Regular marinades have long become boring. For variety, you can prepare crispy pickled cucumbers with cherries for the winter. A juicy spicy preparation with light pink brine is a wonderful addition to hot lunch dishes and an appetizer for the holiday table that will not leave any guest indifferent. There are no difficulties in preparation, you just need to prepare containers and quality products.
Why do they put cherry leaves in cucumbers?
When pickling, in addition to the components of the marinade, cherry, currant, grape leaves, spicy herbs, and peppercorns are used. These ingredients are necessary to give cucumbers elasticity, hardness, rich taste and aroma. Without their use, the product turns out to be insipid, watery, and unappetizing.
Subtleties of pickling cucumbers with cherries for the winter
When pickling cucumbers, the following nuances should be taken into account:
- The fruits selected for seaming must be thoroughly washed. Otherwise, the likelihood of the jar bloating and product spoilage increases.
- To make the taste sharper and piquant, you can add horseradish, a pod of hot pepper, and garlic cloves to the jar. But the amount of garlic should be small, otherwise the cucumbers will soften.
- Fruits not grown in a greenhouse are best suited for pickling. Pickled greenhouse cucumbers soften and become unpleasant to eat.
- If, a few days after seaming, the brine becomes cloudy and whitish, then the jars will have to be depressurized, the marinade should be poured out, and a new one will have to be made.
- In order for the preparation of the marinade to be successful, and for the seaming to last for a long time, you should choose fresh and ripe cucumbers with darkened pimples. Fruits with light pimples are called salad fruits; usually jars with them do not last long and explode.
List of ingredients for the recipe
To roll up one liter jar, you need to take the following ingredients:
- 0.5 kg of cucumbers;
- 1.5 tablespoons of 9% vinegar;
- 3 tablespoons sugar;
- 1 tablespoon salt;
- dill umbrella;
- 4 cloves of garlic;
- 2 allspice peas;
- 2 cherry and currant leaves;
- half a glass of cherries.
How to select and prepare products?
For rolling, you can take both your own cucumbers grown in the garden beds and those bought in the store. The main thing is that they are fresh, short, and elastic to the touch. Only fresh product after preservation will be crispy.
The prepared fruits must be filled with cold water and left for 5-7 hours. Then wash thoroughly, cut off the tails and tops.
You also need to wash all other ingredients. Peel the garlic cloves. You can remove the pits from the cherries if desired.
Preparing containers for the start of the process
A liter jar is most convenient for preserving small cucumbers and cherries. Prepared jars and lids must be sterilized in any way before the sealing procedure.
Cooking process
Prepare pickled cucumbers with cherries as follows:
- Place currant and cherry leaves in the first layer on the bottom of sterilized jars, then dill, garlic cloves, and peppercorns;
- fill the jar with cucumbers, insert cherries between them;
- fill the filled containers with boiling water and leave for 15 minutes;
- pour out the water, pour in a new portion of boiling water, leave for 15 minutes;
- pour the infused water into a saucepan, add sugar and salt, cook for about 2 minutes until the ingredients dissolve;
- pour the required amount of vinegar into the jars and fill with marinade;
- cover with lids, roll up;
- The workpieces are turned upside down, wrapped in a towel, and left on the table until cool.
Storage rules and periods
Since vinegar in pickled cucumbers acts as a preservative, the product is stored longer than salted and lightly salted fruits. Moreover, the requirements for storage conditions are not strict. Cucumbers with cherries, rolled in compliance with the rules, last up to 2 years without loss of quality.
You can store pickled cucumbers either in a cool room or at room temperature.
Temperature conditions do not affect the safety of the product.
When storing, so that the jars do not burst and the product does not spoil, the following rules must be taken into account:
- workpieces cannot be placed near heating radiators and other heat sources;
- It is unacceptable to leave seams in winter on the balcony or in any other place unprotected from frost;
- It is impossible for direct sunlight to fall on the workpieces.
In a private home, pickled cucumbers are stored in the cellar. In apartment conditions, the optimal storage places are pantries, kitchen cabinets, shaded shelves.
Before serving, it is advisable to cool the cucumbers with cherries and keep them in the refrigerator for several hours. This will improve their taste.
