So let's get started. We do everything per 3 liter jar:

1. Approximately 2 kilograms of medium and small cucumbers, preferably just taken from the garden, lightly rinse and soak for 4-6 hours.

2. Banks should be washed with soda or laundry soap, and you can sterilize in the oven, 10 minutes will be enough. When cool, take out and place on a clean towel. Let them wait in the wings.

3. Rinse the cucumbers thoroughly after soaking, cut off the tips and let them dry.
Photo: alexmak, PressFoto.ru

4. Brine for a 3-liter jar will require 1.5 liters. I recommend doing 2, I'll explain why later. For 2 liters of water, put 4 (standard) tablespoons of rock (!) Salt with a top. Boil for 3-5 minutes and cool.

5. At the bottom of the jar put: 1 umbrella (!) dill; garlic, (if summer - then 4-5 cloves, after removing the core; winter is larger, 3 is enough). Black currant leaf (!) - 3-4 leaves, no more, as the leaf gives fermentation and “soapiness” to the brine. One sprig of tarragon (tarragon, as it is also called). A small part of a horseradish leaf and 2-3 cherry leaves from young branches.

6. Put cucumbers vertically, press as tightly as possible to each other. The second row will be slightly tilted. You should add a little garlic, another dill umbrella and a sprig of tarragon. Cover the last, third layer with an umbrella of dill and a whole leaf of horseradish and pour the contents with cooled (!) brine. (Pour hot brine only when cooked.)
Photo: lenikovaleva, PressFoto.ru

Add a few cucumbers, spices to the rest of the brine and leave to ferment in another container. (Cucumbers will absorb some of the brine during the fermentation process, and it will not be enough to fill the jar, and the cucumbers will sag, you will have to add for the desired density.)

7. Cover the jar with a lid. An important moment begins -. The optimal period for hot weather is two days. No more!

8. After 2 days, drain the brine, add the remaining brine and boil again. Cucumbers, without removing from the jar, rinse with cold boiled water to remove white coating. Fill the remaining space of the jar with cucumbers from the reserve. Then add 15-20 black peppercorns and pour hot (!) Pickle over the “shoulders” of the jar. Then roll up. After that, turn the jar upside down and leave to cool.
Photo: YayMicro/friday, PressFoto.ru

9. Metal lids should be boiled for at least 15 minutes. If you use plastic lids, wash them with soap and water and soak in boiling water for 15 seconds.

10. You need to store such cucumbers in the refrigerator or in another cool place (cellar, caisson).

I assure you that cucumbers prepared in this way will become your pride. And everyone will, having tried them, ask: “Give me the recipe!”

As soon as the first cucumbers appear in the country, the housewives think about pickling them. Crispy pickled cucumbers will delight all family members, add zest to any salad or pickle. Today you can find a large number of recipes, each with its own benefits. We offer the simplest recipe, how to pickle cucumbers for the winter in jars. Save your time and pickle cucumbers.

How to pickle cucumbers so that they are crispy

Ingredients for a 3 liter jar:

• smooth cucumbers no more than 15 cm long
• rock salt 3 tbsp
• black pepper - 5 peas
• 1 head of minced garlic
• Bay leaf
• currant leaves, horseradish and tarragon at the bottom of the jar

Pickling cucumbers immediately in jars is much easier than pickling. As a result, you will get cucumbers no worse than barrel ones. It is important not only to carry out salting correctly, but also to choose suitable variety cucumbers. For example, varieties "Mother-in-law" or "Zyatok" are most often salted, since cucumbers turn out to be crispy, and they have no voids inside.

Water for salting must be purified, spring water is also suitable. Cucumbers are pre-soaked for a couple of hours so that they collect the required amount of water. If this is not done, the cucumbers will take water from the jar and you will have much less brine. Freshly picked fruits can not be soaked if the beds are well watered.

Put all the spices in a jar, and then lay out the cucumbers beautifully. In order to determine the amount of water, pour water into a jar of cucumbers, then drain it and add salt. Dissolve the salt well and pour the solution into another container without sediment. Pour cold brine over your cucumbers. After that, take a nylon lid, boil it with water and close all the jars.

Now put the jars of cucumbers in the refrigerator or lower them into the cellar, where they will ferment. Keep in mind that the liquid will leak out a little during fermentation, so it’s better to substitute something under the jars. Don't worry about the covers, they won't fall off. Cucumbers will be ready for use only after 2 months.

pickles

The brine in the jar may become cloudy, but this is not a cause for concern. Cucumbers will still be tasty and crispy. They can be stored in this form for up to two years, so with such a simple recipe you can preserve the entire crop.

Now you know the secret of pickling cucumbers in a three-liter jar for the winter. and surprise guests and family with delicious homemade dishes. simple recipes – good way save time without losing the taste of the dishes.

Pickles in Russia have been an independent snack for a long time. They are an indispensable component of traditional holiday salads, for example, Olivier or herring under a fur coat.

In the article we will reveal all the secrets of pickling crispy, homemade cucumbers. And we will tell you a few proven recipes so that every housewife can surprise and please her family.

Secrets of delicious crunchy cucumbers

It is important to initially choose the right cucumbers for pickling. They should be of medium size, can be smaller, preferably the same size. This will help pack them tightly into the jar without leaving too much empty space.

The color of the cucumber should not be very dark, and the skin is dense. Also not suitable are overripe cucumbers, with yellow skin and developed seeds inside. One of the important points in choosing the right cucumbers is their taste. The most important thing is that the peel is not bitter, it is important to check this by tasting it before salting.

Another important point is water for conservation. Ideally, it should be from a spring or well, but you can also use an ordinary purified one. The main thing is not chlorinated. If it so happens that it is not possible to use non-chlorinated water, then at least tap water should be cleaned. Let it settle beforehand, or make it thawed.

Preparation for work

Usually, in addition to the cucumbers themselves, various herbs and spices are put in a jar, for example:

• horseradish leaves and root;
• stems and flowers of dill;
• currant leaves;
• bay leaves, oak leaves;
• black and allspice;
• garlic, carrots.

Everyone chooses a set of herbs and spices to their liking.

If you want the cucumbers to be crunchy, then before pickling, they should be placed in a container of water for long time but not more than 12 hours. Half a day is enough for the cucumbers to be saturated with moisture.

While the cucumbers are soaking, there is just time to prepare the jars. Select the jars in which you plan to close the cucumbers. They should be washed thoroughly detergent or regular soda. Rinse well and then sterilize. Lids also require sterilization, usually they are boiled for about five minutes in water.

Recipes and step-by-step instructions for them

General plan of action. At the beginning, in sterilized jars, you need to lay a layer of herbs and spices on the bottom. Cucumbers are stacked on top in a vertical position, tightly tamping. After the jar is filled, it is poured with brine.

You can prepare the brine as follows: you need to add salt to the water and dissolve. Given 70 grams of salt for every liter of water. You can also add spices to the brine. Boil it. After that, a jar of cucumbers is poured and left to ferment for several days.

cold pickled cucumber recipe

For a 3 liter jar, the following ingredients are needed:

• 2 kilograms of cucumbers;
• stems and inflorescences of dill - 2 sprigs;
• oak, bay and cherry leaves, 3 pieces each;
• 3 garlic cloves;
• black pepper, allspice - 8 pieces;
• salt - 100 grams.

Basically, everyone puts spices and their quantity to their liking, but if you are cooking for the first time, you can take it clearly according to the instructions.

Cooking method

The salting technology is quite simple:

1. Herbs and spices are placed at the bottom of the jar, after which the already soaked cucumbers are rammed.
2. Cold brine is prepared as follows. Dissolve salt in water. A 3 liter jar usually contains 1.5 liters of brine.
3. Fill the jar with brine, leave to ferment at room temperature. Banks are better to cover with gauze.
4. Then all this is removed in a cold place with a temperature of no more than +1 degree for 10 days.
5. At the end of the term, try the cucumbers, if everything turned out well and you like their taste, then you can start rolling.
6. If there is less brine, then you need to add it.
7. After that, the cucumbers are rolled up with sterile lids.

Such preservation is stored in a cold place, cellar or refrigerator, the main thing is that the temperature should not exceed +5 degrees.

Pickled crispy cucumbers are an integral attribute of any feast. There are a lot of recipes for pickling green vegetables for the winter. Especially popular are: spicy, with gooseberries, mustard seeds, etc. Unfortunately, with all the variety of ways to get pickles with a unique taste, aroma and, most importantly, crunch, not every housewife will succeed.

How to roll cucumbers to be crispy? With seeming simplicity, this procedure has many subtleties and "pitfalls" that many neglect. The crunch and elasticity of the popular Russian snack largely depends on the correct selection of vegetables. Consider the tricks of preparing this dish in more detail.

How to choose cucumbers for seaming?

The fruit should be freshly picked, firm and juicy. Sluggish and soft varieties after processing they will not give the expected crunch. Some varieties will not tolerate long-term storage.

Agronomists divide all varieties suitable for growing into the following types:

• salad;
• salting;
• universal.

It is not difficult to guess that the former are intended exclusively for fresh consumption. Their thick skin does not allow the marinade to pass through well. In the case of universal ones, it is clear that they are suitable for any purpose - both pickling and adding to salads. And only the pickling variety will give the long-awaited crunch and unsurpassed taste. The best sunset view is "Nezhinsky".

Characteristic differences

The fruits can be easily distinguished from each other by appearance. Salad has an elongated shape, light spikes (for universal and pickling they are dark). In cucumbers, ideal for pickling, the skin is torn off without any effort - just light pressure on the nail is enough. The best candidates for canning are even, oblong fruits without deformations, damage, or uncharacteristic spots.

Talking about how to make cucumbers crispy for the winter, you need to sort them by size:

• Pickles are the smallest, up to 3-5 centimeters.
• Gherkins - medium, reach 9 centimeters in length.
• Zelentsy - large (9-14 centimeters).

Each group has its own ways to roll up crispy and sweet cucumbers. In the classic version, vegetables ranging in size from 7 to 12 centimeters are considered ideal for consumption in the winter.

Starting salting, you need to decide on the container for storing the product. If you plan to pickle without spinning, you will have to stock up on glass jars, 3 liters in volume, enameled buckets of 10 liters.

Modern housewives for pickling cucumbers use jars of different sizes from half a liter to 3 liters.

Should you use plastic utensils? Barrels and containers made of universal material will come to the rescue in the absence of standard-type containers at hand. Plastic barrels will make a worthy alternative to oak. They are not so expensive and do not spoil the taste of the main product.

Crispy Cucumber Recipe

The described recipe for how to roll up crispy cucumbers for the winter cannot be called ordinary. It wasn't copied from a cookbook or borrowed from a fancy restaurant chef's master class. Its author is a simple village grandmother who grows cucumbers in her own garden and responsibly rolls them for a large family.

Preparation of ingredients

The most delicious cucumbers - grown with your own hands on personal plot. Market ones will do. In order to decompose vegetables in jars as compactly as possible, their bulk should have the average size and only 25-30% small ones to fill the top of the container.

Green fruits are soaked in a basin for 30-45 minutes and rinsed several times under running water.

How to roll cucumbers to be crispy? Pick the right greens! According to the recipe you will need (based on 1 jar):

1. Cherry leaves - 5 pieces.
2. Umbrella dill - 2 pieces.
3. Garlic - 4 large cloves.
4. Horseradish leaf - 1 piece.
5. Horseradish root - 2-3 shavings.

The main ingredient responsible for that crunch is oak leaves. It is unlikely that you will be able to buy them on the market, so you will have to look for them yourself. It is this green component that will give cucumbers a unique crunch and will not let them go limp during long-term storage.

Brine preparation

The taste of the finished product largely depends on the quality of the brine. Put a bunch of cherry branches, dill stalks and horseradish leaves into a saucepan with cold water. When the water boils, add 2 tablespoons of salt and half as much sugar (per liter of water). At the end - 25 grams of ground red pepper. The brine should boil for a quarter of an hour. Set a saucepan next to it. clean water, boil.

Filling jars

To roll crispy cucumbers into a 3-liter jar, it is not necessary to sterilize it. enough to process hot water pay special attention to the neck. When the containers dry up, a bouquet of spices, which was discussed above, is laid on the bottom. Next, the jar is tightly stuffed with cucumbers. To fit more vegetables, large fruits are located vertically at the bottom, and smaller ones closer to the neck.

Now a jar of cucumbers must be poured with boiling water for 10 minutes. This is a kind of sterilization of both the container and the products inside it. Guaranteed to get rid of germs.

Drain the water, add bitter peppercorns - 5-8 pieces, 2 aspirin tablets, table vinegar - 40 grams per jar. Such natural preservatives will help vegetables to be stored for a long time without losing their taste characteristics.

The next step in seaming crispy cucumbers for the winter is pouring the brine. Twist the jars, leave in a dark place, wait until it cools completely. First turn upside down and cover with a warm blanket. Store the finished snack in a place protected from sunlight. Cellar, pantry, etc. are perfect.

Cold salting with vodka

The original way of pickling cucumbers to achieve a delicious crunch involves the use of fresh strong fruits. small size.

Additional Ingredients:

1. Brine - per liter of pure water 2 tablespoons of table salt.
2. Cherry leaves - 2 pieces per liter.
3. Umbrella dill - 1 piece per liter.
4. Celery stalk - 1 piece per liter.
5. Thyme greens, tarragon - a couple of sprigs per liter.
6. Vodka (40%) - 2 tablespoons per liter.

How to pickle cucumbers so that they are crispy? First of all, take care of the quality of the water. If it goes through several levels of purification, boiling is not required. Dissolve salt.

Wash vegetables thoroughly and set aside. paper towel to glass excess liquid. At the bottom of the jars, previously washed and dried, put the spices. Cucumbers are laid out on them, tightly pressed to each other. For the convenience of performing work, it is recommended to hold the jar at an angle of 45 degrees.

Pour in the brine. The liquid should completely cover the green fruits. Add the required amount of vodka.

Banks can be closed with two types of lids - ordinary polyethylene or twist-off. Send for a month in a dark cool place.

Pickled cucumbers with subsequent canning for the winter

A simple recipe will allow you to enjoy the spicy taste of vegetables even before the onset of the first cold weather. The best masters culinary arts answer the question of how to properly roll up cucumbers so that they crunch.

The first thing to do is to choose the right ingredients. Cucumbers should be approximately the same size - 6-8 centimeters with underdeveloped seeds (so the taste of the finished snack will be more tender).

A bouquet of spices will be made up of leaves of cherry, currant, oak, horseradish - per jar (3 liters), 4-5 each. Here - peppercorns, a few cloves of garlic and a pod of hot pepper.

To prepare the filling, 40 grams of salt must be dissolved in a liter of water.

cold pickling method

How to roll cucumbers to be crispy? Banks should be thoroughly washed, if desired, carry out the sterilization procedure. All leaves, pods and cloves should not show signs of developing decay, disease or pests. Separated twigs, peeled cloves and seedless pods are washed in several waters and temporarily deposited.

Cucumbers are placed in a dense layer in the prepared container, followed by a layer of spices, then cucumbers again, spices again, and so on until the neck.

When rolling crispy cucumbers into a 3-liter jar, it is necessary to properly prepare the brine. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of salt in a liter of cold water. Pour cucumbers with the resulting liquid, cover with gauze folded in several layers, leave to start fermentation processes for three days at a temperature of 20-22 degrees.

After the specified time, try one vegetable. If a rich salty taste is felt, the fermentation process should be interrupted. The brine is drained, the cucumbers are washed, the herbs and spices are thrown away.

It is important not to miss this moment. The taste should be tender, the fruits should not be completely salted. Only in this case, in winter, they will have an inimitable taste, optimal strength and everyone's favorite crunch.

To roll up crispy cucumbers for the winter, as for the first time, you will have to prepare a set of fresh leaves and spices. Return the cucumbers to the jars washed clean, boil the collected brine, pour into jars, close with sterile lids, wrap with a towel. Withstand 10-15 minutes hot pickle drain. To prevent spices and leaves from falling out, a special rubber cap with small holes can be put on the throat. If there is none on the farm, gauze can be used.

Bring the brine to a boil again, send to the banks. Now you can start rolling. It is advisable to cool the preservation as quickly as possible and store in a dark, well-ventilated place.

hot way

The technique described below will allow you to roll up delicious crispy cucumbers, as in the previous recipe, with only minor technological adjustments.

To prepare the brine, edible salt is not diluted in cold water, but in boiling water. Hot liquid is immediately poured into jars filled with green fruits and spices. The containers are closed and remain warm for 2-3 days. When the waiting period has come to an end, the brine is drained, and then the procedure is similar to the cold method.

Having opened a jar of such an appetizer in winter, you will be pleasantly surprised by the taste - lightly salted cucumbers with delicate taste and fresh crunch will not leave anyone indifferent!

Pickling cucumbers without jars and barrels

Progress chemical industry from year to year supplies the kitchen with useful devices. One of the latest was the package insert. Inexpensive high capacity device performance characteristics is not inferior to plastic and glass, and in some respects significantly surpasses them.

How to roll up cucumbers so that they are crispy in a package insert? To begin with, prepare a brine - 700 grams of salt per 10 liters of water. There are also several buds of cloves, grains allspice, garlic and horseradish. Boil the mixture for 10-15 minutes. Cool to a temperature of 38-40 degrees. Strain into a clean container through cheesecloth.

Thoroughly washed cucumbers pour the resulting brine. Keep at room temperature for a week, covered with a regular lid. After that, bring together the edges of the liner bag, remove excess air, and tightly tie the free edge with twine or a thin rope.

Vegetables will be ready to eat after a month. They must be stored in a cool place.

In the preparation of brine, only rock salt should be used. Otherwise, the jar may explode or the cucumbers will acquire an unpleasant sour taste.

Everything that is planned to be placed in a jar must be thoroughly washed. This will save the brine from unforeseen fermentation and prevent spoilage of the main product.

Glass jars for sterilization must be sent to a cold oven. So they warm up evenly, do not burst and do not explode.

Adding a few mustard seeds to the brine will help prevent damage to glass containers.

Oak bark will help to add crunch and not spoil the natural taste - a small piece is enough to maintain the primary elasticity of the vegetable.

In order for green fruits to be soaked with brine faster, it is recommended to cut off their tails and make several small punctures with a fork.

Be sure to sterilize the lids. For metal, a fifteen-minute boil in clean water, kapron thoroughly wash and scald on all sides.

Cucumbers have been known to mankind for 6 thousand years.
The homeland of cucumbers is the tropical and subtropical regions of India, from which they migrated to the gardens of neighboring countries.

Cucumbers were grown in ancient Egypt, Persia, in the Mediterranean countries, Ancient China. They conquered Asia and Europe, moved to the North and South America and now grow in more than 100 countries around the world. Cucumbers came to Europe in the 8th century AD. from Greece. First they appeared in France, later - in Spain and Germany.

Simultaneously with penetration into Western Europe cucumbers were also brought to the territory of the Kiev and Novgorod principalities. The appearance of cucumbers in Russian lands is quite natural - trade relations with Byzantium were very strong, and Russian merchants and soldiers were frequent guests in Constantinople.

The word "cucumber" comes from the Greek augoros (unripe), which indirectly proves the appearance of the cucumber in Russia from Greece, and the name "unripe" indicates the preferred way to consume this plant.

The first written mention of the cultivation and culinary processing (salting) of cucumbers in Russia dates back to the 16th century. In 1507, the army of Vasily III, exhausted by the war, lingered in the Novgorod forests, where the soldiers began to live and grow cucumbers. The warriors who melted swords into plowshares prepared cucumbers, taking into account the rich local experience. Novgorod has always been famous for its connections with distant countries. Merchants sailed along the Dnieper to Constantinople, along the Volga to the Caspian Sea, traded with eastern merchants, who knew cucumbers and the best ways to use them much earlier. Cucumber seeds and original recipes came from Asia primarily to the Novgorod lands. Rare European travelers mentioned in their travel notes about the abundant cultivation of cucumbers in the north of Russia, noted their greater productivity in comparison with European countries.

By the 18th century, the cultivation of cucumbers in Russia had acquired a serious scale, there were greenhouses in almost every yard, the sown areas increased, advanced agricultural technologies for those times were used on cucumber beds: opaque covering materials, manure heating of the soil. In the 19th century, cucumbers were even grown in glazed greenhouses with heating. In the 20th century, large industrial complexes were built for the mass cultivation of cucumbers in protected ground (greenhouses and greenhouses), and now this is the most popular vegetable crop in Russia.

FOR HEALTH

Inconspicuous-looking cucumbers have a rather interesting set useful properties . Although cucumbers are 97% water, the remaining 3% are rich in useful elements, some of which are active assistants in metabolism and the absorption of other products. Fresh cucumbers increase the acidity of gastric juice, which speeds up digestion, increases appetite. Please note that these digestive properties are contraindicated for ulcers and those suffering from gastritis.

Fresh cucumber contains a lot of salts that improve the functioning of the heart and kidneys, neutralize many acidic compounds that disrupt metabolic processes.

Cucumbers, like radish, are called orderlies of the human body. The complex of salts found in cucumbers helps slow down the aging process, prevents the deposition of stones in the kidneys and liver. Fiber, which is rich in cucumbers, but regulates the digestive tract and removes excess cholesterol. Cucumbers contain tartronic acid, which inhibits the formation of fat from carbohydrates. This property makes them an ideal product for those seeking to lose weight.

There is more vitamin B1 in cucumbers than beets, more B2 than in radishes, and more iodine than in any vegetables. Young cucumbers contain more ascorbic acid than ripe ones.

In addition to vitamins, cucumbers contain many trace elements: potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, nickel, sodium, iron, copper, silicon, manganese, zinc, titanium, zirconium, silver and cobalt.

GOOD TO KNOW

With all the variety of varieties of cucumbers, there are three types: salad, salting And gherkins.

salad cucumbers stored in the refrigerator for only a few weeks after collection, quickly deteriorate and lose color when salted. Such cucumbers are best consumed fresh: prepare salads, use as part of other dishes.

For salting suitable varieties with pimples, 12-15 cm long, with thick skin. Such cucumbers do not change their dark green color, remain strong enough, specifically “crunchy”.

Recently, universal varieties have appeared that are equally suitable for salting and salads.

Gherkins harvested when they reach a length of 3-8 cm. This type of cucumber is ideal for pickling. In fact, gherkins are unripe fruits of narrow-fruited varieties of cucumbers, taken immediately after flowering.

For all cucumbers, the same processing rules:

Firstly, before cutting into a salad or other actions, it is customary for cucumbers to cut off the tips. This is not accidental - it is in the tips that nitrate salts accumulate, which, at high concentrations, can lead to poisoning. Cut off the tips just before you are going to cook the cucumbers, otherwise they will quickly wither and lose their appearance.

Secondly, for canning and before pickling, cucumbers are soaked in cold water. These rules do not apply to small gherkins. Cucumbers go very well with any vegetables, herbs, garlic, onions, poultry, fish, meat, seafood, vegetable oil and rice.

For salads, cucumbers with a thin, not bitter skin are usually taken. You can flavor with any spices, herbs, spicy vegetables or vegetable oils. A tasty and original appetizer is obtained from a cucumber cut lengthwise, smeared with a very thin layer of adjika. The refreshing cucumber taste is supported by the thick aroma and salty taste of adjika. This combination is wonderfully refreshing in the heat and can serve as an alternative snack.

An old Russian recipe for cucumbers with honey will be interesting today

Ingredients: 4-5 cucumbers, 2-3 tbsp. l. honey.
Cooking: Wash cucumbers. If the skin is bitter, cut it off. Cut the cucumbers into pieces convenient for you (but not finely) and season with honey.

Real gardeners always want to stock up on a piece of summer and eat vegetables in winter and in early spring when there is still a long time before the first fresh cucumbers. Of course, you can buy greenhouse imported cucumbers in the store, but, unfortunately, their watery taste is very different from the classic one, and there is not much use for them. Of course, it will not work to keep the freshness of cucumbers, but anyone can pickle or even better - pickle cucumbers. By the way, pickling cucumbers compares favorably with pickling the fact that a rather high percentage of nutrients remains in vegetables, while pickling nullifies them.

At first glance, pickling and salting are one and the same, but the principles of processing, the set of spices and some components are completely different.

Marinade necessarily contains vinegar (or citric acid), salt, sugar and spices (pepper). Cucumbers, as a rule, are placed in jars (2-3 liters), poured with hot marinade, pasteurized and rolled up with lids. Minus pickled cucumbers the fact that vinegar destroys most of the vitamins and neutralizes trace elements. In pickled cucumbers, only the taste remains, and even then, quite far from the original.

Pickles are prepared principally without vinegar, which retains most of the vitamins and all other useful substances. Salted cucumbers usually in large containers, such as oak barrels. When salting, a large number of herbs, currant leaves, spicy vegetables (garlic, horseradish), pepper, cumin, coriander are used. Cucumbers are washed, laid on a bed of currant leaves, periodically shifting layers of cucumbers with a mixture of herbs, horseradish, garlic and spices. After that, a saline solution (about 20% salt) is poured into the barrel.

Traditional harvesting of cucumbers in Russia provides for salting, which does not use acetic acid. In almost all respects, pickles win - vitamins are not destroyed, the taste remains recognizable, if you use special pickled cucumbers, then the color pickles will be closer to dark green, without yellowness.

Pickled cucumbers remain crispy, fragrant and, subject to all processing rules, serve as a source of vitamins, and not a taste ballast. Salted cucumbers help speed up enzymatic processes digestion. From this it is clear that the brine left over from pickles is useful: saturated with cucumber juice, enzymes and oils of spices and herbs, rich in potassium, cucumber brine brings relief not only to those who have drunk heavily the day before, but also to hypertensive patients suffering from unstable pressure or heat. Marinade, sometimes erroneously called brine, is not at all useful and even harmful to drink.

Ideal conditions for the preparation of pickles can be considered oak barrel , a cold cellar, the presence of all the recommended spices and herbs, spring water and good cucumbers.

For salting take a large container (a large one on the scale of an apartment can be considered a pot of 10-15 liters) or several small ones (for example, three-liter jars). Rinse all vegetables thoroughly (preferably with a soft brush), boil a saline solution (one part salt to 5 parts water), let the solution stand to strain the pebbles sometimes found in salt. Sort the herbs, rinse in cold water. Prepare spicy vegetables - peel the garlic, remove from the horseradish upper layer. Lay the bottom of the container with a layer of herbs, add horseradish and garlic and lay the cucumbers vertically. This is followed by the same layer of herbs and spices and cucumbers again. Finish everything with a layer of herbs, fill with saline and close the container with a wooden circle with holes, and put a small (up to 1 kg) weight on top. At first, cucumbers should be in a cool, but not cold place (15-20 ° C), then it is advisable to place them in a colder place (7-10 ° C) for storage. For 20 kg of cucumbers, they usually take 600 g of dill, 200 g of horseradish root, 100 g of garlic, 200 g of tarragon. In classic Russian salting recipes, it is necessary to add currant leaves and cherry leaves. Sometimes mustard seeds, cumin seeds, cloves and coriander are added.

Easiest to cook pickled cucumbers. The same principle of salting is used, but by a forced method. The ends of the cucumbers are cut off, the brine is poured hot, the jar of lightly salted cucumbers is placed in a warm place for several (5-6) hours, after which it is cooled and stored in the refrigerator. There is a less fast method - the brine is poured cold and the container with cucumbers is kept at room temperature for 2 days. Ready cucumbers are stored in the refrigerator. For brine usually take 2 tablespoons of salt (not iodized) per liter of water. Vegetables, herbs and spices are the same as in conventional salting, garlic and horseradish can be cut into small pieces.

There are especially fruitful years for cucumbers, when it is not possible to eat and even prepare for future use the entire crop. One use case is to do cucumber juice. Juice has all the advantages of a fresh cucumber, to which undeniable convenience is added. You can "eat" much more cucumbers in the form of juice. Fresh vegetable taste and a rich set of vitamins allows you to use cucumber juice without restrictions. Cucumbers are enough to chop and squeeze the juice with a juicer. Very tasty combination of cucumber juice with carrot and pumpkin. To improve health it is useful to drink a glass of cucumber (or mixed with carrot) juice on an empty stomach in the morning.

NOTES for canning:

* You can’t spoil pickles with spices, especially such as dill, garlic, horseradish, tarragon, basil, savory, celery. This spicy green increases the taste and nutritional value of pickles and increases their shelf life. Oak, cherry and currant leaves serve the same purpose. It is recommended to add red and black hot peppers to the pickles.

* Horseradish "eats" garlic and therefore it is necessary to increase the rate of laying the latter.

* Cucumbers pickled in an open container will not get moldy if you put chopped horseradish or dry horseradish leaves on top.

* The brine will always be transparent and tasty if chopped horseradish leaves are poured into it.

* Moldy cucumbers should be washed with salt water, transferred to another container and filled with freshly prepared brine of a higher concentration.

* Of great importance for salting and pickling vegetables is the purity of the salt. It is recommended to use edible salt (except for Extras) that is not iodized. But iodine evaporates during storage, so after six months of storage, iodized salt can be used for salting. The brine must be filtered.

* In order for pickles to retain their bright green color, they must be scalded before salting.

* It is best to salt cucumbers with "pimples" (moreover, with black ones, since with white ones - these are, as a rule, salad varieties).

* Very important, the fruit must be fresh. To make the cucumber crunchy, you need to choose only juicy ones, fresh vegetables. If you don’t have your own garden, then you will have to buy cucumbers on the market. Handle this matter responsibly. We walked, asked the price, took a closer look and do not be shy, touch the fruit you liked. A juicy cucumber will be firm and firm to the touch. A soft, sluggish fruit indicates that it has been on sale for more than a day, and such a cucumber will not crunch after pickling.

* There are three calibers of cucumbers: pickles - 3-5 cm, gherkins - 5-9 cm and greens - 9-14 cm. Fruits from 7 to 12 centimeters are suitable for canning in the marinade. If you have larger specimens available, cut the cucumbers into rings or pieces of the desired size.

Exists three main ways cooking salted cucumbers: in brine (hot or cold), in their own juice and "dry" method. Despite the serious differences in cooking, little tricks unite all the recipes:

The best cucumbers for quick pickling are small (but not gherkins), strong and thin-skinned, bright green and in "pimples". "Pumps", by the way, indicate that you have a pickling variety of cucumbers on hand, and not salad (smooth).

It is better to take cucumbers of the same size, so that in the end there is enough salt for everyone equally.

To make the cucumbers especially crispy and dense, they need to be kept in cold water for 2-3 hours.

Be sure to cut off the tips of the cucumbers: firstly, it is in them that nitrates can accumulate, and secondly, they will cook faster and better.

When sending cucumbers to a salting container, it is better to place them vertically - they will be salted more evenly.

Cucumbers should not be tightly packed into a jar or other utensils: as a result of too close proximity, they will lose their crispy properties.

A jar or pan with lightly salted cucumbers does not need to be tightly closed, you can simply cover it with a napkin, since the brine needs air to ferment.

In addition to the traditional bouquet of dill, parsley, horseradish, cherry leaves and blackcurrant, you can use oak, anise green umbrellas, tarragon.

Of the spices, bay leaves, cloves, spicy pepper.

It is better to take coarse salt, you can also use sea salt, but not iodized.

So that ready-made salted cucumbers do not turn into "multi-salted" ones, it is better to store them in the refrigerator.

Method one. Salted cucumbers in brine

If you pour cucumbers with cold brine, then they will be ready in 2-3 days. Hot (but not boiling!) brine gives a faster effect - lightly salted cucumbers can be tasted after 8-10 hours. It is not necessary to prepare the brine in advance, you can do it easier - put salt on top (at the rate of 2-3 tablespoons per 3-liter jar) and sugar in prepared jars filled with cucumbers, and then carefully pour boiled water over it. Then close the jar with a lid and shake it several times so that the salt dissolves evenly.

In addition to herbs and spices, you can add apples to the company with cucumbers. This traditional fruit for pickles will give cucumbers a specific sourness.

Recipe. Salted cucumbers with apples

Ingredients:
1 kg of cucumbers, 2 green apples, 10 black peppercorns, small bunches of parsley and dill, 2-3 cherry leaves, 8-10 black currant leaves, 1 small head of garlic, salt.

Cooking:
Wash cucumbers, apples and herbs. Cut off the ends of the cucumbers. Cut the apples into 4 pieces without removing the core. Break the garlic into cloves and peel. Put cucumbers and apples in a jar or pan, interspersing them with herbs and garlic cloves. Add black pepper. Boil water, add salt (at the rate of 2 tablespoons per 1 liter of water) and mix thoroughly. Pour hot brine over cucumbers. After 8-12 hours you can try.

Method two. Pickled cucumbers in a bag

This method is especially useful in a country house or a picnic - no need to boil water for brine! Washed and towel-dried cucumbers should simply be put in a container (any, even a clean plastic bag will do) and sprinkled with salt and spices. The main thing is to pre-pierce the cucumbers with a fork or skewer, or even slightly cut them with a knife.

Recipe. Salted cucumbers with lime juice

Ingredients:
1.5 kg of cucumbers, a bunch of dill with umbrellas, 6-7 black peppercorns, 4-5 allspice peas, 4-5 sprigs of mint, 4 limes, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 3.5 tablespoons of salt.

Cooking:
Lightly crush the peppercorns with sugar and a portion of salt in a mortar - 2.5 tablespoons. Remove the zest from the washed and dried limes with a fine grater, add to the salt and pepper mixture. Squeeze juice from stripped citrus fruits. Finely chop the dill stalks and mint (leaves with stems). For cucumbers, cut off the tips on both sides, then cut each cucumber into 2-4 parts, depending on the size. Place them in a deep bowl. Sprinkle the cucumbers with the mortar mixture, pour over the lime juice and mix. Then sprinkle with the remaining salt and chopped herbs, mix. After 30 minutes, the cucumbers are ready. Before serving, shake off salt and most of the greens from cucumbers.

In a “dry” way, you can pickle cucumbers without cutting them. In this case, they will cook a little longer and, of course, in the refrigerator.

Recipe. Salted cucumbers with young zucchini

Ingredients:
1 kg of cucumbers, 1 kg of young zucchini, 3 tablespoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 3 cherry leaves, 5-7 blackcurrant leaves, 2 horseradish leaves, a bunch of dill with umbrellas, 3-5 garlic cloves.

Cooking:
Wash cucumbers, dry, cut off the tips. Clean the zucchini, cut into slices. Grind dill and garlic, cherry, currant and horseradish leaves. Place all ingredients in a suitable container, close and shake well. Leave for 1 hour warm, and then rearrange in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

Method three. Salted cucumbers in their own juice

The essence of this method lies in the fact that instead of brine, cucumbers are poured with their own juice, which can even be prepared from cucumbers that are not destined to become lightly salted - large and ugly. To obtain cucumber juice, peeled cucumbers can be rubbed through a sieve, chopped in a blender, or even passed through a juicer.

Recipe. Salted cucumbers with hot peppers

Ingredients:
10 small cucumbers for pickling, a few large cucumbers for "juice", 3 garlic cloves, 1 chili pepper, three horseradish leaves, three dill umbrellas, 3 tablespoons of salt.

Cooking:
Peel large cucumbers and pass through a meat grinder. A three-liter jar will require approximately 1.5 liters of cucumber puree. Cover the bottom of the jar with a sheet of horseradish, put an umbrella of dill and a clove of garlic cut in half. Put one tablespoon of salt on the greens. Fill 1/3 of the jar with cucumber mass, lower part of the cucumbers for pickling, distributing them vertically. Put a horseradish leaf, dill, garlic and hot pepper on top. And again - a spoonful of salt. Add more cucumber mass and lay out a row of cucumbers. Add a spoonful of salt. Close the jar with a lid. After 2 days, salted cucumbers can be tasted.

Advice. You can simplify the "layout" if you immediately add salt to the cucumber puree and mix it thoroughly. With cucumbers, you can pickle a couple of stalks of celery - salted celery is also very tasty.

Pickled cucumbers in a bag

Ingredients:
1kg cucumbers
1 st. spoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
2-3 large garlic cloves,
1 bunch of dill.

Cooking:
Choose small cucumbers for pickling in a bag, up to 10 cm long (the smaller the cucumbers, the faster they are salted), Wash them well and cut off the tips on both sides. Wash dill greens, shake off excess water, dill can be finely chopped, or you can put it whole. Take a strong, durable plastic bag. Fold cucumbers into it, pour salt and sugar, add garlic, cut into slices, and dill greens. Seal the bag and shake a few times to evenly distribute the salt and sugar. Everything! Place the bag in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. It is very convenient to make such lightly salted cucumbers in the evening, they will just be well salted overnight.

If you doubt how the cucumbers will be salted, if they themselves are dry, and no brine washes them - do not worry, they will inhale moisture, and the walls of the bag will keep it inside. Everything will be not only good, but very tasty.

You can make the taste of cucumbers more piquant by adding other spices and herbs. For example, it is very good to add whole peas of coriander and allspice, cilantro, celery or tarragon, cherry, horseradish, currant leaves, finely chopped hot pepper. Of course, not all at once, but 1-2 new ingredients to the original recipe, then your cucumbers will have a new taste every time.

Store ready-salted cucumbers in the refrigerator (if they don’t eat right away, which is unlikely ...).

There is, however, another recipe dry pickling of cucumbers . Its feature is that 9% table vinegar is present in the ingredients. Such cucumbers will be ready in 2-3 hours, and the taste will be just amazing.

Salted cucumbers "Expresso"

Ingredients:
1 kg fresh small cucumbers,
1 st. spoon 9% table vinegar,
1 st. spoon of salt
0.5 teaspoon of sugar,
2-4 garlic cloves,
1 bunch dill umbels
cherry, currant, horseradish leaves in a ratio of 3:3:1 (or to taste).

Cooking:
Wash the cucumbers, remove the tails and cut into two or four slices along the cucumber. Mince the garlic. Mix all ingredients. Then place the cut cucumbers in a transparent plastic bag, add the mixture of ingredients, tie up the bag and mix everything thoroughly. Place the package of cucumbers, unopened, in the refrigerator. After two or three hours, lightly salted cucumbers are ready.

When preparing lightly salted cucumbers in a bag, there are some tricks. If you want the lightly salted cucumbers in the bag to be ready in 20-30 minutes, change the script a little. In this case, cut the cucumbers into slices, place in a bag, add seasonings and shake vigorously for a while, allowing the juice to evenly saturate all the slices, and then leave at room temperature. Salted cucumbers in a bag do not make sense to cook in large portions. This product actively releases juice, so it will not be stored for a long time (no more than 2-3 days), so you need to calculate everything correctly, otherwise the spoiled vegetables will simply have to be thrown away.

And here is another great recipe. Everything, it would seem, is as usual: cucumbers, garlic, herbs, but no, again a little zest: add dry mustard, and now our cucumbers acquire a new, exquisite taste.

Salted cucumbers with mustard(dry salting)

Ingredients:
1kg cucumbers
1 st. a spoonful of salt (for those who do not like too salty, you can reduce),
2-3 garlic cloves,
dill and parsley,
ground black pepper, or a mixture of peppers - to taste,
dry mustard and ground coriander - 2-3 teaspoons (this is an amateur).

Cooking:
Start cooking by washing the cucumbers and cutting off the ends. If the cucumbers are large, cut them into circles 1.5-2 cm thick, if they are small, cut lengthwise into 4 parts. In a bag, mix salt, finely chopped garlic and herbs, and all other spices. Then put the cucumbers in the bag, tie it up and shake it well so that the salt-garlic-spicy mixture is mixed with the cucumbers. After 40-60 minutes, the cucumbers will be ready.

AND SOME MORE DELICIOUS RECIPES:

Cucumbers in grape leaves

Ingredients:
Filling (calculation is given for a 3-liter jar): 1 liter of water, 1.5 stack. apple or grape juice, ¼ stack. sugar, ¼ stack. salt.

Cooking:
Pour cucumbers with boiling water, and then with cold water. Wrap each cucumber in a grape leaf and tightly fill a three-liter jar with them. Pour the boiling filling over the cucumbers three times and roll up. The vine leaves will keep green color cucumbers and give them a special taste.

Cucumbers "Very"

pickled cucumbers, 1 sheet of horseradish, 3 dill umbrellas, 1 head of garlic with herbs, cut into small pieces, 5 leaves black currant, 2 cherry leaves, 1 oak leaf, 200 g of salt.

Cooking:
Put everything in a jar, fill with cold water, cover with gauze. Soak for 4 days, periodically turning the jar over so that the salt dissolves well. After the specified period, drain the brine. Fill the jar of cucumbers with cold water and drain again. Once again, fill the cucumbers with fresh cold water and close with plastic lids. Store in a dry, cool pantry. Cucumbers harvested according to this method are well preserved. However, for this it is necessary to fulfill the main condition: use only pickled cucumbers, in no case lettuce ones.

Cucumbers "Khrum-Khrum"

Ingredients for a 3 liter jar:
medium-sized pickling cucumbers, 1 sheet of horseradish, 1 large dill umbrella, 2 bay leaves, 2-3 cloves of garlic, cut into thin slices, ½ pc. green (it is more aromatic than red) room pepper "Spark" with seeds, 6-8 black peppercorns, 100 g of salt, 1.5 tbsp. sugar, 1 tsp (without top) citric acid.

Cooking:
In a three-liter scalded jar, put a horseradish leaf, dill, bay leaf, garlic, room pepper and black pepper. Then put well-washed medium-sized cucumbers in a jar and pour boiling water over it. Leave for 30 minutes. Then pour this water into a saucepan, add salt, sugar. As soon as it boils, pour over the cucumbers and add citric acid. Roll up immediately, turn the jar upside down and wrap until cool.

Cucumbers in tomato

Ingredients for a 3 liter jar:
1 dill umbrella, 1 currant leaf, 2-3 garlic cloves, 4-5 black peppercorns. Filling: 1 liter of tomato mass (fresh tomatoes chopped in a blender), 1 tbsp. salt, 1 tbsp. Sahara.

Cooking:
Place prepared cucumbers, seasonings in a sterilized three-liter jar and pour boiling water over them. After 15 minutes, drain the water, bring it to a boil and pour it back into the jar for 15 minutes. Grind ripe tomatoes with a blender or pass through a meat grinder, pour the resulting mass into a saucepan and put on fire. Add salt and sugar to the tomato mass and bring it to a boil. Drain the water from the jar of cucumbers, pour over the boiling tomato mass and roll up. Turn over, wrap.

Cucumbers marinated with onions, carrots and mint leaves

Ingredients:
1.5-2 kg of cucumbers, 1 head of garlic, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1.2 l of water, 3 tbsp. fruit vinegar, 2 tbsp. sugar, 3 tbsp. salt, 2-3 sprigs of mint, cherry, currant, horseradish leaves - 3-4 pieces each, 1 sprig of dill with an umbrella.

Cooking:
Wash the cucumbers, cut off the tips by 1-2 mm. Soak for 5-6 hours. At the bottom of a sterilized jar, lay cherry, currant and horseradish leaves, mint sprigs, garlic, carrots (in circles), cucumbers, trying to fill the jar as tightly as possible. Place chopped onion on top, dill on it. Dissolve salt and sugar in water, boil. Pour the boiling solution over the cucumbers twice. For the third time, pour vinegar into the brine, boil, add a little water. Pour boiling brine over cucumbers. Roll up the lids. Turn over and wrap for 5-6 hours. Cucumbers prepared according to this recipe are well stored for a long time. Instead of vinegar, you can take ½ cup of red currants.

Cucumbers preserved with cloves and cinnamon

Ingredients:
1.5-2 kg of cucumbers, 3 tbsp. (without top) salt, 3-4 leaves of cherries and black currants, a small piece of horseradish, 3 tbsp. fruit vinegar, 3 tbsp. sugar, 1 sprig of dill with an umbrella, 1.2 liters of water, 1 head of garlic, 1 bay leaf, 1 peppercorns, 1 cinnamon stick, 2-3 clove buds.

Cooking:
Wash the cucumbers, cut off the tips, soak for 5-6 hours. At the bottom of a sterilized jar, put all the spices (except dill), then lay the cucumbers. Place dill on top. Prepare the brine. To do this, dissolve salt, sugar in water and boil the brine. Fill them to the top of the jar. Cover and let stand for 5-10 minutes, then drain the brine. So repeat twice. At the third pour, pour vinegar into the brine and roll up the lid. Turn over, wrap and let stand 3-4 hours. Store in a cool place (pantry).

Pickled cucumbers with asparagus

Ingredients:
2 kg of cucumbers, 100 g of asparagus, 1 carrot, 3 garlic cloves, 1 horseradish leaf, 2 dill umbrellas, 3 black currant leaves, 6 peppercorns, 3 tbsp. vinegar (9%), 1 tbsp. sugar, 3 tbsp. salt.

Cooking:
Place cucumbers in cold water for 2 hours. At the bottom of a sterile jar, put a sheet of horseradish, carrots, peeled and cut into 4 parts, garlic, dill, currant leaves, pepper. Cut off the tips of the cucumbers, cut off the hard bottom of the asparagus shoots. Place cucumbers and asparagus tightly in a jar, add salt, sugar and vinegar to it. Fill with boiling water and roll up. Carrots can be cut into flowers - it will not affect the taste, but how beautiful!

Cucumbers with sweet peppers, garlic and currants

Ingredients:
2 kg of cucumbers, 300 g of sweet pepper, 300 g of garlic shoots, 400 g of red currant berries, black currant and cherry leaves, 4 tbsp. 9% vinegar, 3 tbsp. sugar, 2 tbsp. salt.

Cooking:
Put cucumbers in cold water for 2-3 hours. Peel the pepper and cut into strips. Arrange the cucumbers in jars, arranging them with currant leaves, cherries, pepper strips, garlic spears and red currants. Fill the jars with boiling water, let it brew for 10 minutes. Drain the water, boil and re-fill in jars for 10 minutes. Drain the water again. Prepare the marinade. Boil the water drained from the jars with sugar and salt, add vinegar at the end and pour the boiling marinade over the cucumbers. Banks roll up, turn over and wrap.
In a very old housekeeping book, I came across a completely original recipe pickling cucumbers in a pumpkin, while it was noted that cucumbers are especially tasty. Two methods of salting are mentioned. In one of them, the shell of a large pumpkin serves as a dish for pickling cucumbers; in another method, small hollowed-out pumpkins filled with cucumbers are placed in a tub mixed with cucumbers (“in bulk”), spices are added there, everything is poured with saline, covered with a wooden circle on top, on which put oppression, and the tub is taken out into the cold. The recipe below is suitable for both salting methods.

Cucumbers in gooseberry juice

Ingredients:
- cucumbers - 2 kg
- gooseberries - 400 g
- sugar - 100 g
- salt - 50 g
- tarragon.

Cooking:

Cucumbers are washed, doused with boiling water and then cold water, placed in jars along with tarragon sprigs. Gooseberries are washed, poured with boiling water, sugar, salt are added and brought to a boil.

Filter the solution and rub the gooseberries through a sieve. With a boiling mixture of strained solution and mashed gooseberries, cucumbers are poured three times and the jars are rolled up.

And for dessert, a very interesting recipe:

Ingredients:
10 kg of cucumbers, 100 g of tarragon (greens), 100 g of dill (greens), 100 g of black currant leaves, 5 l of water, 400 g of salt.

Cooking:
Wash small pumpkins, cut off the top part (on the side of the stalk) and remove the seeds from them. Rinse cucumbers and herbs. Pack the cucumbers tightly into the hollowed out pumpkins, mixed with spicy herbs, pour brine, cover the pumpkins with cut tops and secure them with wooden pins or tie with a harsh thread.

Lay the filled and closed pumpkins in a tub with the top part up, filling the voids between them with cucumbers and spices. Dissolve the salt in the water and pour this solution over the pumpkins and cucumbers placed in the tub.

Cover with a clean cloth on top, put a wooden circle and oppression. There should be enough brine to cover the wooden circle. The weight of the oppression is usually equal to 1/10 of the weight of the cucumbers. Set the tub in a cold place where it should be stored even after fermenting cucumbers.

If there is no opportunity to pickle cucumbers in a tub, pickle them in a large pumpkin, respectively reducing the amount of salt and herbs.