It is very pleasant to open a jar of crispy cucumbers on a cold winter evening and enjoy healthy and tasty vegetables that have retained not only vitamins, but also the smell of summer. You can harvest cucumbers for the winter in different ways: pickle in barrels and cans, pickle and preserve with various spices and herbs.
Pickled cucumbers in a barrel
It has long been customary to pickle cucumbers in barrels for the winter. The best barrels are oak, beech, aspen and linden. Preparation of containers consists in the most thorough washing and steaming with boiling water. This type of preparation is still popular today, because vegetables pickled in a barrel acquire a special unique taste. To pickle cucumbers in a barrel, you will need:
- 10 kg of cucumbers;
- 10 liters of water;
- 600 g of salt;
- 300 g of dill;
- 100 g of garlic;
- 60 g horseradish (leaves or roots);
- 30 g of cherry leaves;
- 100 g of black currant leaves;
- 60 g of parsley, tarragon and celery;
- 30 g of mint.
Go through the cucumbers, if possible, take vegetables of about the same size. Small-fruited, bright green vegetables with thin skin and dense flesh are best suited for salting. Then rinse the cucumbers with cold water. Put 1/3 of all the spices on the bottom of the barrel (wash all the spices thoroughly before laying), then put half a serving of cucumbers in an upright position, on top of which place another third of all spices. Next are the remaining cucumbers, and on top are the rest of the spices. Place cucumbers in dense rows.
Prepare the brine. To do this, boil water, add salt and boil for several minutes until it is completely dissolved. Pour the stacked cucumbers with cooked hot brine, cover with a clean cloth and a wooden circle. To prevent the cucumbers from floating, put the load and leave to pickle for 3-4 days at room temperature. Then take out the kegs with cucumbers in a cool place. The optimum storage temperature is from 0 to + 3 ° C.
Canned cucumbers
To prepare canned cucumbers, you need to take:
- 1.5 kg of cucumbers (for a three-liter jar);
- 4 large cloves of garlic;
- 2-3 umbrellas of dill;
- 5 liters of water;
- 2 tbsp. salt (top);
- 2 tbsp. granulated sugar;
- 3-5 peas of allspice;
- 1-2 tbsp. 9% vinegar.
First of all, wash and dry the cucumbers thoroughly. At the bottom of a clean, dry, sterilized three-liter jar, put 2 large cloves of garlic, a seed umbrella of dill. Then fill the jar with cucumbers. They should be laid tightly. Place a couple more dill umbrellas and 2 chopped garlic cloves on top.
Prepare the brine. To do this, pour 5 liters of water into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Then add salt, sugar and allspice peas. Boil the brine for 5 minutes, until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Pour the cooked hot brine over the cucumbers in the jar. Let sit for 10 minutes and drain back into the pot. Bring the brine to a boil again and pour over the cucumbers again. Add a tablespoon of vinegar to the jar, close the lids and place in a cool place.
Pour boiling brine three times (with an interval of 10 minutes) in jars intended for storage in room conditions and add 2 tablespoons of vinegar to them.
