TOP 12 delicious step-by-step recipes for pickling cucumbers for the winter

Although there is an opinion that any cucumbers can be preserved, not all varieties are suitable for home preparation, and only greens that have a thin skin covered with tubercles and spines are suitable. Pickled cucumbers get crunch from the brine. Fruits with a smooth surface and thick skin lose their taste when preserved, are not stored for a long time and are used in salads.

Features of marinating

It is better to seal greens in jars that have just been picked from the bush. If this is not possible, the fruits are left in cool water for 4–6 hours. Currant or oak leaves used for preservation not only have a pleasant aroma, but also give elasticity to cucumbers, and hardness to horseradish. Mustard seeds retain their rich color. Greens are marinated by pouring hot or cold brine, and sterilization is used. Each method produces a spicy, savory snack..

How to choose and prepare cucumbers for pickling

Greens with thin skin and black sparse thorns are used for preservation with vinegar. The length of the fruits should be no more than 12 cm, otherwise they will be difficult to fit into the jar. Cucumbers bought at a market or store are placed in cool water, changing it several times.

Soaking returns elasticity to vegetables, allows you to remove nitrates and remove voids.

To remove bitterness, before pickling, the tails of the greens are cut off or the fruits are pricked with forks. Pickling varieties taste best with vinegar; universal hybrids are suitable. Such cucumbers do not sour or soften because they contain flavonin. Chlorinated water is not used to prepare the marinade; it is better to collect it from a spring or spring.

Preparing containers

Housewives pickle gherkins in small liter jars. The containers are washed with water and soda, sterilized over steam, in the oven or microwave. Boil the lids for 5 minutes, the jars for 10.

Pickled cucumber recipes

Vegetables go well with herbs. Horseradish destroys microbes, prevents mold from forming, garlic improves the taste. These ingredients are added during marinating.

The classic "finger lickin' way"

Having waited for the harvest of juicy greens from their garden, housewives sterilize the dishes and lids, select a simple and proven recipe for preparing pickled cucumbers:

1. Place fresh dill, horseradish leaf, peppercorns, and 3 cloves of garlic in a liter jar.
2. The tails of the washed greens are removed, the container is filled with them, the fruits are placed vertically. Carrots cut into strips are placed in the free space.
3. Place oak, cherry and bay leaves, cloves, dill, horseradish and parsley rhizomes, mustard and mint on top.
4. The fruits are poured with boiling water.
5. After 10 minutes, drain the water into a saucepan, add salt and sugar, and boil until the sediment disappears.
6. The jar is filled with marinade, vinegar is added, and the container is sealed with a lid.

After 3 or 4 weeks, the crispy greens will be soaked in the solution and acquire a piquant flavor.

A liter jar takes half a kilogram of cucumbers, 2 tablespoons of vinegar, one each of sugar and salt, 3 peas each of allspice and bitter pepper.

Without sterilization

Having collected a rich harvest of green vegetables, summer residents rush to quickly pickle them in such a way as to preserve the vitamins. Place dill, horseradish and currant leaves in liter jars, sterilized over steam, place cucumbers vertically, pour boiling water twice, season with marinade the third time, add garlic cloves.

For one and a half kilograms of greens, the following is used:

• 1.5 liters of water;
• 1.5 l. salt;
• vinegar essence - 10 ml;
• 10 g sugar;
• horseradish leaves and dill.

Vegetables undergo minimal heat treatment, but do not spoil for a long time. It is better to store the workpiece in the basement.

With vinegar essence

To please your household with aromatic gherkins of rich color, sterilize liter jars, put garlic cloves, mustard and coriander seeds, allspice peas in them, and put greens on top.

A container with vegetables is filled with boiling water, when the water has cooled, poured into a pan, boiled with spices and salt, and a spoonful of vinegar essence is added. Gherkins are covered in a hot marinade. To prepare it, take 6 glasses of water, 4 liters. sugar, 60 g salt.

With vinegar

Many housewives pickle cucumbers in 3-liter jars, since the crispy and tasty greens are quickly eaten with meat, fried potatoes and mashed potatoes. For such a container, 1.8–2 kg of fruit is enough:

1. Cucumbers are soaked in cool water, washed after 2 hours, and the ends are cut off on both sides.
2. 2 or 3 bay leaves and an umbrella of dill are placed in jars disinfected over steam.
3. Boil 1.5 liters of water in a saucepan and fill the container with greens with it.
4. When the liquid has cooled, cook the marinade, adding 3 tablespoons of sugar and 2 salt, after a minute pour 65-70 ml of vinegar, fill the jars with cucumbers, add garlic.

To prevent the vegetable preparation from spoiling for a long time, the containers, sealed with lids, are heated, wrapped in a thick towel. The cucumbers do not soften and are crunchy.

With mustard seeds

Cucumbers are canned with other vegetables and various seasonings, which give them a sweetish taste. The fruits will not lose color after being poured with hot marinade if they are made with mustard seeds. 7 small greens are placed in a liter jar; 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, dill, a spoonful of seeds, bay and currant leaves are placed at the bottom of the container.

A marinade is prepared from 20 g of salt, 1/2 cup of sugar and 120 ml of vinegar.The solution is filled with jars of cucumbers, which are sterilized in a metal pan for a quarter of an hour.

In Bulgarian

Small gherkins look beautiful in liter jars. To make vegetables crunchy, you can cook them using an old recipe. Back in Soviet times, such pickled cucumbers were sold out before they even hit the shelves. Zelentsy, and they will hold about 600 g, are soaked overnight in water with ice. Jars and lids are sterilized over steam:

1. The onion is chopped into rings, the garlic is peeled and poured into a prepared container with pepper and bay leaf.
2. The washed cucumbers are placed vertically and poured with boiling water twice for a quarter of an hour.
3. Boil the marinade by combining 60 g of salt, 4 tablespoons of sugar with strained water, and adding 80 ml of vinegar.

The jars are filled with boiling solution. Bulgarian-style gherkins do not have time to survive until spring.

In tomato sauce

Tomatoes go well with other vegetables; canned cucumbers add an original taste. If we pickle greens according to the classic recipe, we use:

• spices and leaves;
• head of garlic;
• 200–250 g of onion;
• 5 kg gherkins;
• a glass of tomato sauce;

To fill, take 1.5 liters of water, 100 ml of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of salt, 100 g of sugar. Cucumbers are soaked for a couple of hours.

The marinade is boiled with tomato paste, to which butter, peppercorns and bay leaves are added, and boiled for a quarter of an hour..

Lay greens, onions cut into rings, squeezed garlic into sterile jars in layers, place dill on the bottom and season with marinade.

With carrots

To highlight the taste of cucumbers, don’t worry about having nowhere to store the preparations; leave the vegetables in cold water overnight. To seal a 0.5 liter can, use:

• 3 greens;
• 1 carrot;
• a spoonful of vinegar and salt;
• garlic;
• chilli;
• 10 g sugar.

Dill and spices are placed at the bottom of the jar, vegetables cut into rings are placed on top, and seasoned with boiling marinade. The container with the workpiece is sterilized for 10 minutes.

In Hungarian

If you want to make cucumbers with an original sweetish taste, use apple cider vinegar instead of the usual preservative. Place 3 kg of gherkins, cloves, pepper and mustard seeds into a clean container.

A glass of sugar, 3 liters, is dissolved in water. salt, after boiling add vinegar. Jars of gherkins filled with marinade are sterilized for 15 minutes and stored at room temperature.

With squash

Summer residents who grow vegetables on their property can prepare a savory snack for the winter. Cucumbers should be soaked in cool water in the evening.

In the morning you need to cut carrots and squash into slices, and onions into rings. Horseradish leaves and spices are placed in the jar, and vegetables are placed on top. The container is filled with boiling water twice, filled with marinade, and 1/2 tsp is added. vinegar essence.

For a kilogram of cucumbers, take 700 or 800 g of squash, 3 large carrots, 1 onion.

In Polish

To pamper your family with pickled greens, 4 kg of fruits are cut into slices and placed in a large saucepan, and the garlic is squeezed out. After 2 hours, when the vegetables release their juice, mix the ingredients with a glass of sugar, add the same amount of vinegar, sunflower oil, 4 liters. salt. The mass is transferred into liter jars and sterilized for a quarter of an hour.

Cucumbers with citric acid

For people suffering from stomach pathologies, spicy snacks are contraindicated; vinegar irritates the mucous membranes. You can replace this product with citric acid. Cucumbers are soaked in water for a couple of hours. The garlic is peeled and chopped into slices. Place mustard seeds and spices at the bottom of the container, and add greens. The jar is filled with water.After 10 minutes, the liquid is drained, combined with salt and sugar, citric acid is added and the marinade is poured over the cucumbers.

Specifics and shelf life of preservation

Pickles quickly deteriorate; even in the cellar or refrigerator, after 6 months they begin to mold. Cucumbers that are sterilized or sealed with vinegar are stored at low temperatures for 3 years, and at room conditions for 12 months.