Pickled gherkins. Gherkins for the winter

Vegetables

Description

Canned gherkins- one of the most popular factory-made preparations, which can be very easily purchased in a store, however, it can be prepared just as easily at home. Exactly about this vegetable snack this will be discussed step by step photo recipe. Crispy canned gherkins home production They will become the most wonderful snack, ideal for many dishes, they will really taste like in the store. How do gherkins differ from ordinary pickled cucumbers? Yes, they only differ in size. Pickles could be included in the same group, but if you look at it, all gherkins are pickles, but not all pickles are gherkins.

We will preserve our small cucumbers today according to GOST in small half-liter jars. Traditionally, add to the preparation to taste a small amount of spices, without which the brine will not be a brine at all, as well as grape or currant leaves. Our preparation cannot do without garlic and bay leaf, so everything is according to the canon. There is a secret thanks to which the gherkins do not soften during infusion and remain just as crispy, but you will learn more about this from the recipe itself. Let's start preparing for the winter canned cucumbers gherkins at home.

Ingredients

Steps

First of all, we go for our main ingredient - cucumbers. Since we are preparing classic gherkins, we choose small fruits from 7 to 9 centimeters in length. This is the size of a cucumber according to GOST that is considered the norm for canned gherkins. Wash the cucumbers thoroughly cold water and here is the promised secret of crispy gherkins: pour over the vegetables for 1-2 hours cold water, changing it periodically.

Also, don’t forget to prepare the rest of the ingredients that we will need today to prepare this hearty and juicy winter snack. It is not recommended to regulate the amount of certain ingredients, because then original taste workpieces may change.

At this stage, we bring clean filtered water to a boil, and at the same time we send the jars along with the lids for sterilization. You can choose absolutely any method for preparing containers, the most convenient for you.

We begin to fill the prepared dry jars with ingredients. To do this, cover the bottom of each jar with several leaves of the selected greenery, drop a couple of dill umbrellas there, one Bay leaf, several fragrant black peppercorns and clove buds. After this, fill the jars with fairly tightly washed crispy cucumbers as shown in the photo. Don’t forget to place dill umbrellas between vegetables. Pour boiling water from the pan into the cucumbers in the jar, leave for 10 minutes and drain back.

Once again, bring the liquid to a boil, repeat the manipulation of filling the jars and returning the liquid to the pan 1-2 more times. Each time we leave the cucumbers in boiling water for no more than 10 minutes.

When the boiling water was drained from the jar last time, we send the prepared quantity to him rock salt and sugar. Gently stir the ingredients so that the salt and sugar are evenly dispersed in the brine and completely dissolved in it, boil the liquid again, and at the end add the volume of vinegar indicated in the ingredients.

Now fill the jar with gherkins to the very top with the already prepared marinade and seal them hermetically using a special key. Turn the canned food upside down until it cools completely, and then put it in the pantry for storage. Crispy canned gherkins, sealed like in a store, are ready for the winter.

Bon appetit!

An indispensable attribute of any festive table is gherkins. They are high-quality varieties of cucumbers of a certain size, used mainly for pickling. Beautiful, crispy, easy to eat, they are a self-sufficient dish, an excellent snack, and an indispensable component for many salads and other dishes.

Gherkins are high-quality varieties of cucumbers of a certain size, used mainly for pickling.

Gherkins can be found in any store. However, sometimes a beautiful jar and cute cucumbers inside turn out to be not at all what they say they are. The marinade is oversaturated with vinegar, the cucumbers are not crunchy, but look like an overripe banana, which can be eaten even if you have no teeth. But the marinade and crunchiness of the gherkins are their two main components. As a result, money is wasted and the holiday feeling is spoiled. In order not to puncture next time, it is easier to make pickled gherkins at home.

To prepare gherkins according to this recipe for the winter, you don’t need extra effort. The result will depend on desire and patience.

Calculation of products is given on three liter jar. What you will need:

gherkins (preferably the same size);
black peppercorns - 6 peas;
garlic - 4 cloves;
parsley - 0.05 kg;
umbrella dill - 5 pcs;
currant leaf (from black currant varieties) - 5 pcs;
bay leaf - 3 pcs.

For the marinade:

Mineral water b/g - 1.5 l;
coarse salt - 0.020 kg;
granulated sugar - 0.025 kg;
acetic acid (70% solution) - 0.030 l;
vodka - 0.070 l.

Pickled gherkins- an amazing delicacy. Someone might object that there can be something surprising in cucumbers: cucumbers are like cucumbers. But this person will be completely wrong. Because these little cucumbers always turn out to be the most delicious of all winter preparations. Only cherry tomatoes can compete with them.

Gherkins are usually called small cucumbers of a special small-fruited species, bred experimentally. They themselves are sweet and have a very thin, pimply skin. Sugar, salt and vinegar, as well as spice esters present in marinades, penetrate perfectly into the preparation. The final product costs nothing similar taste and aroma, and the cucumbers themselves turn out crispy and dense. There are no cavities or water inside such salting, as often happens with large cucumbers when canning or fermenting “in its own juice”. Pickled gherkins decorate festive table and help diversify the daily menu. Everyone, without exception, will like the delicacy: both adults and children.

Currently food industry A variety of preparations are produced, including marinated cucumber pickles. Judging by the descriptions on the labels, the jars should contain only gherkins, but in practice, under the lids there are “milk” cucumber fruits, the length of which ranges from three to seven centimeters. The cost of such raw materials is much lower than the cost of purchasing real gherkins, but the price finished product not much different from “branded” blanks. This is how the deception of customers begins, allowing them to make a profit on people’s gullibility!

You can protect yourself and enjoy a real delicacy by preparing the delicacy with your own hands at home. It is done surprisingly quickly, but the first sample can be taken within a month after canning.

Home-made gherkins will not be inferior in taste to store-bought preparations, but the cost of the product, as always, will pleasantly surprise you! On the vastness of the World Wide Web and the pages of printed culinary publications you can find a myriad of variety of recipes prepare this delicacy for future use. We will not be an exception and will be happy to share with our readers a selection of recipes for the best, tastiest, crispiest gherkins.

Greens, spices and the gherkins themselves for home canning Available at farmers' markets, supermarkets and farm sites. These cucumbers can also be grown in your garden. People familiar with dacha wisdom will immediately understand that such cucumbers are hybrids, so it will not be possible to collect the seeds of these vegetables for a subsequent harvest.

You will learn about how to choose the right ready-made canned food on the shelves, how to prepare the delicacy yourself, what to eat it with and how to store the product in this review article about pickled gherkins.

How to choose?

How to choose high-quality gherkins on store shelves is probably interesting for every housewife to know.

Among the many shaped jars on supermarket windows, you can simply get lost. Bright labels from famous and not so famous ones brands they just beckon you, and you just want to eat the pimply, dense cucumbers.

Initially, gherkins on our tables were exclusively imported products. They were prepared by salting directly in the fields, and to ensure long-lasting aroma and an incomparable crunch, a large amount of potassium salts were added to the brine. The gherkins were very salty, so after being transported to canneries, the product was soaked and then reconstituted in a sweet syrup with vinegar essence and spices. Sweet and sour cucumbers were packaged in jars and sent to the shelves. Such canned food could hardly be called useful, but nevertheless the delicacy did not lose popularity.

Currently, local producers of the pickled delicacy have slightly changed their preparation methods, but in order not to fall for the bait of dishonest producers, pay attention to the details.

Oddly enough, the first thing you should pay attention to is label. She must be good quality and be sure to be firmly glued to the jar. A manufacturer who cares about its reputation will never allow defects on the “face” of its products. Distortions, raised corners and worn-out inscriptions are not in the interests of an honest manufacturer.

The second thing to note is production date and quality certificate(standard or technical conditions according to which the delicacy is prepared). If possible, then choose a product canned in accordance with GOST. The date of manufacture of the product must necessarily correspond to the collection of gherkins in the open ground.

Take a close look at the cucumbers and other contents of the jar. Gherkins, in accordance with the rules of canning, must be placed in jars exclusively whole, and even very often they can be seen pickled directly with the remains of the stalks. The latter are left for more than just aesthetic purposes. In fact, by the “tails” you can figure out whether the gherkin or an ordinary young cucumber is in front of you. In fruits that are not gherkins, the legs are very massive, while in natural gherkins they are like hairs. Regarding the rest of the contents of the jar, I would like to note that the list of spices should not contain anything that you do not see in the jar, and vice versa. A high-quality marinade should be transparent.

Explore composition of preservatives and substances included in the marinade, and be prepared for the fact that there will definitely be more harmful substances in an industrially prepared product than in home canned food.

Please note that pickled gherkins are always sold in small jars, because the cost of a liter or even half-liter jar will definitely scare off buyers. Pickled gherkins are very expensive and delicious preparation, therefore, you should always be careful when choosing them before purchasing.

Making gherkins at home

Preparing pickled gherkins at home is no different from the principle of canning regular cucumbers. Unless the marinade itself or the spices will differ slightly from the usual preparations. Well, perhaps it will take a little more time to prepare the cucumbers themselves than usual.

At home, gherkins are most often sealed in half-liter or liter jars. Dishes with regular necks and jars with screw threads on the top are suitable. Lids for preparing treats must have a protective varnish coating. This will ensure the safety of the product and will not spoil the taste of the delicacy during storage.

Currently, housewives prepare gherkins whole, cut into slices or pieces, and also prepare a tender, melt-in-your-mouth salad from them. It's no secret that the taste of gherkins depends on the marinade. Here are several options for fillings and sets of spices, from which each housewife will choose the most suitable for herself. The principle of preparing dishes, spices and cucumbers themselves is the same for all preparations. The rules are:

Canning jars and their lids must be washed in warm water with soda, rinse in large quantities running water and sterilized (heated in the oven, microwave or over steam).
The lids are also washed and boiled in boiling water. Before immersing in water, be sure to remove the O-rings from the cans.
Spices for canning must be washed and dried in air, placed on paper napkins.
Before cooking, cucumbers are soaked in cold water and kept there for eight hours, and only then washed. The tails and noses are not cut off. This is not only a matter of presentation, but also a guarantee that the product will not become too soft.

The process of preparing a small batch of pickled cucumbers lasts just over two hours. During this time you need to do:

Place the spices and cucumbers in clean, sterile jars;
prepare the brine and pour the marinade over the workpiece;
roll up the cans.

The main methods for pickling cucumbers are heating and pouring the marinade over the workpiece. In one method, cooks are asked to preheat the cucumbers in a jar with boiling water and then pour the marinade over them, while another method is based on pouring ready-made boiling brine over the gherkins and then heating them in a water bath. The choice of cooking method directly depends on the wishes of the housewives, because it in no way affects the taste of the finished gherkins. Ready-made canned food must be wrapped in a warm blanket, and then slowly cooled “under a fur coat” throughout the day.

To prepare a fragrant filling, housewives combine the following spices:

clove buds;
allspice peas;
mustard seeds;
horseradish root;
Bay leaf;
mint;
basil;
tarragon (tarragon);
cherry, oak or blackcurrant leaves;
hot peppers;
Dill seeds;
parsley root and greens;
parsnip;
celery;
black peppercorns;
garlic.

All of the listed ingredients are added in arbitrary proportions and combined with each other. As for preparing any pickling, to prepare the marinade for gherkins, use only large table salt. Used as a preservative for cucumbers table vinegar, vinegar essence or citric acid. Some housewives add aspirin tablets, or, in other words, acetylsalicylic acid, to the marinade.

Take advantage of the simple step by step recipe preparations tasty treat, be sure to write it down in your culinary notebook and prepare amazing cucumbers in a sweet marinade with a minimum of spices with your own hands right now.

For cooking delicious pickles prepare:

five hundred grams of gherkins;
two cloves of garlic;
two bay leaves;
two tablespoons of coarse salt;
a piece of horseradish root or one large leaf;
one liter of clean water;
a teaspoon (heaped) of citric acid;
four tablespoons of granulated sugar;
six peas of allspice.

Preparation delicious cucumbers start by soaking the gherkins in cold water. To do this, you will need a deep bowl, plate or wooden board and a heavy object as a load. Sort the cucumbers and place evenly in a bowl. After this, place an inverted plate on top of them. Place a weight on this entire structure, and only then pour water. Keep the cucumbers warm for three hours, and in the meantime:

Wash two 0.5 liter jars and then steam them together with the lids.
Wash the spices, peel the garlic, finely chop the horseradish root or chop its leaf.
Place garlic, allspice, one bay leaf each in clean jars and divide the chopped horseradish equally.

After the time has passed, drain the cucumbers and rinse them in a clean portion of the liquid. Lightly dry the fruits, and then arrange them beautifully in a jar, alternating vertical and horizontal layers, and then proceed to the next stage of preparation.

Prepare the marinade. To do this, dissolve salt, granulated sugar and citric acid in clean water, and then bring the liquid to a boil. Boil the filling for three minutes, and then quickly pour it into the jars with gherkins.
Place the jars of cucumbers in a wide-bottomed saucepan and pour hot water. Place the vessel on the fire, cover with a lid and heat the workpiece for fifteen minutes from the moment it boils.
When the time is up, immediately remove the jars from the boiling water and seal them with permanent lids.
Turn the container with pickles upside down and wrap it in a warm blanket. Wait until the workpiece has cooled completely, and then take it to a cool and dark place.

It is believed that such canned food will be suitable for consumption for nine months from the day of sealing, and already a month after canning you can try the delicacies prepared by yourself and treat your loved ones with them.

If sterilizing cucumbers is not part of your plans, then try the recipe for making delicious pickled gherkins in Bulgarian style. This delicacy differs from ordinary pickled cucumbers in the marinade and the method of preparing the container, and the taste of the preparation itself is fundamentally different from the traditional one.

With this, one of the most simple ways You can find out how to prepare gherkins for the winter without sterilization in the video attached to the article. The unusual taste of the filling gives the salting a pleasant piquancy. It turns out this way because it contains mustard seeds. This spice plays a major role, not only making the marinade sharp and rich, but also helping to maintain the dense structure of the cucumbers themselves.

By the way, such pickled cucumbers can be prepared without rolling, but the container with the preparation must be stored in the refrigerator. You will be able to appreciate the taste of these gherkins after two weeks from the moment of preparation.

Storage and use in cooking

Storing and using pickled gherkins in cooking is not much different from ordinary cucumbers. A product canned at home is suitable for consumption for nine months from the date of preparation, and a delicacy prepared in factories can be used for a year and a half. But products can be stored for the maximum time only if proper storage blanks

The pickled product under the lids should be stored at an air temperature no higher than eighteen degrees Celsius, and the room with the preparations should have good ventilation and be reliably protected from direct sunlight.

The uncorked product is edible for five calendar days, but it must be stored exclusively in the refrigerator.

Pickled gherkins are usually served whole, without dressing, as an independent snack. Although many housewives use sweet cucumbers to prepare tender beef and decorate appetizers: meat and vegetable salads, sandwiches, canapés and others culinary masterpieces.This delicacy is also often used as a refreshing snack with strong alcoholic drinks.

Pickled gherkins go well with:

meat;
fish;
potatoes;
onions;
carrots;
beets;
beans;
chicken eggs;
cheese and cottage cheese;
rice

You can season dishes with pickled gherkins in any way. vegetable oil, mayonnaise or sour cream sauce, and with the gherkins themselves you can cook delicious dressing for fried or boiled fish dishes.

What is needed in order to get a refill, and how, in fact, to do this delicious sauce, you will find out from the recipe below. To prepare one serving of seasoning, you will need to mix in a blender for one minute:

one large chicken egg;
a pinch of salt;
a pinch of sugar;
two hundred milliliters of vegetable deodorized oil;
half a teaspoon of mustard;
fifty grams of chopped cucumbers;
ten grams of dill.

The finished dressing is served immediately after preparation, and the leftovers are stored for three days in the refrigerator..

Benefits and harms

We will talk about the benefits and harms of pickled gherkins in this section of the article.

As the name itself makes clear, the product is prepared in a marinade. The gherkins will definitely be salty and contain vinegar or similar substances. Such a delicacy cannot be called safe, because this kind of salty foods can have an adverse effect on the gastrointestinal tract or awaken long-forgotten diseases. Product consumption in large quantities, and eating treats on an empty stomach can cause heartburn and indigestion.

Pickled gherkins, as well as salted or pickled analogues of the product, should not be consumed by people:

those suffering from pancreatitis and other disorders of the pancreas;
having diseases associated with impaired water-salt metabolism and the excretory system as a whole;
hypertensive patients;
those who have suffered strokes and have other disorders associated with the functioning of the central nervous system;
pregnant women and young mothers.

The last of the listed categories of people should generally observe dietary restrictions, because they are responsible not only for their own health, but also for the health of the future or already born baby.

Regarding the benefits that pickled gherkins can bring, I would like to say the following. Eat the product in doses, and then you can saturate your body:

sodium and potassium;
phosphorus and iodine;
sulfur and silicon;
B vitamins, as well as ascorbic acid.

All these substances have a beneficial effect on the general condition of the body and help in the fight against infectious diseases. Such support is especially needed in the autumn-winter period. The delicacy would be appropriate on the tables of people who adhere to dietary restrictions during church fasts. Low calorie content, not much different from fresh cucumbers, allows the product to be used in dietary nutrition. A couple of tiny cucumbers will not only brighten up the blandness of healthy food, but will also help lift your mood.

Eat pickled gherkins and be healthy!

Gherkins are small cucumbers 4-8 cm long, which are removed before they are fully ripe and used for canning (mainly pickled). How to closecanned gherkinsfor the winter, the Land of Soviets will tell.

Canned gherkins: 1 option

Here is one of the many options for canning gherkins. By sealing the cucumbers according to this recipe, you will get strong, crispy, piquant and delicious pickled gherkins. For a liter jar we will need:

600 g gherkins

15 g dill

a few horseradish and currant leaves

3-6 peas of allspice

2-4 cloves of garlic

0.5-1 g hot pepper

For the marinade

400 ml water

50 ml 5% vinegar

Wash the gherkins and soak them in cold water for 8 hours, changing the water every 2 hours. We wash the soaked cucumbers with running water. Wash the horseradish leaves, currants and dill and cut them into pieces about 5 cm long. Bell pepper cut in half (lengthwise). Peel the garlic and cut each clove into halves.

Prepare the marinade: pour water into enamel pan, add salt. After bringing the brine to a boil, filter it through several layers of gauze. Heat to a boil again and add vinegar. Place the herbs and spices in prepared jars, fill the jars with cucumbers and pour hot (but not boiling) marinade. The marinade level should be one and a half centimeters below the neck of the jar.

Cover the jars with sterilized lids and sterilize for 8 minutes, then roll up and place upside down to cool.

Canned gherkins: option 2

Here is another option for preparing pickled gherkins; it differs from the first not only in the set of spices used, but also in the canning technique itself. Let's take the following products:

gherkins

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

2-4 cloves of garlic

red and black pepper

currant and horseradish leaves

Bay leaf

carnation

greens (dill, parsley)

Take a clean and dry jar (no need to sterilize), put herbs, peeled garlic, sugar, salt and spices on the bottom. Wash the cucumbers thoroughly and dry them. If the cucumbers were collected from the beds several days ago, pre-soak them for 6-8 hours; freshly picked gherkins do not need to be soaked.

Pour the vinegar into a narrow saucepan and bring to a boil. Dip the cucumbers in vinegar for a few minutes until they change color. Then put the cucumbers in a jar, fill it with boiling water and seal it. Turn the jar upside down and wrap it until it cools completely.

Canned gherkins: option 3

You might like this recipe for pickled gherkins. To close the canned gherkins, we will take:

gherkins per 1 liter jar

700 ml water

3 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

5 allspice peas

3-5 leaves of cherry and currant

2 sprigs of dill with umbrellas

1 clove of garlic

1 bay leaf

small piece of chili pepper

Soak the gherkins in cold water for six hours, then wash them thoroughly and trim the ends. We sterilize the jar, put cherry and black currant leaves, bay leaves, allspice peas (you can add black pepper if you wish), chili pepper, finely chopped garlic and chopped dill on the bottom.

Fill the jar with gherkins. Bring the water to a boil, pour in the cucumbers and leave for 10-15 minutes. Then pour the water into a saucepan, add sugar and salt and bring to a boil. Pour boiling brine over the cucumbers, add vinegar and seal the jar with a metal lid. It is better to store such canned gherkins in a cool place (cellar or refrigerator), but you can also store them at room temperature.

Tiny crispy gherkins are not only nice to put in a salad, but also pickled in jars for the winter. It is clear that no one wants to tinker for a long time and troublesomely. But if pickled cucumbers and gherkins are prepared without sterilization in a simple way quick recipe, then it would be a sin not to prepare a few jars for your family. So, immediately after we begin to prepare another roll.

Ingredients for pickled cucumbers and gherkins for the winter (for 5 liter jars):

Gherkin cucumbers - 1.5 kg;
Horseradish (leaves) - 2 pcs.;
Bay leaf - 1 pack;
Hot red pepper (in pods) - 1 pc.;
Onions - 5 heads (medium size);
Allspice - 1 pack;
Currant leaves - 5 pcs.;
Black peppercorns - 1 pack;
Salt - 5 tbsp. l.;
Dill color - 5 branches;
Sweet bell pepper - 5 pods (medium size);
Sugar - 10 tbsp. l.;
Vinegar - 15 tbsp. l.;
Dry mustard seeds - 1 pack;
Coriander peas - 1 pack;
Cherry leaves - 5 pcs.;
Garlic - several heads.

How to preserve pickled cucumbers and gherkins for the winter:

1. First of all, you need to soak the cucumbers. It is important that this is done in advance. If the gherkins are too small, then 3 hours is enough, but no less. Basically you need to soak for 5 hours or more.

2. Since our cucumber recipe does not require sterilization, this means we will have to sterilize the jars. We have already described how to do this in the recipe for the winter. The dishes must be washed with baking soda and rinsed with water. Then place the container, neck down, on the steamer and keep it over the steam for 10 minutes. We sterilize the lids in the same way.

3. Turn the sterile container over onto an absorbent surface such as paper napkins, towels, or soft cotton cloth. Although it is not necessary, before adding spices, drain the remaining water from sterilization.

4. We begin to put the cucumbers and gherkins in the jars, and the spices are necessary for pickling them for the winter. We count on 1 jar with a volume of liter:

5. Also put chopped large slices onion, and 2 peeled cloves of garlic. Release the pods bell pepper from the seeds and cut it into strips no larger than gherkins. Add a few strips to the jar.

6. Next, feel free to place the cucumbers into sterile containers. And if you forgot to add any spices, don’t worry! Spices can also be sprinkled on top. They will still be at the bottom.

7. Fill the jars with gherkins with boiling water to the very top and wait 15 minutes, after covering with lids. After fifteen minutes, completely drain the cooled water from the cucumbers and pour boiling water again in the same way and for the same time. That is, we repeat the step. It is not necessary to pour the water into one container and boil it again. To keep the brine clear, pour the boiling water into the sink and fill it with new water again.

8. When we salt the water for the third time, add one full tablespoon of salt, two full heaped tablespoons of sugar and three tablespoons of vinegar (ascending) to each liter jar.

Then pour boiling water over the cucumbers and gherkins to the very top. We seal the jars with rubberized or screw caps.

According to today's proposed recipe, pickled cucumbers and gherkins must be turned over until they cool completely. And all to dissolve sugar and salt. It is not necessary to wrap the preserved food. But this will not harm the seaming.