Cloudy cucumbers can be eaten. Why cucumbers in jars become cloudy after seaming and explode: what to do, how to save? If the cucumbers are cloudy, can they be redone? Is it possible to eat pickled and canned cucumbers in cloudy brine

According to statistics, canned cucumbers explode much more often than tomatoes. This is explained by a feature in the structure of cucumber fruits. To avoid such problems with twists for the winter, it is necessary to carefully prepare the ingredients and the container itself for creating canned food.

Why flip jars when preserving

Even novice housewives, after placing vegetables and the necessary spices in jars, fill them with water and roll them up, turn the vessels over. Some do this, adopting the experience of mothers and grandmothers, others read about such a need in canning recipes. Why do such an action, many do not guess. Turning cans after seaming is due to the following reasons:

  • Checking tightness. By placing a container with vegetables or berries upside down, you can see if liquid is leaking under the lid. This is very important, because well-closed products will not spoil, bacteria will not penetrate into them.
  • Sterilization of the upper parts of the jar. Turning over a vessel with a hot liquid inside will help to warm up and disinfect not only the bottom, but also the neck of the jar.

Why banks wrap up

In cooking technologies canned cucumbers it is written that after turning over, the banks need to be wrapped. On the question of why to do this, there are several opinions:

  • Replacing the sterilization of conservation. The vessel cools down longer, more time is treated with heat. This means that a more intensive disinfection process is obtained.
  • Products taste better. It is believed that with such languor, the cucumbers will infuse, better soak in the marinade and become more saturated and spicy taste.
  • Protect banks. Another explanation is that the slow cooling keeps the glass intact. It may crack if, after sterilization and pouring boiling water, the vessel is immediately placed on a cold surface.

Why cans of cucumbers become cloudy and explode

When salting or pickling cucumbers, every housewife fears that the jars will explode, and their contents will become cloudy, there will be bad smell. Such incidents happen frequently. The reason why cans of canned cucumbers explode may be various conditions, which are based on the inattention of the cook or poor-quality containers where the preservation was placed. To avoid misfortunes and not have to redo everything, you need to carefully follow the recipe and take precautions when choosing containers.

Air getting into cucumber twists

Before laying cucumbers, you need to select them. For blanks, small, strong and fresh fruits no cavities inside. This is an important rule, since air and bacteria accumulate in large cucumbers. Microorganisms, being canned along with vegetables, continue their activities, releasing gases. The volumes of gaseous substances and air that is released from the cucumber cavities grow, gradually filling the jar. As a result, the vessel explodes. To prevent this from happening, experienced housewives recommend soaking cucumbers for several hours.

Violation of cooking technology

When rolling cucumbers for storage under iron lids in no case should the sequence and technology of canned food preparation be violated. It is important to rinse the cucumbers well and all the seasonings that are necessary for pickling. Otherwise, along with pollution, microbes will get into the jar, which can become the reason why jars of cucumbers explode in a few minutes. Thorough washing should be done on the leaves of the necessary plants, dill umbrellas and garlic.

Poor preparation of jars for canning

A common reason why jars of pickled cucumbers explode is poor-quality container preparation. This factor can affect the safety of homemade preparations in 2 cases:

  • Incorrect sterilization. Sterilize jars over steam, and lids in boiling water, you need as much time as allotted in the recipe. It is not necessary to shorten this period, it is better to slightly increase it, since insufficient processing can leave many microorganisms alive. After steaming the jars, it is immediately necessary to lay the ingredients in them. This must be done as quickly as possible. Roll up with lids that have just been taken out of boiling water.
  • If the container is not clean enough. Be sure to keep the jars clean and intact. A lot of dirt accumulates on the neck, they must be removed completely. Top part must be intact, otherwise, during seaming, air may enter, which causes fermentation.

Recipe Violation

The reason why cucumber jars explode may be the neglect of the proportions described in the recipe. Substances that are necessary for the preservation of cucumbers in winter period, you need to add, strictly following the recipe. Otherwise, you risk getting an unexpected taste or start the fermentation process. Vinegar, salt, sugar and citric acid put in the amount prescribed by the recipe, and not at your discretion, so as not to harm homemade preparations, do not re-twist.

What varieties of cucumbers are suitable for canning

To obtain quality pickles from cucumbers without a possible explosion of cans, you need to choose the right varieties for preservation. There are selection criteria:

  • Vegetable size. Choose cucumbers about 10-12 cm in size. It is convenient to place such fruits in jars, they look very appetizing.
  • Peel thickness. Thick-skinned cucumbers come out crunchier when rolled. Define suitable fruit easy: try to pierce it with your fingernail. If this is difficult, then the skin has a suitable density.
  • Thorn color. For salting, marinating and creating salted cucumbers fruits with black thorns are suitable. Such varieties perfectly pass the brine, they are very tasty. Vegetables with white spines are best reserved for salads.
  • The color of the skin of the fruit should have a dark shade. He points to suitable variety and the degree of maturity of the vegetable. Light and yellow shades are signs of overripe cucumbers, which may have air cavities inside, which can provoke fermentation. Excessively ripe fruits have large seeds that are not very pleasant to eat in canned form.

Every housewife at least once in her life tried to do conservation. Isn't it nice to enjoy the winter juicy tomatoes Or pickled crunchy cucumbers? It also happens that out of a whole batch, several jars begin to deteriorate. In order not to get upset ahead of time, you need to know why the cucumbers in the jar are cloudy and how to fix it.

Causes

Why, among a dozen jars that were prepared at the same time, according to the same recipe, some of them deteriorated, and some cost themselves and know no grief? You should find out why the water in the jar of cucumbers turned cloudy and how to avoid such troubles in the future.

There can be several reasons for such embarrassment with brine:

  1. Insufficiently thoroughly washed cucumbers - a particle of dirt remains on the peel of at least one cucumber, and that's it, that's enough for all the vegetables in this jar to rot.
  2. soap residue and detergents inside - another reason that pickles become cloudy in jars.
  3. Improper sterilization of containers - a poorly washed and sterilized jar is a guarantee of a damaged workpiece.
  4. The use of unwashed or poorly washed herbs and spices - dirt and bacteria from them enter the brine and start the process of decay or fermentation.
  5. The use of sea or iodized salt - experienced housewives claim that such salt contains elements that cause fermentation inside the jar.
  6. Cooking the marinade according to the wrong recipe - without the use of acid or vinegar, the brine will definitely deteriorate, and with it all the contents.
  7. The use of non-sterilized lids - it happens that when wrapped up, women completely forget that it is necessary to process not only jars and their contents, but also lids.
  8. A poor-quality seaming key or chipped cans - both of them violate the tightness, which ultimately leads to fermentation or rotting inside.
  9. The use of cucumbers grown with the use of chemicals also happens that even after preliminary soaking, some of the harmful substances remain in the vegetables, and in the future provoke damage to the preservation.
  10. The use of lettuce varieties - if the cucumbers become cloudy, then the reason for this may be only one cucumber of the wrong variety, lost among the rest, since such species are classified as perishable and are not suitable for winter harvesting.

Most of the causes of such a problem lie in the inattention or negligence of the one who was engaged in the harvesting. So that labor does not go down the drain, and conservation goes to a landfill, you should carefully and impeccably follow all the recommendations in the canning process and not be lazy to wash the food again, boil the brine or inspect the jars for flaws.

Why did the water in jars with cucumbers turn cloudy - it’s understandable, but what kind of processes are going on inside at this time and is it possible to eat cloudy cucumbers?

Most experienced women are afraid to use such vegetables and do not even try to save them. However, some argue that, provided that the jar did not explode and the lid did not swell, then the situation can still be corrected.

Important! Fermented cucumbers can become a breeding ground for botulism! Do not reuse cucumbers from exploded cans! V best case the use of such conservation in food will lead to indigestion.

How to fix

Of course, I don’t want to throw away products that took so much effort and time to cook, because conservation is a laborious process. Therefore, below we consider simple recommendations about solving the problem of cloudy cucumbers.

You should not immediately give up and get upset if the brine is suspicious a few days after the banks have been rolled up. Most likely the culprit is lactic acid, which started the fermentation process. As a rule, this is due to the absence or lack of vinegar.

Correcting the situation is simple, but only if the lid is not swollen! The jar is opened, the brine is boiled in a saucepan, and the cucumbers are left untouched.

It is enough to pour boiling water over them without removing them from the jar. To heighten the effect, you can pour them with boiling water for a few minutes, no more than 5. After that, the water is poured out, the marinade is removed from the fire and immediately poured into a jar of cucumbers, vinegar is added and rolled up, as usual.

It is important to ensure that the lid rolls up tightly and that the container is free of defects. It is necessary to cool the preservation only in an inverted state, wrapped in a warm blanket or blanket.

Important! If the brine has acquired a sweet smell, then it is better not to reuse such a marinade, but to replace it with fresh one.

The second way to resuscitate cans is to put them in the refrigerator and watch what happens next. If the lid is not swollen, and the sediment has sunk to the bottom, and the water has acquired its former transparency within a week, then such cucumbers will not be harmful. The only thing that can upset you a little is that you can’t count on crispy cucumbers, but this does not mean that their taste will deteriorate.

If the water remains cloudy, but the jar does not explode, then you should immediately open it and use vegetables to prepare pickle, azu or other dishes where long heat treatment is provided.

The third method is suitable as a kind of prophylaxis and is used at the canning stage. So that the brine in the jars does not become cloudy, and the blanks stand for the allotted time, it is recommended to add other vegetables to the cucumbers. In the company of the same tomatoes, they will feel better, and the chances that the marinade will go bad or the jars will explode.

To do this, just add 2-3 tomatoes, horseradish root or one hot pepper. Thus, you can not only secure the preparations, but also add new notes to the taste of vegetables.

Cloudiness of the brine in pickles is common. The appearance of turbidity in jars with pickled vegetables indicates a violation of technology. Such cucumbers quickly lose their crispy properties and deteriorate. It is not safe to eat them. Why does the brine in cucumbers become cloudy?

A little about marinating

Marinating is a way to preserve food. Mainly vegetables, fruits and mushrooms. Food is preserved due to the action of acid in conditions of high salt concentration. Many microorganisms in an acidic environment are not able to develop. Often, sugar and sunflower oil are also used to prepare the marinade.

Air does not enter a sealed jar. That is, putrefactive bacteria cannot penetrate from the outside. And the vital activity of the dishes and ingredients on the surface is suppressed by heat treatment and an acidic environment.

When considering the pickling process, it already becomes clear why jars with cucumbers become cloudy. It means that the technology is broken somewhere. At what stages are errors possible?

Reasons for the formation of turbidity

Dregs in a jar of cucumbers are microorganisms. But how they managed to survive there, you need to figure it out. Why does the brine in pickled cucumbers get cloudy?

1) An insufficient amount vinegar.

Vinegar is the organic acid that should restrain the process of vital activity of microorganisms. For the preparation of pickled cucumbers, vinegar is required. Thanks to him, turbidity in the bank should not appear.

If cloudiness is acceptable for pickles. Moreover, turbidity is always present in dishes with canned vegetables. That pickled product does not become cloudy.

A lack of vinegar, an incorrect ratio of the main proportions (salt plus sugar plus vinegar) or poor-quality vinegar leads to the appearance of turbidity.

2) Insufficient heating of cans.

Heat treatment contributes to the inhibition of putrefactive bacteria. Therefore, pickled cucumbers are poured with boiling marinade, pasteurized, boiling water is changed several times and wrapped closed jar into a warm blanket. The recipes use one of the methods. For example, double or triple filling with boiling water and wrapping. Or pouring boiling marinade, pasteurization and wrapping.

3) The jar is not sealed tightly enough.

Air from the outside should not enter the jar with pickled vegetables. Otherwise, bacteria will come along with it, which will start the clouding process.

Why does air enter a closed jar?

Firstly, there are chips and cracks on the neck. They do not allow the lid to cling tightly to the jar.

Secondly, the problem is in the seaming machine. Somewhere it "slips", somewhere it does not clamp to the end.

Thirdly, the problem is in tin lids. Broken party. Or using lids with worn rubber bands. There are also failures with screw caps.

4) Insufficiently processed food and utensils.

Banks should be well washed and sterilized. You can douse several times with boiling water.

The lids are dipped in boiling water for a couple of minutes.

Cucumbers are soaked in water for two to three hours, after which they are carefully rubbed. Do not rub with hands. Namely, tinder. Some housewives use brushes and then pour boiling water over the fruits.

Currant leaves, cherries, horseradish root, onion, garlic and other tasty and aromatic additives should be washed carefully.

If a product is poorly prepared, dirt remains on it, the process of decay will begin in pickled cucumbers.

What to do with cloudy seams?

At the initial stage of the harvesting process, it is still possible to save. To do this, the jar is opened, the brine is poured out, all the ingredients are poured over with boiling water, the jar is washed again and poured with fresh marinade.

There is another way. The existing brine is poured into a saucepan, boiled and the cucumbers are poured again.

Some housewives simply put cucumbers in the refrigerator. The process of formation of turbidity stops.

In any case, it is impossible to allow further fermentation inside pickled cucumbers. Cucumbers sour, spoil. Their use is dangerous to health. You can get poisoned.


It often happens that the brine in pickled cucumbers becomes cloudy. Such a nuisance can occur even with an experienced hostess. There may be several reasons for the change in the transparency of the liquid in a jar of vegetables.

Many housewives throw away such blanks for the winter, leaving the product no chance for rehabilitation.

But in some cases, you can save cucumbers from the trash can by completely redoing the entire canning procedure.

Why does the brine of pickled and canned cucumbers become cloudy?

Pickle in jars with cucumbers usually becomes cloudy due to non-compliance with canning technology.

There are other reasons for the cloudiness of the liquid. In most cases, after the brine becomes cloudy, the lid is torn off the container.

Reasons why cucumbers in jars become cloudy:

  1. Poor quality washed and steamed jars lead to spoilage of the brine.
  2. incomplete sterilization of containers or lids.
  3. Lids with a defect. Poor quality seaming key, which does not press the lid to the neck of the jar.
  4. damaged container in the neck area: chips, cracks, recesses. Sometimes the thick bottom of the can causes improper heating of the container.
  5. Usage inappropriate ingredients for making brine, such as iodized salt.
  6. themselves cucumbers can cause spoilage of the brine. Spoiled vegetables or salad varieties will immediately release the components into the liquid, which will lead to sediment.
  7. If cucumbers were stored incorrectly, then such a product will definitely not stand for a long time - the lid will be torn off. After canning, the jars need to be insulated, putting the bottom up.
  8. If leave the already prepared preservation for a long time in a room with a high temperature, then the liquid inside the container will deteriorate.

A cloudy precipitate may result in a test new technology canning, the use of non-standard ingredients.

It is better to use proven recipes, carefully control each stage of work.

Note! Use canned product you need to be careful, even if according to the recipe such a moment is indicated as the norm.

Before using such products or discarding them, you should carefully inspect the container and take into account all the nuances.

Only then apply radical solutions. Each situation is individual and requires an appropriate solution.

Is it possible to eat cucumbers from cloudy brine?

After seaming, the jars in which the brine becomes cloudy explode only occasionally. Often during the fermentation process, the sediment settles and the brine becomes lighter.

A natural fermentation takes place in the jar. This reaction is not dangerous for humans, you can eat the product.

If the lids are swollen when the brine becomes cloudy, then the tightness of the jar is most likely already broken.

The question arises: is it possible to eat cucumbers in this situation? If the tightness is broken, the product is exposed to foreign organisms, the waste products of which are dangerous to human life.

When to eat canned cucumbers from muddy brine:

  1. Use vegetables from a can if the liquid was cloudy at first, and then became transparent again. It is advisable to use the product for the preparation of pickle, hodgepodge.
  2. If the lid is swollen, then you can’t use cucumbers from such a container for food. If the cover is not torn off, then it can pass air imperceptibly.
  3. At opening the jar, the contents smell unpleasant - you definitely can’t eat cucumbers.
  4. If turbidity of the liquid occurred due to the use of iodized salt, then the vegetables are quite suitable for consumption.

In conservation, where the processing technology is not observed, the botulism bacterium can develop.

This organism carries a danger to human life, so you should refrain from eating cucumbers, if there is such a possibility.

What to do with brine and how to save cucumbers?

What to do if the brine is cloudy? Is it possible to revive "bad" conservation and how to do it efficiently?

First, you should watch for defective conservation. Sometimes the mud goes away. In other cases, turbidity is the result of the appearance of lactic acid in jars.

Important! The represervation procedure can only be performed if the lid is not swollen. With a violation of tightness, spoilage of the product and marinade occurs.

Each situation regarding the change in the purity of the marinade has its own characteristics. You need to pay attention to all the little things, remember the salting process, highlighting errors.

Sometimes turbidity occurs due to the banal lack of vinegar in the marinade.

Situations when and how to act:

Prescription number Features of turbidity of the brine Instructions for resuscitation
1 Liquid color changes occurred 2-3 days after canning Open the jar and pour the liquid into the pan. The brine from the jar should boil well. Pour boiling water over cucumbers without removing them from the container.

Drain hot water and pour the vegetables again with boiling water, leaving them in this state for five minutes.

Drain the hot water from the cucumbers, filling them with a new marinade with the addition of an appropriate portion of vinegar

2 Turbidity does not settle for 1 week V this case it is better to remake the marinade. Open container with vegetables. pour out old marinade and prepare a new one as follows: rinse the cucumbers in boiling water.

Pour boiling water over the vegetables and let it brew for about 5-10 minutes. Then the water is poured into a saucepan and boiled with the addition of vinegar.

Pour cucumbers with a new marinade, after sterilizing the jars

3 Reduced transparency with leakage Save the product in this case will not work. The fermentation process occurred due to the ingress of foreign bacteria into the container.

You can correct the situation with the marinade - salt the product, but the vegetable is no longer suitable for consumption

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Probably, every family has its own signature recipe for pickled or pickled cucumbers. And every housewife is sure that it is according to her recipe that they turn out to be the most delicious and crispy. But even for the most experienced and skillful pickle in a jar can lose transparency. What to do if the cucumbers become cloudy, should they be sent to the bin?

Is it possible to eat cucumbers from cloudy brine?

If all the stages of harvesting are completed correctly and the lids are not swollen, and the brine is cloudy, this only means that fermentation has begun, during which lactic acid is formed. This often happens with salted vegetables, and not pickled, that is, with those for which vinegar is not added.

Lactic acid is a natural preservative, and is also very useful for human body. It improves blood circulation, lowers blood pressure and controls blood fat levels. Thus, if a precipitate appears, but the lid is intact and there are no air bubbles in the liquid, the product can be eaten.

If the water is cloudy and the lid is swollen, such vegetables, unfortunately, cannot be saved. A swollen or already torn off lid can be a sign of the presence of botulism bacteria. Of course, this cannot be determined without laboratory tests. But is it worth the risk if there is a chance of contracting such a dangerous disease?

What to do with a cloudy jar of cucumbers?

Even if the hostess knows that it is quite acceptable to eat the workpiece, she may wonder what to do if the pickle in the cucumbers has become cloudy. Is it possible to somehow return them to their previous state or interfere with unwanted processes? Experienced housewives it is advised to rearrange the jars from a cool place so that all the dregs settle to the bottom. Such cucumbers, most likely, will no longer crunch pleasantly, but they will not cause any harm to the body either.

In vegetables preserved in vinegar, the likelihood of milk fungus formation is much less. But, it may also happen that pickled cucumbers become cloudy. What to do in this case? There are several options.

  • Roll out, cover nylon cover and leave for a couple of days in a cool place. Thus you get salted cucumbers ready to eat.
  • Open and roll up again. The water must be drained and boiled, vegetables and spices should be washed and put into re-sterilized jars.

The most reliable way to save the product is to prepare a new marinade by increasing the amount of vinegar. In this case, cucumbers should be washed and poured with boiling water 2-3 times. It is desirable to replace greens and spices with fresh ones.

  • If the cloudy fruits have already salted enough, but turned out to be soft, tasteless or too sour, this is not at all a reason to throw them away. You can significantly improve their taste if you pour tomato juice and leave for three days room temperature. This method corrects even the most hopeless specimens, the cucumbers will become crispy and very tasty.

Why blanks lose transparency?

Why did the cucumbers become cloudy and what should be done to avoid similar situations in the future? In the process of conservation, there are many nuances and rules, the violation of which can lead to such unpleasant consequences as damage to the product. In most cases, this happens precisely because of a violation of technology. Here are the most common canning mistakes.

  • Vegetables, herbs, spices or jars were not washed well. Particles of dirt and dust can contribute to the development of the rotting process in an already rolled product.
  • presence of nitrates. Of course, ideally, for seaming, you should take cucumbers grown by caring summer residents, but in the realities of a big city this is not always possible. When choosing vegetables, try to at least buy them during the high season, that is, at the end of June and July. Take fruits of medium size, dark green color, dense, crispy.

Before starting the pickling process, be sure to leave the cucumbers in cold water for several hours, or better - at night. Such a simple process will not only remove nitrates, but also make vegetables more crispy.

  • For preservation, sea or iodized salt was used. It is certainly more useful than ordinary cooking, but it is completely unsuitable for salting. First, sodium chloride pure form is an ideal preservative, and various additives degrade the preservative properties. Secondly, iodine can give vegetables an unpleasant aftertaste, and also disrupts the fermentation process, which can cause the lid to swell and become cloudy. In addition, vegetables marinated in iodine-fortified salt will not be crispy and may taste bitter.
  • Jars and lids were sterilized incorrectly or not at all. Now, in many preservation recipes, it is advised not to subject the container to such processing - supposedly it is enough to thoroughly rinse it and pour it with hot brine. However, this only makes sense if you are confident in the quality of the products and make the marinade with large quantity vinegar. For seaming vegetables without adding it, sterilization is required.
  • The seal was broken. Containers for seaming should be chosen without chips and cracks, the lids should be new. It should also be taken into account that a crack could form during sterilization or pasteurization. To avoid this, follow temperature regime, that is, do not pour hot brine into cold dishes and do not place hot jars on cool surfaces.

How to prevent the appearance of "suspicious" sediment?

  • A large amount of spices and herbs can provoke the appearance of a cloudy sediment in seamings.
  • Do not fill jars too tightly. During conservation, the fermentation process will occur, and if there is not enough space for this, the water may become cloudy and even rip off the lids.
  • To keep the brine transparent, you can use one trick. After the fruits and spices are packed into jars, they need to be poured twice with boiling water and only then with marinade. This process will take longer, but the chances are significantly increased that lactic acid will not begin to form.
  • Cucumbers rolled up with bell pepper, do not become cloudy and have a piquant taste.
  • After spinning, the jars must be turned upside down and left to cool completely in heat. Better yet, wrap them in a blanket. Firstly, the method will allow you to immediately notice the lack of tightness. And secondly, due to the fact that the jar will cool slowly, it will undergo additional heat treatment.

The loss of transparency of the brine in cucumbers is not the worst thing that can happen to conservation. There are a lot of options that tell you what to do if the cucumbers become cloudy. Basically, such vegetables are quite edible, and if desired, they can be rolled up again, and they will be stored all winter. But, nevertheless, it is better to avoid such situations and make blanks in compliance with all technological conditions. Then the dilemmas and troubles associated with the turbidity of the brine will not threaten you.