Salted tomatoes are a traditional appetizer present at almost every holiday feast. Tomatoes with vodka for the winter are a little unusual, because their taste is distinguished by its freshness and multi-faceted aromatic bouquet. You can add even more originality to the dish by expanding the recipe with herbs and spices.
The quality of pickled tomatoes with vodka varies slightly. The tomatoes become crispy, firm, finger-licking, and the marinade remains alcohol-free. Using this method, you can prepare pickled tomatoes of any variety, as long as the fruits are ripe and red. If the fruits are small, they must be placed in a jar in their entirety.Large specimens should be cut into several parts, but rolled up separately from those placed in jars whole. Tomatoes canned with vodka are very tasty.
The role of alcohol in preservation
The combination of vegetables and vodka is considered classic, but the idea of adding the drink during the canning process became popular not so long ago. This is done for reasons of better preservation of the salting components.
The alcohol present in salted tomatoes does not affect their taste and aroma, but helps preserve the shape of the fruit and prolongs the shelf life of the product. Tomatoes canned with vodka are not only finger-licking good, but also prevent the snack from fermenting and the jars from bloating. Mold is not harmful to tomatoes salted using vodka.
It has long been noted that with the help of ethyl alcohol you can stop the fermentation processes. The production of fortified wines is based on a similar action, the fermentation process in which does not reach completion, but stops after adding a drink with a strength of 40 to 60 degrees. This property is used in the pickling process.
Harvesting vegetables always carries a certain risk of fermentation or mold, despite the use of preservatives such as sugar and salt.
The reasons may be violation of hygiene requirements, dirt on the dishes, deviation from the cooking technology and unwashed hands. In some cases, it is completely difficult to understand the reasons for opening a can.
By adding a very small amount of alcohol to the preparations, you can gain confidence in the safety of the future snack. The alcohol will stop fermentation and destroy all pathogens.Mold fungi will not have the opportunity to reproduce and spoil the twists. To keep the preparations in their original form, you need to use about 20 milliliters of vodka per 1 liter of brine.
Ingredients for pickling tomatoes
To prepare tomatoes with vodka you should prepare:
- red tomatoes in a volume equal to the volume of a three-liter jar;
- 1.5 liters of water;
- 2 tablespoons salt;
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar;
- bay leaf (3 leaves);
- 5 pieces. carnations;
- 1 pinch of red hot pepper;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 5 cherry or oak leaves;
- 10 black peppercorns;
- 1 tablespoon 9% vinegar;
- 1 tablespoon of vodka.
You don’t have to add oak or cherry leaves, but their presence can make the tomatoes in the mysterious marinade firm and crispy, finger licking good.
Step-by-step cooking guide
The recipe for making tomatoes with vodka for the winter is simple. Salt vegetables should be in this order:
- Preparing tomatoes. The fruits should be small, fragrant and firm. To improve the taste, you can add a small onion to the jar. Each tomato in the area of the stalk is pierced with a toothpick. We can only good, smooth fruits.
- Sterilization of containers. This issue should be approached as carefully as possible, because the jars with the contents will not be sterilized. You can resort to any convenient method: steaming, baking in the oven, heating in the microwave.
- Bookmark. Some of the spices are placed at the bottom of the jar. Since there is no need to sterilize the jars, it is safer to use dried spices so that the container does not “explode”.
- Treatment. Horseradish leaves, peppercorns, currant or cherry leaves must be doused with boiling water and placed in jars.
- Laying tomatoes.Tomatoes prepared with vodka without sterilization in a jar must be interspersed with onion rings. Ideally, there should be as few voids as possible.
- Filling with hot water. Fill a jar with boiling water into which all the spices are placed. At the top are several green dill umbrellas. Leave for 10 minutes.
- Preparing the marinade. Water from the jar is poured into the pan, salt is added there, and essence is added to the jar while the marinade is boiling. Vodka is also added to the vinegar.
- Filling with marinade. As soon as the salt water begins to boil, it can be poured into the jars, filling them to the very brim. Salting is considered completed.
- Twist. After the lids are rolled up, the jars are wrapped in a warm blanket for a day to cool slowly. Anything marinated should last for a long time.
During the marinating process, the aromas of winter spices will mix with the aroma of tomatoes, and the share of vodka will contribute to the long-term preservation of the preparations and the strength of the tomato pulp. Green tomatoes with vodka will be finger-licking good.
