring if necessary. After a week, close the container with nylon lids and place in the cold. You can try this refreshing delicacy in a month and a half.
Now you know how to soak apples for the winter in jars and under pressure, and if the result is pleasing, do not be afraid to experiment! When soaking, use malt or rye flour, ferment apples and cabbage together. You can add small amounts of cinnamon, basil, thyme, lavender, and other flavorings. However, don't overdo it - these fruits are very susceptible to odors. It is important not to spoil the traditional Russian appetizer, but to give it a special piquancy.
