Preparing cucumbers for the winter recipes. The best recipes for preparing cucumbers for the winter

Pickled cucumber... It contains a rich bouquet of subtle aromas, and an amazing play of light green shades. He is still the most favorite guest of a festively laid table in winter. Traditions are still strong in Rus'. It has long been the custom that not a single feast took place without the accompaniment of a good snack like herring, salted mushrooms, sauerkraut and, of course, pickles. For 300 years in Moscow until the beginning of the 20th century, in the last days of October, a pickled cucumber festival was held in the markets. It was believed that it was at this time that barrels of pickles should be uncorked. Both kings and nobles loved pickles. The cucumber came to us during the time of Ivan the Terrible and almost immediately “fell into the barrel”: our ancestors found its taste too bland and began to pickle it, like mushrooms. In addition, salting helped preserve the crop for the winter.

Merchants from different parts of Moscow brought whole carts of barrels of pickled cucumbers to the markets, unsealed them in pictures, and treated them to the people. It is known that each district of the capital had its own signature pickling recipes, which were kept in the strictest confidence. Of course, vodka was generously served to those who loudly praised the cucumbers. These days people flocked to the market squares in droves, anticipating fun, plentiful snacks and free drinks. This is how the holiday of the Pickled Cucumber was born and for several centuries delighted Muscovites, which has been completely undeservedly lost in our days. Times change, but the classic remains - vodka is eaten with crispy pickles even today.

Preparing cucumbers for the winter is an excellent reason to be proud of your culinary abilities and achievements. Indeed, despite the seemingly simplicity of the process and the product itself, this matter has its own subtleties, which it is better to learn about in advance in order to avoid disappointment from a failed dish. Many housewives keep their secrets secret and are reluctant to share them with others, but with all the breadth of our Russian soul we will share with you all the intricacies of preparing cucumbers for the winter and new recipes. As they say, everything is for the good and for the sake of preserving tradition.

Let's start, first of all, by answering the question, what qualities should cucumbers suitable for canning have? Preparing cucumbers for the winter is not an easy task. How to make the right choice? First, and very important, the fruit must be fresh. In order for the cucumber to crunch, you need to choose only juicy ones, fresh vegetables. If you don’t have your own garden, you will have to buy cucumbers at the market. Take this matter responsibly. Walk around, ask the price, take a closer look and don’t be shy, touch the fruit you like. A juicy cucumber will be hard and strong to the touch. A soft, limp fruit indicates that it has not been on sale for the first time, and such a cucumber will not crunch after pickling.

Many people know that not all varieties of cucumbers are suitable for preparing cucumbers at home for the winter. Which ones are better to choose? Cucumbers are available for salad, pickling and universal purposes. Salad varieties are only suitable for consumption raw; they are not suitable for rolling into jars. Such fruits have a thick peel, so the marinade does not penetrate into them well. Universal varieties are intended for consumption both fresh and canned. But pickling cucumbers were bred specifically for preservation. They have a thin skin, which facilitates rapid absorption of brine. But these varieties also have their drawback - they quickly wither and turn yellow. Accordingly, their shelf life is significantly shorter.

How do salad varieties differ from pickling or universal varieties? Yes, first of all - the thorns on the fruit. Salad cucumbers always have light spines, but pickling and universal varieties have dark ones. If the fruit itself is bright, green, and its sides and ends are lighter in color, then it is suitable for preparations. At the same time, there should be no yellow or red spots on it. A cucumber for canning should be smooth, oblong, without visible thickening or mechanical damage. If you are not sure that the cucumber you like is of the pickling variety, you will have to check it for thin-skinnedness. This can only be done through experiment. To do this, take a cucumber and try to pierce the skin with your fingernail. If the skin comes off easily, it means the fruit has a thin skin; it is a pickling cucumber.

There are three sizes 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 marinade. If you have larger specimens, cut the cucumbers into rings or pieces of the desired size. Cucumbers suitable for preservation have been identified, which means it’s time to start preparing them for the winter.

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

Preparation:
Pour boiling water over the cucumbers and then cold water. Wrap each cucumber in a grape leaf and tightly fill a three-liter jar with them. Pour the boiling sauce over the cucumbers three times and roll up. The grape leaves will be preserved green cucumbers and give them a special taste.

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

Preparation:
Place everything in a jar, fill with cold water, cover with gauze. Let stand for 4 days, periodically turning the jar over so that the salt is well dissolved. After the specified period, drain the brine. Fill the jar with cucumbers with cold water and drain the water again. Fill the cucumbers again with fresh cold water and cover with plastic lids. Store in a dry, cool pantry. Cucumbers prepared using this method are well preserved. However, for this it is necessary to fulfill the main condition: use only pickling varieties of cucumbers, and in no case salad varieties.

Ingredients for a 3-liter jar:
medium-sized pickling cucumbers,
1 horseradish leaf
1 large umbrella of dill,
2 bay leaves,
2-3 cloves of garlic, cut into thin slices,
½ pcs. green (it is more fragrant than red) indoor pepper “Ogonyok” with seeds,
6-8 black peppercorns,
100 g salt,
1.5 tbsp. Sahara,
1 tsp (without top) citric acid.

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

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

Preparation:
Place the prepared cucumbers and 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 the ripe tomatoes using 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 mixture and bring it to a boil. Drain the water from the jar of cucumbers, pour in boiling tomato mixture and roll up. Turn it over, wrap it up.

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

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

Ingredients:
1.5-2 kg of cucumbers,
3 tbsp. (without top) salt,
3-4 leaves of cherry and black currant,
a small piece of horseradish
3 tbsp. fruit vinegar,
3 tbsp. Sahara,
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.

Preparation:
Wash the cucumbers, cut off the ends, and soak for 5-6 hours. Place all the spices (except dill) at the bottom of a sterilized jar, then place the cucumbers. Place dill on top.
Prepare the brine. To do this, dissolve salt and sugar in water and boil the brine. Fill the jar to the top with it. Cover with a lid and let stand for 5-10 minutes, then drain the brine. Repeat this twice. On the third pour, pour vinegar into the brine and cover with a lid. Turn over, wrap and let stand for 3-4 hours. Store in a cool place (pantry).

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

Preparation:
Place the cucumbers in cold water for 2 hours. Place a horseradish leaf, peeled and quartered carrots, garlic, dill, currant leaves, and pepper at the bottom of a sterile jar. Cut off the ends of the cucumbers, cut off the tough lower part of the asparagus shoots. Place cucumbers and asparagus tightly in a jar, add salt, sugar and vinegar. Fill with boiling water and roll up. Carrots can be cut into flowers - it won’t affect the taste, but how beautiful!

Ingredients:
2 kg cucumbers,
300 g sweet pepper,
300 g garlic arrows,
400 g red currants,
blackcurrant and cherry leaves,
4 tbsp. 9% vinegar,
3 tbsp. Sahara,
2 tbsp. salt.

Preparation:
Place the cucumbers in cold water for 2-3 hours. Peel the pepper and cut into strips. Place the cucumbers in jars, arranging them with currant leaves, cherries, strips of pepper, garlic arrows and red currant berries. Fill the jars with boiling water and let steep for 10 minutes. Drain the water, boil and refill the 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. Roll up the jars, turn them over and wrap them up.

In a very old book on home economics, I came across a completely original recipe for pickling cucumbers in a pumpkin, and it was noted that the cucumbers turned out to be especially pleasant to the taste. Two methods of salting are mentioned. In one of them, the shell of a large pumpkin serves as a vessel 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 filled with saline solution, covered on top with a wooden circle, on which a pressure is placed and the tub is taken out into the cold. The recipe below is suitable for both salting methods.

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

Preparation:
Wash small pumpkins, cut off the top part (from the side of the stalk) and remove the seeds from them. Wash cucumbers and greens. Place cucumbers mixed with spicy herbs tightly into the hollowed out pumpkins, fill with brine, cover the pumpkins with the cut off top parts and secure them with wooden pins or tie them with a strong thread. Place the filled and closed pumpkins in the tub, top side up, filling the spaces between them with cucumbers and spices. Dissolve salt in water and pour this solution over the pumpkins and cucumbers placed in the tub. Cover the top with a clean cloth, place a wooden circle and a bend. 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. Place the tub in a cold place, where it should be stored even after fermenting the cucumbers. If it is not possible to pickle cucumbers in a tub, pickle them in a large pumpkin, accordingly reducing the amount of salt and herbs.

So one more summer day, one of those that feeds the year, is left behind. The even rows of jars with cucumbers looking friendly through the glass have already taken their place. place of honor, and in the house there are still aromas of dill, garlic, black pepper and bay leaf, and this smell makes you so warm and cozy that it seems that you don’t care about winter. Let it come, we are already ready for it.

Happy preparations!

Larisa Shuftaykina

It’s hard to imagine a traditional Russian feast or an ordinary home-cooked dinner without juicy, crispy cucumbers that disappear in just a few minutes. Cucumbers for the winter are the most popular option for home canning, and every housewife should try to prepare cucumbers for future use at least once in her life. This task is not as overwhelming as it seems at first glance. The right choice vegetables, some culinary dexterity and knowledge of certain secrets - all that is required to prepare an excellent snack that will delight your household and loved ones during the cold season. Well, “Culinary Eden” will be happy to share with you tips and recipes for getting the most delicious preparations!

To begin with, you should understand that for preparing elastic, crispy cucumbers, not any vegetables are suitable, but only fresh young fruits that have thin skin, dark spots on it and dense pulp. Thanks to the presence of thin skin, vegetables will absorb the marinade well. Old, yellow and overripe cucumbers with very thick skins, as well as salad cucumbers with a smooth surface, are completely unsuitable for canning - do not waste your time and effort on them. It is best if the cucumbers used for preparations are collected no later than a day before canning. For preparations, fruits from 7 to 12 cm long are usually used, while larger specimens can be cut into rings or pieces of the desired size.

The main secret to crispy cucumbers is pre-soaking them in water overnight. The colder the water, the crispier your cucumbers will be. Cucumbers should be kept in water for at least 5-6 hours and no more than 12 hours, after cutting off their tips. Do not neglect the quality of the water from which you will prepare the marinade - in this case, spring or purified water, but in no case chlorinated from the tap, will be appropriate. Oak leaves or a piece of oak bark added when pickling cucumbers will also help give them that desired crunch. It is worth noting that most often small cucumbers turn out crispy. An important point in canning cucumbers is the selection of spices. Here black peppercorns, allspice, cloves, mustard beans, garlic, dill umbrellas, mint, cumin, coriander grains, as well as currant, cherry, oak and horseradish leaves will come to your aid. You should be careful when using garlic, as too much of it can make the cucumbers less crispy, adding unnecessary softness to them.

Compliance with all preparation rules and storage conditions allows cucumbers to remain tasty and crispy for a very long time. Cucumbers for the winter are not only an independent snack, but also an indispensable addition to many dishes, such as, for example, Olivier salad or salad with cod liver and potatoes. Try canning cucumbers for the winter at least once, and you will want to cook them every year. Use our recipes and see for yourself!

Crispy cucumbers

Ingredients:
1 kg small cucumbers
500-600 ml water
100 g sugar
75 ml 9% vinegar
4-6 cloves of garlic
2-3 cherry leaves
3 sprigs of dill
3 sprigs parsley
2 bay leaves
a handful of allspice

Preparation:
Soak the cucumbers in a bowl of cold water for several hours, after cutting off their ends. Place oak and cherry leaves, as well as sprigs of herbs, into two sterilized 750 ml jars. Add the garlic cloves and fill the jars tightly with cucumbers. Place a bay leaf in the space between the cucumbers. Boil water with sugar, salt and allspice. Add about 2 tablespoons of vinegar to each jar, then pour in the boiling marinade. Cover the jars with lids and place in a saucepan for subsequent sterilization for 10 minutes. Roll up the jars with lids, turn them upside down and let cool, wrapped in towels or a blanket.

Cucumbers in jars

Ingredients:
2.5 kg cucumbers
1/3 bunch of dill umbrellas
5 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons vinegar
3-4 buds of cloves
3 currant leaves
2 leaves of horseradish
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon sugar
chili pepper to taste

Preparation:
Place the cucumbers in cold water for 5-8 hours, changing the water several times. Place washed horseradish leaves, currant leaves and peeled garlic into sterilized jars. Add a small piece of chili pepper to add spiciness to the cucumbers. Cut off the ends of the cucumbers and place them vertically in jars. If the jar is large, the cucumbers are laid out in several layers. Place dill umbrellas on top. To find out how much liquid is required for the marinade, pour water into the jars, then carefully pour into the pan using a special lid with holes. Add a little more water as some of the liquid will evaporate. Water must be added during each boil.
Pour boiled water into jars with cucumbers, cover with lids and leave for 15 minutes, then, using a lid with holes, pour back into the pan. Boil water again and pour into jars, leaving for 20 minutes. Drain the liquid into a saucepan and add sugar, salt, vinegar, cloves and mustard seeds. Bring the marinade to a boil and pour it over the cucumbers. Roll up the jars with lids, turn them upside down, wrap them in a blanket and let cool.

Pickled cucumbers

Ingredients:
1.5-2 kg cucumbers
80 g salt
20-30 g hot chili pepper (optional)
5 dill inflorescences
3 horseradish leaves

Preparation:
Rinse the three-liter jar thoroughly (you can do without sterilization). Place the cucumbers in a jar and add salt. Place a piece of chili pepper, horseradish leaves and dill inflorescences on top. Pour cold filtered water into the jar, close with a nylon lid and place in a cool place for storage. In about a month, the cucumbers will be ready.

Ingredients:
2 kg cucumbers
5 dill umbrellas
4 cloves garlic
3 currant leaves
3 cherry leaves
3 mint leaves
1.5 liters of water
6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons 9% vinegar

Preparation:
Pre-soak the cucumbers in cold water for several hours. Place dill umbrellas, horseradish root, peeled garlic cloves, currant and cherry leaves, and mint leaves into a sterilized jar. Place cucumbers in a jar and pour boiling marinade made from water, salt, sugar and vinegar. Sterilize the jar for about 15 minutes, then screw on the lid, turn over, wrap and cool.

Cucumbers marinated with bell pepper, coriander and basil

Ingredients:
600-700 g cucumbers
3-4 bell peppers
4 cloves garlic
4-5 black peppercorns
4-5 peas of allspice
2-3 sprigs of basil
2 dill umbrellas
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 horseradish leaf
1 liter of water
4 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons 9% vinegar

Preparation:
Place basil, dill, horseradish leaf and garlic on the bottom of sterilized jars. Fill the jars with cucumbers and bell peppers, cut into quarters. Prepare a marinade from water, salt, sugar and vinegar, bringing the liquid to a boil. Pour the marinade into the jars and leave for 15 minutes, then pour the marinade back into the pan. Place spices in jars and pour boiling marinade over them. Cover the jars with lids and cool by turning them upside down.

Try preparing cucumbers for the winter using our recipes, and you will enjoy this great snack for more than one season! Good luck with your preparations!