Zucchini is a healthy vegetable that is low in calories and high in valuable trace elements. It can be stored after harvest for up to 3 months, subject to certain conditions, but for the winter it is better to make tasty preparations.
Zucchini is a vegetable that is very popular in Russia. Several centuries ago, it was considered an ornamental plant and only then began to grow it as a vegetable crop. The calorie content of zucchini is only 24 Kcal per 100 g, but the product contains a large amount of potassium, magnesium, manganese, and easily digestible fiber. There are many ways to cook zucchini, and some recipes are also suitable for making blanks for the winter.
Marinated zucchini
Marinated zucchini is one of the simplest, yet incredibly delicious homemade preparations. The vegetable will acquire a sharpness and a very rich taste. To prepare snacks for the winter you will need:
- 1.5 kg of young zucchini (better zucchini);
- 2 bunches of fresh dill without umbrellas;
- 3 bay leaves;
- 10-15 black peppercorns;
- 4 cloves of garlic;
- 3-6 carnation buds;
- 5 tbsp. l sugar;
- 1.5 liters of water;
- 2-3 st. l rock salt;
- 7 tablespoons vinegar 9%.
This amount of ingredients should be enough for 3-4 liter jars. Glass containers are pre-sterilized. With the classical method of processing, the cans are kept over steam for about 5 minutes. It is convenient to use a special nozzle in the form of a lid on a saucepan with a hole for the neck of a can. You can fry the container in the oven for 10 minutes. But after laying it out on the grate, the temperature must be increased gradually so that the glass does not burst. After processing, the temperature container must not be placed on a cold surface. You need to use wooden coasters.
Put fresh dill in sterile jars. It should be rinsed beforehand. If the branches are too long, you can cut them in half or simply roll them up. Put a little clove, black pepper, and 1 bay leaf in each jar.
For pickling, it is better to use young zucchini without large seeds inside and with tender pulp. Peel the vegetable, cut off the sides and cut into circles. The optimum thickness of the circles is 1, 5-2 cm. Place the circles on top of each other. Some can be cut and stacked on the sides so that the jars are not half empty. Peel the garlic and place in jars without cutting. Pour boiling water over full jars to the top, cover with lids and drain after 10 minutes. You need to drain the water completely. It is convenient to do this if you use special nylon caps with drain holes.
Pour 1.5 liters of water into a saucepan, add salt and sugar. After boiling, add vinegar and turn off the stove immediately. Vinegar tends to evaporate and for this reason it is added to the brine last. You can replace 9% table vinegar with essence. For marinating zucchini according to this recipe, you will need 1 tbsp. l essences 70%. The brine must be tasted in order to adjust its richness. Salt and sugar can be added a little less or more.
Immediately after removing from the stove, pour the brine into the jars of zucchini, topping it up to the top. Roll up the jars. You can use screw caps or for seaming, but first they must be sterilized in boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Turn the finished jars gently with the lid down and wrap them in a warm blanket. After the contents have cooled, remove the workpieces in a dark and cool place.
Squash Cavier
Zucchini caviar is an excellent appetizer that can even be served on a festive table. To prepare it you need:
- 1 kg of zucchini (preferably young);
- 300 g onions;
- 300 g of large and fleshy tomatoes;
- 300 g carrots;
- head of garlic;
- some salt and sugar (to taste);
- half a glass of good quality vegetable oil;
- a quarter of a glass of vinegar 9%.
For the production of caviar, it is better to use young zucchini, but this is not necessary. For more mature vegetables, the seeds should be removed. You can do this with a spoon, after peeling the fruit from the skin and cutting them lengthwise into 2 parts. Cut the peeled marrow into cubes.
In the lower part of each tomato, make cross-shaped cuts and scald the vegetables with boiling water, after which you can easily peel them off. Cut the tomatoes into cubes. Peel and peel the onions and carrots and cut them as well.
In vegetable oil in a frying pan, fry alternately onions (only 1-2 minutes), carrots (3 minutes), then tomatoes (5 minutes), then combine all vegetables, add zucchini, crush garlic into the mixture, passing it through a press. Cook vegetables over low heat for about 15 minutes. All ingredients should be soft.
Add a little rock salt and sugar to the pan. Iodized salt cannot be used for workpieces. Puree the vegetables with an immersion blender and then simmer the mixture over low heat for about 15 minutes. If the caviar turns out to be liquid, the cooking time can be increased. Gradually, the excess liquid will evaporate.
At the end of cooking, taste the caviar. If it turns out to be too bland, you can add some salt. Add vinegar, boil the mass with it for another 1 minute and pour it into sterile jars, roll up with sterile lids, then turn the lids down and wrap them up, and after about 10-12 hours, put them in a cold place.
Blank "Mother-in-law's language"
The "Mother-in-law's language" blank is very popular with housewives. It got its unusual and loud name due to the piquant spicy taste and characteristic type of cutting zucchini in the form of tongues. To prepare it you need:
- 3 kg of zucchini with dense pulp;
- 4-6 sweet bell peppers;
- 300 g of large and fleshy tomatoes;
- 2 hot peppers;
- 3 heads of garlic;
- 4-5 tsp rock salt (not iodized and coarsely ground);
- 6-7 tsp sugar;
- 250 ml of good quality vegetable oil;
- 100 ml vinegar 9%.
For this recipe, you can choose large zucchini with dense pulp, but they need to be peeled by removing the peel and side parts, pull out the pulp with seeds, and then cut into long slices so that they resemble tongues in shape. Do not make them too thin, as they may fall apart during the cooking process.
Peel large tomatoes. To do this, make cross-shaped cuts at the bottom and scald with boiling water. The peel comes off very easily. Peel Bulgarian and hot peppers, remove seeds, cut into several pieces. Grind with a blender or mince all vegetables and peeled garlic cloves. It is better to give preference to a meat grinder, since in this case the mass is more homogeneous.
In a saucepan, carefully put the squash slices, pour the vegetable mixture, bring to a boil, pour sugar, salt into the bowl, pour out the sunflower oil. The oil must be of good quality so that the workpiece does not have a foreign taste. Cook the mixture for 30 minutes. Zucchini should be checked periodically. They shouldn't fall apart. If the slices are very soft, you can turn off the stove a little earlier. Add vinegar a minute before tender.
Pour the resulting spicy stew into sterile jars. Screw or roll up with sterile caps. Turn the jars with the lids down and wrap them for 12 hours, after which you can put them in a cool dark place.
Korean zucchini
Korean zucchini can be a festive table decoration. The salad is spicy and very original. To prepare it you need:
- 1 kg of zucchini with dense pulp;
- 1-3 sweet bell peppers;
- 0.5 kg of carrots;
- 2 onions;
- 8 cloves of garlic;
- 1 tbsp rock salt (not iodized and coarsely ground);
- 3 tbsp sugar;
- half a glass of good quality vegetable oil;
- half a glass of vinegar 9%;
- 1, 5 tablespoons of cooking for carrots in Korean;
- a bunch of greens (preferably parsley).
Peel the dense zucchini from the pulp and peel, peel the carrots. Grate vegetables on a special grater for Korean carrots. If there is no such device, you can use a regular grater, but in this case, the salad will not look like a Korean delicacy. Cut the onion into very thin rings, having previously peeled off the husk.
Remove the bottoms and seed boxes from the peppers and cut them into very thin slices. You can try grating them. Peel the garlic and pass through a press.
Mix all vegetables in a saucepan, add refined vegetable oil, vinegar, salt and sugar. Finely chop the greens and also put in a bowl and mix everything well again, leave to marinate for 30 minutes.
Sterilize the jars, spread the pickled appetizer on them and put in a wide saucepan, after pouring water into it and putting a towel on the bottom. It is better to use jars with a volume of 500 or 700 g. The water should cover them by 2/3. Cook a spicy salad in a water bath for 20 minutes, then close the jars with sterile lids and screw or roll up.
Sweet zucchini
Zucchini with plums
You can make a very interesting sweet preparation from zucchini. This will require:
- 2 small zucchini with firm pulp;
- 15-20 plums (it is better to use cherry plum);
- some spices (2 cloves, 2 mint leaves, a pea of black pepper);
- 2 tablespoons of sugar sand;
- zest of a large orange;
- half a large lemon;
- 2 liters of water.
For this recipe, both young zucchini and sufficiently mature ones are suitable, but mature ones must not only be peeled from the skin beforehand, but also remove the soft part with seeds. Cut the peeled zucchini into rings. The optimal thickness of the circles is 1.5-2 cm.
Put the zucchini in sterilized liter jars, put washed plums in each, add spices and mint, orange zest, thin slices of lemon. Pour water into a saucepan, add granulated sugar and bring to a boil.
Put the filled jars in a water bath, pour hot syrup and boil for 10 minutes, after which you can cover them with sterile lids and screw or roll up. Turn the jars with the lids down, wrap them up and after 12 hours place them in a cool place for permanent storage. You can serve such a preparation as a dessert or as an original addition to some meat dishes.
"Pineapples" from zucchini
Zucchini have a mild flavor. If you make a preparation with pineapple juice, their taste will be difficult to distinguish from real pineapples. To prepare the blank you will need:
- 1 kg of zucchini;
- 1 liter pineapple juice;
- 1-1.5 cups granulated sugar;
- half a lemon.
After cleaning, cut the zucchini into rings or large cubes, put in sterile jars. Boil pineapple juice in a saucepan, add sugar, squeeze out lemon juice. The lemon can also be cut into circles and placed directly in the jar without squeezing out the juice. This will make the taste even more intense.
Pour zucchini with boiling pineapple syrup and wrap, and then put in a cold place. The dessert turns out to be unusually tasty and tender.
