Have you ever thought about how to cook pickled cucumbers yourself? Despite the fact that today you can buy any product in its finished form, nothing can compare with home products. In order to make such a blank for the winter yourself, you will need a supply of clean cans and pickles for cucumbers.
Where to start cooking?
First of all, you need to find banks with sufficient capacity. Leave free space between the top layer of the marinade and the top of the jar.
Cucumber marinade: recipe and ingredients
- 3 tablespoons of mustard seeds.
- 14 heads of fresh dill stem.
- 4 ½ tablespoons of dill seeds.
- 4 kg of medium-sized cucumbers.
- 7 liters of water.
- 1¼ cup coarse salt.
- 1 ½ liter of vinegar (5 percent).
- 1/4 cup sugar in 2 liters of water.
- 2 tablespoons of dried spices of your choice.
Equipment:
- Large pan with a lid.
- Canning jars and lids.
- Tongs to get jars of boiling water.
- Funnel for filling cans.
Note: if you are harvesting fewer vegetables, you will need to prepare cucumber marinade per 1 liter of water, calculating the proportions of the other ingredients according to the recipe.
Harvesting Instructions
1. Wash the cucumbers and cut off the tips on one side, but leave about 5 mm from the stalks. Dissolve ¾ cup of salt in 5 liters of water. Pour the cucumbers with the mixture and let them stand for 12 hours, then drain. Mix vinegar, ½ cup salt, sugar and 2 liters of water. Add mixed dry spices.
2. Heat the prepared cucumber marinade to a boil. Fill hot, pre-sterilized jars with cucumbers. Add 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds and 1½ heads of fresh dill to each jar and pour enough boiling marinade to cover the cucumbers completely. You should have about one and a half centimeters of free space between the upper liquid level and the upper part of the can. Remove all air bubbles from the cans by dipping into each clean non-metallic spoon or spatula. Wipe each jar with a clean paper towel and cover with hot, thoroughly sterilized lids.
3. Then you need to sterilize the cucumbers in a jar, placing them in a large pan with boiling water. Heat containers in a water bath for 10-15 minutes, depending on their volume. The pan used for sterilization should be deep enough so that the jars are in boiling water almost completely during processing, protruding only 2-2.5 cm outwards. Then pull out the prepared home canned food using tongs, taking care not to touch the lids. Cans should be allowed to cool at room temperature for 24 hours when laid out on shelves or towels.
4. After 24 hours, check the attachment of the covers by clicking on each in the middle. If the lid bends, it is not properly fixed and such cucumbers cannot be eaten. In this case, you can try to process the jar in boiling water and close it again. Store pickled cucumbers in a cool, dry place. Such pickles are safe to eat as long as the lid remains intact. After opening the jars, it will be necessary to store the half-eaten portions in the refrigerator. You can start eating cucumbers after at least 24 hours after they have been rolled. However, it is better to wait longer so that they are saturated with seasonings as much as possible. It is best to record when you open each jar, this will help determine after what time the pickle for cucumbers tastes the most.
Quick recipe option
It was a recipe that allows you to harvest cucumbers for a long time. However, many prefer a quick recipe that allows you to enjoy salted vegetables in the shortest possible time. For example, many people like sandwiches with dill and light-salted cucumbers. How to cook them?
First of all, you need to cut the cucumbers into thin pieces. If they will be used for sandwiches, it is better to cut into thin round ovals at a slight angle, rather than into longitudinal slices. In addition, the pickle for lightly salted cucumbers should be prepared using ordinary table or sea salt. Flavored, iodized and fluorinated are not suitable for this recipe, as they can add a foreign taste. This method will appeal to those who want to quickly pickle cucumbers. The marinade does not require boiling and the use of special equipment.
The following recipe is the simplest and requires only a short stay of vegetables in the refrigerator. As a result, you get aromatic and crispy cucumbers that retain all the beneficial substances.
Marinade for lightly salted cucumbers. What do you need?
- 1 liter jar with a lid.
- A few fresh cucumbers (as much as you can put in a jar).
- 5 sprigs of fresh dill (or 1 tablespoon dry).
- 2-4 cloves of minced garlic (or garlic powder).
- 3 tablespoons of white vinegar.
- ½-1 tablespoon of table or sea salt to taste.
- distilled or filtered water in the amount necessary to fill the jar.
- 20 peas of black pepper (optional).
- ¼ teaspoon of red pepper (optional).
Cooking method
Cut the cucumbers into rings, ovals or longitudinal slices, put them in a jar with all the ingredients except water, mix well. After everything is folded and mixed, fill the contents of the jar to the very top with distilled or filtered water and close it with a screw cap very tightly. Shake the jar for the best distribution of spices and leave at room temperature for twelve hours. After this time, shake it well again so that the pickle for cucumbers is better absorbed into the vegetables, then leave it upside down for another 12 hours. After that, the cucumbers are completely ready for consumption, while they remain crispy and fragrant. Keep them in the refrigerator, the product can be eaten for a month without any deterioration in quality.
Additional helpful tips
The above recipe contains a list of ingredients with which you will prepare a 1 liter cucumber marinade. You can make any quantity based on the specified proportions of the products.
In addition, the cucumber marinade (recipe above) allows you to use it with any vegetables, so you are not limited to cucumbers alone. Almost all vegetable crops are combined with garlic and dill: tomatoes, sweet peppers and much more. If you wish, you can add any other spices to your taste by adjusting their number yourself.
How to keep pickled cucumbers longer?
If you packed vegetables in a jar very tightly and the amount of marinade turned out to be small as they were consumed, you should prepare a new portion for adding to the jar. Otherwise, salted cucumbers will not be stored for more than a few days. In addition, you can add just a little filtered or distilled water with the addition of a small amount of vinegar.
If you have stored pickled cucumbers for too long and the salty taste has become too intense, you can soak them in a small amount of filtered water. As a rule, they are placed in a container of water overnight in a refrigerator.