Is it possible to pickle large cucumbers?
Small cucumbers with a length of 5 to 12 cm are considered the most suitable for pickling and canning. Large cucumbers are most often used only for preparing fresh vegetable salads, since they are considered less tasty. But with proper preparation, large cucumbers can produce equally tasty pickles.
You can pickle large cucumbers using one of two methods:
- cold - vegetables are poured with a chilled aqueous salt solution and covered with plastic lids;
- hot - the jars are filled with boiling hot brine and rolled up with metal lids.
How to pickle large cucumbers in jars
There are different ways to pickle large cucumbers in barrels, bottles and large pans. They differ from each other in the use of various ingredients that add special flavor notes to cucumbers. Before you start pickling vegetables, you need to prepare dishes for placing the finished snack. If you use whole fruits, then you need to take large jars - 2-3 liters. In those recipes where large cucumbers need to be cut into pieces, you can use small jars with a capacity of 0.5–1 liter.
Important! If you don’t have a cellar or basement, it’s most convenient to store pickles in a small glass container.
The rules for preparing containers are as follows:
- Wash the jars with baking soda and soap. You can leave them for 1 hour in an aqueous solution of soda.
- Wash the glass container well under running water and then rinse with boiling water.
- Dry the containers at room temperature until the moisture is completely dry.
- Heat the dishes in the oven at +110°C or sterilize the containers over boiling water for disinfection. The duration of this procedure should be at least 10 minutes.
- If the jars will be covered with metal lids, then they need to be boiled in water for 5–10 minutes. If plastic lids are used, rub them well with baking soda, then rinse in running water and rinse with boiling water.
Classic way
This option for pickling large cucumbers has been known for many years, and its popularity has not diminished. The recipe is quite simple, so even a less experienced cook can put it into practice. Step-by-step instructions for preparing delicious cucumber pickles according to the classic recipe are presented below.
Ingredients
The amount of ingredients in the recipe is based on 3 glass jars with a volume of 3 liters:
- cucumbers 7 kg
- raspberry leaves 3-6 pcs.
- currant leaves 3-6 pcs.
- cherry leaves 3-6 pcs.
- dill stems 200 g
- horseradish root 1 pc.
- water 3-4 l
- salt 300-400 g
Step by step recipe
- Rinse 7 kg of cucumbers in clean water, trim the ends. Leave the vegetables in a bowl of cold water for a couple of hours.
- Prepare a handful of currant, raspberry and cherry leaves, 200 g of dill stems. Wash the greens, dry them a little with a napkin and cut them into small pieces.
- Wash and peel the horseradish root. Cut the root vegetable into medium-sized pieces.
- Place about a third of the greens and horseradish root in a glass container.
- Place one layer of large cucumbers on top of the greens. The fruits should be placed as closely as possible to each other.
- Sprinkle the layer of laid vegetables with half of the remaining amount of herbs, lay out a couple of pieces of horseradish root.
- Place another layer of vegetables on the greens, and the remaining greens and horseradish on them.
- In a separate pan, mix 3-4 liters of water and 300-400 g of salt. Put it on the fire, boil and cook the brine for about 5 minutes after boiling.
- Fill the containers with the cucumbers with the prepared brine. Lightly cover the necks of the jars with lids and leave them to cool at room temperature.
- After 24 hours, loosely cover the cooled jars with pickled cucumbers with plastic lids and place in a cool place.
- After 3-5 days, check the jars to ensure they are filled to the top with brine. If the amount of liquid in them has decreased, then the jars are topped up with fresh marinade prepared according to the same recipe.
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How to pickle large cucumbers for the winter. Pickled cucumbers in slices for the winter
TOP 15 recipes for pickling large cucumbers with crispy pieces for the winter
Pickled cucumbers are an appetizer that complements various salads, side dishes and cold dishes. When preparing snacks, it is necessary to use certain types of vegetables because some of them are only suitable for eating raw. To learn how to pickle large cucumbers in slices or rings for the winter, you need to familiarize yourself with the rules of the procedure.
Features of pickling cucumber slices for the winter
Crispy pickled cucumbers are preserved in several forms:
- Cut into medium sized circles.
- Cut into rings of small thickness.
Pickled cucumbers in pieces retain their crunch and acquire a pleasant taste and aroma.
Selection and preparation of raw materials
For the marinade, you need to purchase 2-3 kilograms of large cucumbers. What criteria to use when choosing raw materials:
- It is necessary to choose young vegetables, as they retain all their beneficial properties after pickling.
- A product suitable for marinade should have pimples with black spots. Such cucumbers practically do not explode in jars.
- To make the snack crispy, you need to focus on the thickness of the peel. Normally, it should be dense and difficult to pierce with sharp objects.
Important: before the procedure, the finished raw materials must be soaked in water for 3 hours to replenish the moisture balance and make the snack juicy.
How to prepare the container?
To prevent the product from exploding during storage, it is necessary to carefully prepare the canning container. To prevent the possibility of jars exploding, they should be washed with baking soda before cooking. Next, the container must be sterilized with hot water and dried naturally. Repeat with screw caps.
The most delicious recipes
Pickled cucumbers are pickled in different ways, each of them is supplemented with certain products and spices that help enhance the taste of the snack.
A simple recipe for the winter for a 3-liter jar “You will lick your fingers”
A simple canning recipe:
- Place chopped herbs at the bottom of a clean jar.
- Next, lay out the sliced cucumbers.
- Add boiling water, leave for 25 minutes.
- Drain the water and make a brine based on it. Add sugar to the liquid, combine it with salt, put the water on the fire, remove after 5 minutes.
- Combine the brine with vegetables, add vinegar, and roll up the jar.
To preserve it, you need to turn it over and cover it with a warm towel. When the workpiece has cooled, it should be sent to a dark place.
Option without sterilization
Pickled cucumbers without sterilization are prepared as follows:
- Soak 1.5 kilograms of cucumbers in water.
- Add greens to the twist container.
- Chop the vegetables and add boiling water.
- After 15 minutes, drain the liquid into a clean pan, add salt and sugar, and put the solution on the fire.
- At the end of the procedure, pour a spoonful of vinegar into the marinade. Add the resulting brine to the cucumbers.
Screw everything on with lids and wait until it cools down. Then send the twists to a dark room.
In Polish
To make preparations for the winter, you need:
- Add 2 liters of water to the pan.
- Add a glass of iodized salt and mix the solution.
- Cut the cucumbers into slices and place in salted brine for 3 hours.
- Chop the red bell pepper and herbs and place them in clean jars.
- Place chopped vegetables on top of the greens.
- Add 2 tablespoons of sugar, mustard and bay leaf to the remaining solution and place the marinade on low heat. After 7 minutes, remove it from the oven.
- Pour the resulting brine into jars and roll up the lids.
Wrap the blanks in a towel, wait until they cool down, and store them in the basement.
In Korean
To pickle cucumbers in Korean, you need:
- Rinse the vegetables thoroughly and cut into pieces.
- Grate large carrots on a coarse grater, mix with cucumbers, add chopped garlic.
- Pour olive oil, sugar, salt, pepper into the resulting vegetable mixture and mix all ingredients. Leave the mixture to steep for 7 hours.
- Pack the resulting product into jars and screw on the lid.
Turn the jars over, cover and leave them like this until they cool down.
Important: to make the appetizer more juicy and rich, the vegetable preparation must be infused throughout the day in a cool room.
In Finnish
To salt cucumbers in Finnish style, you need:
- Wash 2 kilograms of cucumbers, peel them, cut into thin slices.
- Place the raw materials in a deep container, sprinkle with a spoon of sugar.
- Cut dill into a thin layer on top.
- Next, repeat the steps, place chopped cucumbers, sugar, and herbs on a layer of dill.
Now the twist can be eaten.
In slices
If fresh cucumbers are too large and do not look very aesthetically pleasing, you can cut them and close them in small thin slices in jars. Step-by-step instructions for preparing the snack are presented below.
This is interesting: We close crispy cucumbers for the winter without sterilization according to the most delicious recipes
Ingredients
- cucumbers 2 kg
- garlic 15 cloves
- sugar 3 tbsp.
- ground black pepper 1 tsp.
- salt 1.5 tbsp.
- bite 80 ml
- vegetable oil 100 ml
Step by step recipe
- Wash 2 kg of fresh cucumbers and trim the ends on both sides. Cut the vegetables into thin slices 12 cm long.
- Peel 15 cloves of garlic and chop them with a knife.
- Place cucumber slices in a wide bowl. Add 3 tbsp. l. sugar, 1 tsp. ground black pepper and pieces of garlic. Salt the mixture 1.5 tbsp. l. salt. Mix all ingredients well.
- Pour 80 ml of vinegar and 100 ml of vegetable oil into the cucumber slices and mix all the ingredients again.
- Place the bowl with the preparation in the refrigerator. Stir the contents of the bowl every 40–45 minutes so that the spices are evenly distributed throughout the mixture.
- After 2–2.5 hours, when the vegetables in the bowl have released a sufficient amount of juice, remove the mixture from the refrigerator. Pack the cucumber slices tightly into a sterilized glass container.
- Pour the juice from the bowl into the containers until the vegetable mixture is completely covered with liquid. If there is not enough juice, you can fill the jars to the top with boiling water.
- Prepare a large saucepan and fill it with warm water, put a towel on the bottom. Place containers with cucumbers covered with lids in a saucepan and bring to a boil on the stove. Keep jars of pickles in boiling water for at least 7 minutes.
- Carefully remove the jars of cucumbers from the boiling water and roll them up tightly. Turn the containers upside down and keep them under a warm blanket for 24 hours.
Recipe for crispy pickles in jars using the cold method
This is one of the most common ways to pickle cucumbers. But at the same time, at first he causes mistrust among young housewives. How is this possible – we poured cold brine over the cucumbers and that’s it! You don't need to do anything else. Everything else is the work of lactic acid bacteria. Miracles straight out - no sterilization for you! Is this really possible? Let's find out!
For one 3 liter jar:
- Cucumbers – 1.5-2 kg
- Salt – 80 g
- Ground black pepper – 1 tsp.
- Garlic – 5-6 cloves
- Dill, horseradish
- Cold water - approximately 1.5 liters
Preparation:
1. First, let's prepare everything you need for the recipe: fresh cucumbers, herbs, among which the leaves and roots of horseradish with dill umbrellas are especially important, as well as garlic cloves. Take coarse rock salt and ground black pepper. We also need cold water.
You can use bottled store water. You can filter it from the tap. Well, if possible, use spring or well water.
As for cans, these can be liter, two or three liter cylinders. Fortunately, you don't have to worry about sterilization! The jars need to be rinsed very well with soda and rinsed several times. Same thing with lids!
2. Cucumbers, if they are not just picked from the garden, need to be soaked in cold water for 3-4 hours so that they are saturated with water and become more juicy. After this, cut off the ends on both sides. This way they dry out faster. Cut the greens and garlic into small pieces to make it easier to put them in the jar.
3. First, prepare the brine. We do it as follows.
To create 1 liter of brine for pickling cucumbers, you need 1 liter of water and 50-60 grams of coarse rock salt. A 3 liter jar of cucumbers contains 1.5 liters of brine, which means there will be more salt - approximately 80 grams. And if we don’t have scales, how can we measure the right amount of salt? It's simple! 1 heaped tablespoon contains 25-30 grams of salt. A simple calculation shows that the required 80 grams of salt corresponds to approximately 3 heaped tablespoons.
4. Since we will be salting cucumbers in two 3-liter jars, we will take 2 small jars (or bowls) for each 3-liter jar and measure 80 grams of salt into them. Pour in some water and mix well until the salt dissolves a little.
5. Now you need to put all the ingredients in the jar. Throw chopped dill and horseradish leaves to the bottom. Then vertically place the larger cucumbers inside the jar. We put smaller greens on them, and very small ones on top. We place them tightly so that there is no free space, but do not press them with force. We complete the installation with chopped garlic cloves and a small spoon of pepper.
6. Now the jar needs to be filled with cold water. First of all, pour the brine into it. There are salt crystals left at the bottom of the jar, so add water to it, which will wash the salt into the container with the fruit.
7. Next, take a decanter of cold water and fill the jar completely to the very brim. The water should be flush with the top rim of the container neck. The cucumbers should be three to four cm below the brine level. And there should be no air space in the jar, otherwise the fruits will become soft.
8. Cover the jar with a lid, but do not screw it on. Now we repeat the entire process of harvesting greens with a second three-liter cylinder.
9. Place the jars filled with fruits on bowls and let them ferment in a warm place for a week. As lactic acid bacteria act, the water begins to become cloudy, bubbles of carbon dioxide rush upward, light mold appears on the surface, and excess liquid flows down.
10. After a week, the fermentation process ends. You can remove mold from the surface of the jar. If a lot of liquid has leaked out, dilute a little salt in water and add it to our preparation. All that remains is to screw the jars tightly and send them to the cold - in the refrigerator or in the cellar.
Fermentation may take less time - approximately 3-4 days. It all depends on the air temperature. The warmer the room, the sooner the fermentation process will begin. But the jars should not be exposed to sunlight, so it is better not to place them on the windowsill.
11. Cold pickling is not for storing cucumbers in a city apartment. This method is applicable if you have a cellar in a country house or in the village. This is what the greens will look like when you go down to the cellar for them in winter.
12. But they will be so appetizing when you put them on a plate. Add the incredibly pleasant aroma of pickled cucumbers. You can eat them straight, cook pickle, make vinaigrette or salads.
How sad, you say! But what to do if you live in a city apartment? How to store pickled cucumbers for the winter? Do not worry! There are many ways that help stop the fermentation process and keep the fruits crispy, tasty, and without the need for additional sterilization. We will look at these recipes further.
Pickled cucumbers for the winter without vinegar
Every good housewife has her own proven recipe for making pickles. Traditionally they use a bite. I present to your attention the following pickling method, which uses citric acid instead of vinegar. I recommend making this recipe at least once. I think you'll appreciate it.
Ingredients
Ingredients for one liter jar:
- cucumbers - 500 grams,
- horseradish leaf - 1 piece,
- cherry leaf - 1 piece,
- currant leaf - 2-3 pieces,
- garlic - 2 cloves,
- allspice peas - 2 pieces,
- black peppercorns - 3-4 pieces,
- dill umbrella - 1 piece,
- hot pepper - to taste
- water - 500 milliliters,
- citric acid - 1/3 teaspoon,
- sugar - 1 tablespoon,
- salt - 0.5 tablespoon.
Step by step recipe
Preparation:
- In prepared sterile jars we put allspice peas, black peppercorns, 2 cloves of garlic. If the garlic is very large, then it is better to cut it lengthwise.
- Add one cherry leaf and 2 currant leaves, rinsing them thoroughly with cold water. Next, add dill umbrellas and well-washed horseradish leaves. You need to cut out the stem from the horseradish leaves, which will be useful later.
- Cut off the tails of the cucumbers. We put them in jars in a vertical position. One liter jar takes approximately 500 g of vegetables.
- Place horseradish stalks in between the cucumbers. Next, place the second layer of cucumbers horizontally. If the fruits are large, they can be cut in half.
- We put in a few more dill umbrellas. Add hot pepper to taste. Place a currant leaf on top. Fill the jars with boiling water, cover with a sterile lid and leave for 10 minutes.
- Next, change the lid to a plastic one with a hole, drain the water from the jars into a saucepan, and cover the jars with an iron lid.
- Boil water in a saucepan and pour it back into the jars of cucumbers, leave for 10 minutes.
- Now you need to prepare the marinade. For a liter of water you will need 1 tablespoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar. 1 liter of water is enough for about 2 liter jars.
This is interesting: Delicious preparations for the winter: cold pickling of green tomatoes in a bucket
It is necessary to boil the marinade, wait until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved in the water.
- Drain the water from the jars.
- Place 1/3 teaspoon of citric acid in a jar. Immediately pour the hot marinade over the cucumbers. We roll up the jars with a seaming wrench and turn them over.
- Leave the jars upside down under the blanket until they cool completely.
It is best to store the finished product in a dark, cool place or in a cellar, where they will last longer. In winter, they will delight you and your family, especially at the holiday table.
Cold pickling of cucumbers for the winter with mustard
Cucumbers salted in this way turn out crispy and piquant, store well and do not lose their color.
So, we will need the following products:
Ingredients for a 3 liter jar
1 kg of cucumbers; 3 cloves of garlic; 3 leaves of currant and cherry; a piece of horseradish root; several sprigs of dill; black pepper 5-8 peas; 1 teaspoon mustard (powder); 3 tablespoons salt.
We remind you that to pickle cucumbers for the winter, we use simple coarse kitchen salt (not iodized!)
How to pickle cucumbers with mustard
Step 1. Soak the cucumbers for several hours, and at this time we prepare the jars - wash them well and sterilize them.
Step 2. Place on the bottom of the jar:
- peeled and chopped horseradish
- cherry and currant leaves,
- sprigs of dill,
- peppercorns.
After this, place the cucumbers tightly, sprinkling them with cloves of garlic.
Step 3. Prepare the brine: dissolve the salt in warm water. Pour this brine over the cucumbers in jars.
Step 4. The last step is to pour dry mustard into each jar. Then the jars are covered with a lid and left for 5 days.
After the brine has become transparent and the sediment has settled to the bottom, drain the brine from the jars. Next, the jars are filled with cold water, which is then poured out.
This process should be repeated several times until all sediment has disappeared and the water becomes clear.
Step 5. At the last stage, carefully pour water into the jar - slowly, without bubbles, and to the very edge of the jar. The jar filled in this way is rolled up with a metal lid.
Pickled cucumbers with mustard will be ready after 3 months. Salting for the winter in this way allows cucumbers to be stored for 2-3 years.
Pickled cucumbers for the winter (pickling with mustard)
Without sterilization
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg cucumbers
- 1.5 liters of water
- 2.5 tbsp salt
- Horseradish leaf
- Dill umbrella
- clove of garlic
Step by step recipe
Without sterilization, cucumbers are soaked in marinade faster if you cut them into pieces and remove the rough peel.
Procedure:
- Place a horseradish leaf, an umbrella of dill, and a clove of garlic at the bottom of a liter jar.
- Cut 1.5 kg of overripe cucumbers into large pieces and place them in sterilized jars.
- In a saucepan, bring 1.5 liters of water to a boil, to which add 2.5 tbsp. l. salt.
- Fill the jars with the chopped product with cold brine and leave them to ferment in the room for 3 days, then put the jars in the basement or refrigerator.
- When the foam on the surface of the marinade disappears, it means that the pickling of overgrown cucumbers is complete. The brine is boiled again and the boiling liquid is poured over the salted vegetables.
- The dishes are covered with sterile lids and stored in the cold.
The quick pickling method is in demand among pickle lovers. In large families, canning can be done in three-liter jars.
You should know! Before preservation, cucumbers are soaked in cold water for 4 hours. The vegetables will be saturated with liquid and become crispy.
Recipe for crispy cucumbers when pickled with vodka
Here is another recipe for delicious crispy cucumbers for the winter. It's easy to prepare. The greens are aromatic, sour and salty. They are stored indoors and preserved until spring without losing their wonderful properties. Let's see how they are prepared.
Let's take a 3 liter jar:
- Cucumbers – 1.5-2 kg
- Currant leaves, horseradish, dill umbrellas, amaranth, marigolds
- Garlic – 4-5 cloves
- Salt – 80 g
- Vodka – 50 ml
- Water
Preparation:
1. Soak the cucumbers for 4 hours in cold water. Rinse well. Cut off the ends on both sides. In a jar we put several leaves of currants, horseradish, dill umbrellas, 5 cloves of garlic. Many housewives experiment and add various herbs, for example, amaranth leaves or Berkhat flowers.
2. After this, it’s the turn for the greens. We arrange them at our discretion. Either in columns or in no particular order. The main thing is that they lie tightly enough and there are no voids.
3. Then prepare clean cold water, 80 grams of coarse salt and 50 ml of vodka.
4. Transfer the salt from the glass to the carafe and stir well until the crystals dissolve. Leave the jar with cucumbers and brine at room temperature for 4 days. During this time, fermentation will take place. Pour the cloudy brine into a saucepan and boil over heat for 5 minutes. And we will pour cold water over the cucumbers twice, shake well and pour out the water to wash off the white coating from fermentation.
5. Pour 50 ml of vodka into a jar of cucumbers, which is a good preservative and helps maintain the hardness of the cucumbers. They will crunch as if they were just picked from the garden. Fill with hot brine.
6. Screw the jar with iron lids. Place them neck down and leave until cool. Then we transfer it to a permanent storage location. They can be stored in the apartment, but you should choose the coolest place possible.
In winter, cucumbers will delight us. They are very crispy, aromatic, with a strong sour-salty taste. In general - what you need!!!
In Korean
Men will like spicy cucumbers as a snack at a feast. Carrots give the brine a sunny color, and a bouquet of dry spices adds spiciness to the dish.
Ingredients
- Cucumbers 4 kg
- Carrots 1 kg
- Sugar 200 gr
- Vinegar 1 glass
- Salt 5 tbsp.
- Nutmeg, curry, coriander, red and black pepper 0.5 tsp each.
- Vegetable oil 1 cup
- head of garlic
Step by step recipe
Cucumbers are prepared like this:
- Cut 4 kg of large cucumbers into slices and mix them with 1 kg of raw carrots. The root vegetable must first be chopped on a grater for Korean carrots.
- Add 200 g to the vegetable mixture. sugar, 1 glass of vinegar, 5 tbsp. spoons of salt. Ground spices, 0.5 teaspoons of each type, are also added there: nutmeg, curry, red bitter and black allspice, coriander.
- At the end, add 1 cup of vegetable oil and a chopped head of garlic. The composition is thoroughly mixed and placed in clean glass jars. Leave the product for 4 hours to soak the vegetables in the brine.
- Place the jars in a pan of water and sterilize them for 10 minutes after boiling. Cover the dishes with metal lids and turn them upside down until cool. Ready canned food is stored in a dark place.
Heat-treated cucumber preparations can be stored at room temperature all winter.
Salad "Piculi" from overgrown cucumbers
The salad of overripe cucumbers “Piculi” is very good as a preparation for the winter. It is easy to prepare, but it turns out very tasty and cheap in cost.
Ingredients
- Large cucumbers 1kg
- Water 300ml
- Vinegar 9% half a glass
- Sugar 5 tbsp.
- Salt 60g
- Cinnamon stick
- Mustard seeds 1 tbsp.
- Coriander 1 tsp.
- Allspice and black pepper to taste.
Step by step recipe
- Cut the cucumbers crosswise into four parts and place them in boiling water for just one minute.
- Drain all liquid into a saucepan through a colander.
- Place the fruits in clean jars.
- Throw all the spices and herbs into the water and prepare the marinade.
- While it is hot, pour it over the cucumber salad in jars.
- Pasteurize the snack in a water bath for about twenty minutes.