Housewives who prepare food never cease to amaze with their skills... They prepare incredible dishes from simple ingredients and often mislead guests. This category of amazing desserts also includes sweet zucchini with pineapple flavor for the winter. By following one of the recipes, you can turn an ordinary vegetable into a fragrant fruit, and even inexperienced cooks can do this.
- Preparing Ingredients
- What kind of zucchini is better to take?
- To peel vegetables or not to peel?
- Suitable cut
- When is the best time to taste?
- Recipe for zucchini with pineapple juice
- In pineapple syrup
- Recipe with cherry plum
- With orange
- Rolling zucchini with pineapple essence
- Preservation without sterilization
- Marinated zucchini with pineapple flavor
- How to store preserves
Preparing Ingredients
This is an important stage in the preparation of any preparations, especially if they are to be stored throughout the winter.
If you take into account the useful recommendations of experienced housewives, you can avoid many mistakes and get excellent results:
What kind of zucchini is better to take?
As a rule, the most delicious “pineapples” are obtained from young zucchini with thin skin. You can also take well-ripened vegetables, but when cooking them, it may take more time to evaporate excess liquid.
To peel vegetables or not to peel?
Even the delicate skin of young fruits must be removed, as well as the inner pulp with seeds, otherwise their presence will reveal the origin of the “exotic”. Pieces of vegetables should be as similar in appearance as possible to a “guest from the tropics”.
Suitable cut
The “ring” shape gives vegetables the greatest resemblance to fruits. You can add it to the zucchini using a special cutting device, or you can make a hole with a regular glass.
The suitable thickness of the rings is 10 millimeters; the core is squeezed out using a mold. The rings can be cut into pieces or halves.
If there is no mold, you can cut the zucchini lengthwise into 2 parts and remove the pulp and seeds with a spoon. The “boat” is turned over and cut crosswise into segments that look like pineapple half rings.
In addition to half rings, cutting into cubes is allowed - their size is usually 2-2.5 centimeters.
When is the best time to taste?
Naturally, when making such a dessert for the first time or when using a new recipe, the hostess is eager to try her original creation. But in order for the zucchini to acquire the expected taste and aroma, they need to steep for at least 3 days and be saturated with the juices of other components and spices.To add sweetness and a warm aroma to the dessert, you can add vanilla sugar to it. And with the help of sea buckthorn, the zucchini pineapple preparation acquires a rich hue and piquant sourness.
Recipe for zucchini with pineapple juice
The most common way to prepare zucchini “a la pineapples” is to add regular store-bought pineapple juice. This ingredient gives the desired taste, so it is very difficult to distinguish a vegetable from a fruit.
For the treat you will need:
- zucchini – 1 kilogram;
- pineapple juice – 350 milliliters;
- sugar – 125 grams;
- citric acid – 2/3 teaspoons;
- vanillin - a pinch.
Cooking method:
- zucchini are peeled and cut into rings or pieces;
- the syrup is prepared - all the remaining components are mixed in a container and sent to low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved;
- vegetables should be placed in syrup and boiled for a quarter of an hour after boiling; It is important to stir constantly to avoid burning.
The finished dessert can be put into jars, well filled with syrup, for long-term storage, and rolled up. The containers are wrapped in a blanket, and after cooling they are placed in a cool place; they can be placed in a basement or cellar.
In pineapple syrup
Syrup from canned fruits is often unnecessary - after all, only the tasty morsels are usually eaten. But you can leave it and make a pineapple dessert - jam, but from zucchini.
Required Products:
- zucchini – 1.5 kilograms;
- granulated sugar - 1.2 kilograms;
- citric acid – 1/2 teaspoon;
- canned pineapples - a 0.4-0.5 liter jar is enough.
The jam is prepared as follows:
- vegetables are cut into cubes to make 1.5 kilograms of product;
- prepare syrup: from sugar and 100 milliliters of liquid from pineapples, bring to a boil;
- zucchini should be poured with hot syrup, add citric acid, mix and leave for 60 minutes;
- the liquid from the vegetables must be drained, heated until hot and poured over the zucchini again; they infuse for another hour;
- canned fruits are cut in the same way as zucchini, they are sent to the vegetables and placed on the stove until the mass boils;
- the jam must be removed from the stove before it cools;
- the procedure should be repeated several times so that some of the moisture evaporates and some is absorbed into the squash pulp;
- When the zucchini begins to look like tropical fruit, the mass should be boiled for 20 minutes over low heat and placed in pre-sterilized containers.
The amount of dessert produced is the same as the amount of granulated sugar used - 1.2 kilograms.
Recipe with cherry plum
This crop from the plum family is actively used for various kinds of preparations, and if you add cherry plum to zucchini, you get delicious “pineapples”.
Ingredients required:
- cherry plum – 500 grams;
- zucchini – 2 kilograms;
- sugar – 350 grams;
- 3-4 cloves.
The cooking process is as follows:
- the following are placed at the bottom of a 3-liter jar: cloves, cherry plums and pieces of vegetables - the products should fill the container up to the “hangers”;
- the ingredients are poured with boiling water and left in this form for 20 minutes;
- the water must be drained, sugar added to it and put on the stove until it boils and the grains dissolve;
- The contents of the jar are poured with boiling syrup, and it can be rolled up immediately.
To keep the product better, it is recommended to cover the sealed jars with a towel or blanket until they cool completely.
With orange
“Pineapple” pieces can be made from zucchini and oranges and, if all proportions are followed, the dessert turns out delicious. It will require:
- zucchini – 3.5 kilograms;
- oranges – 2 pieces;
- granulated sugar – 0.5 kilograms;
- water – 1 liter;
- citric acid – 4.5 teaspoons.
The cooking algorithm is as follows:
- the peeled vegetable is cut into pieces 3 centimeters thick and 4 centimeters long (dimensions are approximate);
- citrus fruits are washed and doused with boiling water;
- oranges are cut into thin half rings, including the peels;
- pieces of fruit are laid out on the bottom of the prepared jars;
- then the zucchini is laid;
- syrup is prepared - sugar and citric acid are added to lukewarm water, everything is mixed until the grains dissolve;
- syrup is poured into the jar, the container is sterilized for 15 minutes and closed.
Rolling zucchini with pineapple essence
Not all housewives know about such an ingredient as pineapple essence, thanks to which you can give fresh zucchini the taste and aroma of a tropical fruit.
In addition, using it, you don’t have to boil the filling, and put pieces of vegetables into jars after soaking.
The following components need to be prepared:
- zucchini (young ones are better) – 3 kilograms;
- sugar – 1 kilogram;
- pineapple essence – 2 packs of 8 grams;
- citric acid – 20 grams;
- water – 2 liters.
Cooking algorithm:
- you need to boil water in a saucepan and leave to cool;
- prepare vegetables - peel and cut into large cubes;
- Add citric acid to the cooled water and add pieces of vegetables;
- they should remain in it for 4-5 hours, you can also leave them overnight;
- the cubes are removed from the acidified water and placed in prepared jars;
- you should prepare a “brine” - dissolve the essence and granulated sugar in the acidic water from the zucchini, stir until the grains dissolve;
- jars with vegetables are filled with the prepared liquid, and the containers with the contents are sterilized.
Afterwards, the jars can be rolled up, covered with a warm blanket and left until cool - this way they are stored better.
Preservation without sterilization
There are many recipes, following which you can get canned “pineapples” from zucchini, suitable for winter storage, without sterilizing the jars. One of the methods is especially popular among housewives; it will require the following ingredients:
- lemon – 1 piece;
- zucchini – 0.5 kilograms;
- cloves - 3 pieces;
- sugar – 0.5 kilograms;
- water – 2 liters.
Cooking method:
- cut vegetables into “pineapple” shapes, place in a saucepan, add water and bring to a boil;
- add granulated sugar and simmer the mixture over low heat for a quarter of an hour;
- when the pieces become amber-transparent, add clove buds;
- vegetables are boiled in syrup for another 15 minutes, and freshly squeezed lemon juice is poured into them;
- The “pineapples” should be kept on the fire for another 2-3 minutes, and then poured into jars, rolling up without sterilizing.
If you follow the recipe, the zucchini acquires freshness and pineapple flavor.
Marinated zucchini with pineapple flavor
As it turned out, you can marinate not only snack preparations - cucumbers and other vegetables, but also dessert ones, for example, “pineapple zucchini”. For the dish you will need:
- zucchini – 4 kilograms;
- oranges – 3 pieces;
- water – 1 liter;
- citric acid – 1 tablespoon;
- sugar – 0.5 kilograms.
The dessert is prepared step by step as follows:
- citrus fruits must be doused with boiling water and cut into pieces;
- they should be placed in prepared jars;
- zucchini are peeled, the insides are removed and cut into 2-2.5 cm cubes or small half rings;
- vegetables are stacked with fruits;
- cold filling is prepared - granulated sugar and citric acid are dissolved in water;
- the contents of the jars are filled with syrup, they are covered with metal, boiled lids, and sent for 15-minute sterilization.
The finished jars are hermetically sealed, turned upside down and wrapped in a warm blanket or blanket - until they cool completely.
How to store preserves
Sunsets are stored well for the winter if all preparation rules and proportions of ingredients are followed. As a rule, they can be placed in cool places - in cellars, basements, pantries.
In addition, the following nuances must be taken into account:
- It is important that the jars are not exposed to direct sunlight;
- It is necessary to keep workpieces away from heat sources - stoves and heating devices;
- the temperature in the storage should not fall below +5 C, otherwise the taste of the dessert will deteriorate;
- the air temperature for storing canned food in a sealed sealed container should not be higher than +20 C, with a humidity of no more than 75%.
The housewife should be wary if bubbles appear and the brine becomes cloudy - this means that the seal is broken and the product will most likely not be preserved. In some cases, storing the workpiece is only possible on the refrigerator shelf. Usually we are talking about recipes without sterilization and when closing jars with nylon lids, although there are exceptions here.
It is necessary to follow the recommendations and pay special attention to the cleanliness and sterility of the utensils and ingredients themselves.