Among home canning vegetables, the first places are occupied by tomatoes and cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, peppers and cabbage. Pumpkin - salted or pickled - you will find on the table among snacks much less often. But in vain! After all, it is very tasty, especially if it is properly preserved, and also useful. So let's look at a couple of recipes - what if they come in handy?
General recommendations
By and large, pickled pumpkin is prepared from almost all varieties of this gourd. Although experienced chefs recommend squash. They are easy to distinguish in appearance from other varieties of pumpkins. Squash shape resemble plates with wavy edges. Their color ranges from white and pastel green to deep yellow. Especially successful is a pickled pumpkin from summer varieties: “early white”, “white”, “yellow flat”, “speckled green”. But the usual, autumn, orange late-ripening fruits will turn out no worse if you try. If we talk about squash, young specimens suitable for preservation are primarily 5-day ripeness. Their peel is not stiff, and the seeds are underdeveloped. But the pulp is already quite dense. With a size of up to 7 cm in diameter, the whole marinated pumpkin is preserved. Larger vegetables are sliced or diced. In any case, the fruits should be blanched before laying in the jars - chopped for half a minute, whole heads for 1 minute. Then immediately blanks cool under cold water. Packed in jars, pickled pumpkin is seasoned with about the same fill as it is prepared for zucchini or cucumbers.
Pumpkin marinade
Usually squash and other pumpkin varieties are preserved in jars - half-liter, liter, etc. Pouring is done, as a rule, in the ratio of 5% salt per 1 liter of liquid. To make pickled pumpkin tasty , recipes recommend using spices: horseradish and blackcurrant leaves, garlic, allspice and hot pepper. In piquant marinades, cloves, cinnamon are laid in jars. In addition to salt, vinegar is added to the fill. The classic pickled pumpkin, the recipes of which you can find in cookbooks of past decades, is canned with 6% table vinegar. A jar with a capacity of 0.5 liters requires 40 g, per liter - 80, and so on. The last stage of procurement is sterilization. And here, too, have their own rules. You should boil half-liter cans for 5 minutes, liter - 8, for 3 liters - 20 minutes.
Pumpkin in a Spicy Marinade
One of the most interesting options for preserving a pumpkin pickled for the winter looks like this. You will need one and a half kg of vegetable, 300 g of apple cider vinegar, 250 g of water and 250 g of sugar, cinnamon sticks, cut into small pieces. And also peas of black pepper, 15 cloves of garlic, a piece of ginger root, sliced (1-2 put in each jar). How is such a pickled pumpkin prepared for the winter? Boil the marinade first. Heat water, pour sugar, salt, pepper, pour vinegar and, stirring, bring to a boil, strain. Then put the pumpkin, cut into large cubes, into the pan and cook until it becomes translucent and soft (about 40 minutes on medium heat). Then lay the workpiece in sterile jars, add brine, slices of cinnamon sticks, chopped garlic and slices of ginger. Boil for 20 minutes and roll.
Hot pumpkin
“Estonian pickled pumpkin” - doesn't it sound seductive! Do not be surprised that we remembered this Baltic country. If we rarely conserve this vegetable, then among Estonians it is almost a national dish. A sort of “Baltic pineapple” - this is how seriously they take melon culture, which we write about. And so what, and pickled pumpkin in Estonian can be found in the winter in the pantry or cellar of each mistress! It is attractive with a wonderful sweet and sour taste, harmonious with various meat dishes, suitable as a filling for pies, and generally an appetizer!
Ingredients: one and a half kg of already peeled pumpkin, 750 g of water, 12 cloves of cloves, 15 or more peas of black allspice and as much hot pepper , 1.5-2 cups of sugar, grated nutmeg, optionally a little cinnamon and ginger, 1 pod of red hot pepper. Vinegar is required 200 g. Preparing pickled pumpkin in Estonian as follows. Cut the fruits into 4-5 cm cubes. Fold them in a saucepan. Make marinade from the listed ingredients. For him, cut the hot pepper into small pieces. Pour the prepared marinade over the pumpkin, cover and place for a day in a cool place. The next day, boil the vegetable in it for about 20-25 minutes, put the workpiece in sterile jars and boil for 10 minutes, then roll up. Experimenting with the amount of vinegar and sugar, you can improve the recipe for how to pickle pumpkin, so that it meets exactly your taste!
Korean Pumpkin
Lovers of exotic snacks just right will have Korean-style pickled pumpkin. The recipe for its preparation resembles the famous Korean carrots, and the taste is somewhat close. Therefore, if you know how to pickle carrots, then you can handle a pumpkin for sure! The only “but”: it should be harvested in small portions, stored in the refrigerator for no longer than 5 days, and even better - eat before this time and make fresh.
So: peel a young ripe pumpkin (squash) and grate the straws with the same grater that is intended for Korean carrots. Chop the head of medium-sized garlic (one and a half) in small pieces or squeeze through the garlic. Add it to the grated pumpkin. Pour 2 or even 3 tablespoons of sugar, as much or slightly less than apple cider vinegar, a little salt and soy sauce. Korean-style pumpkin, like carrots, requires a lot of spices. It is best to buy a bag for carrots and pour some or all of it into the blank. Separately, the recipe advises to mix hot red pepper (ground). But this is for lovers of very savory snacks. Plus, add a pinch of turmeric for color brightness. And one more thing: Koreans practice the mandatory addition of sodium glutamate to dishes, but here we leave it up to you. About 50-100 g of vegetable oil, heat well so that a smoke appears. And pour them a pumpkin. Mix thoroughly, cover and let it brew for half a day. Then enjoy the bright, unforgettable aroma and taste of the dish!
Squash with horseradish
To taste, such squash resemble spicy zucchini. Their smell excites the appetite, and the pumpkin eats with great pleasure. Recipe components: about 650 g squash, a few branches of dill and tarragon, half a horseradish leaf or 5-6 pieces of cherry leaves, several bay leaves are consumed per liter jar. And 2-3 cloves of garlic. The marinade is this: for every 1 liter of water goes 1.5-2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt, 150 g of vinegar (6%), half a teaspoon of ground hot pepper. Place greens, minced garlic on the bottom of the sterilized jars. Peel the pumpkins, cut into slices, and tightly fill the cans in height. Boil the marinade and pour hot workpieces. Sterilize canned food for 15 minutes, then roll up.
Bulgarian Pumpkin
And finally, here is such an original recipe that Bulgarian cuisine offers us . What is it unusual for: marinating pumpkin should not be cut into cubes, slices or sticks, but with asterisks using a special cut. Well, or already how it goes. The main thing is that the shredder is not large. Put the chopped vegetable in half-liter or liter jars in layers: pumpkin - greens (celery and parsley). Add a few peas of allspice, a little caraway seeds and coriander to each bowl. Pour boiling marinade, which is cooked as follows: for each liter of water, 5 g of salt is required; vinegar is poured into the hot brine (1: 2 ratio: 1 part acid, 2 water). Sterilize jars 0.5 to 15 minutes, liter 20, immediately roll up.