Benefits of cucumbers for the body
Cucumbers can be very healthy, not justtasty. They help to normalize the water-salt balance, cleanse the intestines, stimulate digestion, metabolism. Cucumbers help to cleanse the skin, you can use them as a diuretic. This vegetable is effective for aging, withered skin, you can make masks from it, remove age spots. Pickled cucumbers for the winter retain some of their beneficial properties, but for this they must be selected quite carefully. For the winter, you can use only small, fresh fruits with black thorns, you cannot use white ones, since these are dessert varieties that are not intended for pickling. Wilted and corky cucumbers are no good, they will not be tasty.
What do I need to know when canning?
Any recipe involves using onlyspecial varieties that are suitable for canning. Some types of cucumbers cause the cans to explode (this is the problem that many beginners face). You cannot take yellowed and overripe fruits, wilted, or stored for too long. This affects the taste of cucumbers and the quality of the can. Before marinating or pickling, it is recommended to soak vegetables in water for at least three to four hours. It is advisable to start making pickles on the same day that the vegetables are picked. If this is not possible, then you must first sort them out, choosing only the strongest and freshest. If the cucumbers are large, they can be cut in half or into slices, their taste will not change. It is important to store cucumbers correctly before marinating, otherwise they will quickly become wilted. This should definitely not be done at room temperature, you need to put them in the refrigerator, keep them at a temperature of zero degrees and humidity of about 80%. This allows you to preserve cucumbers for up to twenty days, they can be used for canning for the winter. Greenhouse varieties spoil faster, it is best to put them in a container with water with their tails down, changing the water every day. In a dark cool place, vegetables can be stored by hanging them by their legs. Only under such conditions can you preserve tasty cucumbers for the winter.
Marinated cucumbers: recipes for delicious pickles
Cucumbers can be preserved for the winter in various waysmethods, but the basic recipes have similar ingredients. Depending on the recipe chosen, cucumbers will differ in taste. Let's give an example of several methods of pickling. For each three-liter jar you need to take:
- strong, small cucumbers (up to 8 cm each);
- three to five cloves of garlic (you have to put whole on the bottom, and you can add cucumber cut into slices);
- umbrella of dill;
- 3-5 leaves of currant, cherry, grapes;
- a small piece of hot pepper;
- a liter of brine water;
- two dining rooms full of spoons of salt (only stone);
- two tablespoons of sugar;
- vinegar essence (1-2 tablespoons).
The proposed recipe involves the following cooking process:
- First, you need to prepare the cans, wash them and sterilize them together with the lids;
- at the bottom of each jar we lay two or three denticlesgarlic, one dill umbrella, cherry leaves, currants, grapes, horseradish. We add celery, a small piece of hot pepper (it can be green or red pepper, there is no special meaning, but do not forget about the measure!);
- Cucumbers must first be soaked in cold water for four hours. Choose not too large fruits, the pickled cucumber should have a size of about 8 cm;
- cooked cucumbers put in jars very tightly, do not forget about spices, garlic (it can be stacked with whole teeth, sliced slices or pass through the press);
- Now we make brine (our recipe assumesuse only rock salt!). In the banks we pour only well or spring water to the very top, then carefully pour it into a large saucepan, which is put on the fire. Water is brought to a boil, if necessary, is added, after which you can salt and put sugar at a rate of one liter of brine 2 tablespoons of full spoons of salt and 2 tablespoons with the top of sugar.
Pour two tablespoons into each jar.vinegar essence, but you can replace it with regular nine percent table vinegar. Immediately after this, pour in the hot brine, cover the jars with lids. Put them in a pan with water, sterilize until the cucumbers change color. This takes about 10-15 minutes from the time the water boils. Remember that you need to put a special metal stand on the bottom of the pan! After that, carefully take out the jars and roll them up. Turn the closed containers upside down with the lids, leave until the next day until they cool completely. As you can see, the recipe is very simple, making such pickled vegetables is not only easy, but also quite quick. For the winter, you can prepare delicious cucumbers according to another recipe.
Marinating in small containers
We offer a traditional marinade recipecucumbers, which any housewife can handle. They can be preserved in small 0.45 liter jars, this will allow you to make "portioned" cucumbers, each jar is enough for about one time. To preserve cucumbers in small jars, you must first prepare the following ingredients:
- salted varieties with a length of up to 6 cm (we will have small cans, cucumbers should fit perfectly in it);
- brine water;
- stone salt (two tablespoons full of spoons);
- sugar (two tablespoons with a slide);
- half a glass of nine per cent vinegar;
- pepper with peas;
- garlic;
- mustard in the grains;
- inflorescences and stalks of dill;
- vinegar;
- cherry leaves (you can take oak, currant leaves at will).
Cucumbers for canning for the winter are neededchoose a size that fits in the jar. Pickling them is very simple. After all the ingredients are prepared, the vegetables need to be washed, cut off all the ends, then pour cold, clean water over the vegetables for several hours. Before you start canning, all the cucumbers need to be sorted by size, then peel the garlic, dividing it into individual cloves (they should be strong, without signs of rot). Tasty cucumbers are impossible without greens, so we prepare dill inflorescences, you can take cherry leaves. You will need spices, mustard seeds and peppercorns (you can take black, white, green or red). Next, you need to wash the jars, sterilize them and the lids. Put greens, one or two cloves of garlic, prepared spices (don't get carried away with them!) on the bottom of each jar. Tightly fill the jar with prepared cucumbers, adding whole cloves of garlic between individual fruits to taste. The recipe further assumes cooking the brine at the rate of half a liter of water per liter of volume, that is, for our small jars, 200-250 mm of brine is enough. When cooking, you can add the remains of greens to the liquid, the brine is boiled and, without cooling, poured into the jars. After this, the cucumbers should be left to stand for about five minutes. Now we pour the brine into a large saucepan, add salt, a little sugar, mix everything. The saucepan is put on the fire, everything is brought to a boil. The brine should be cooked until the added salt and sugar are completely dissolved. The liquid is poured into the jars hot, vinegar should be added beforehand. Now you can start rolling up the lids, the jars should be cooled, put in a dark place for storage. Pickled gherkins (or cucumbers) can be easily made at home. This is a great opportunity to enjoy healthy and tasty vegetables even in winter. The most varied recipes are used, almost every housewife adds something of her own, changes the ratio of ingredients. But the basic techniques and requirements remain the same, so all you have to do is choose your own golden mean on how to make delicious, very healthy pickled cucumbers.
