Recipes for pickled crispy gherkins for the winter, just like store-bought ones, and shelf life

Gardeners who grow gherkins in their gardens try to pick them when they're no larger than 5 cm. The cucumbers reach this size a few days after the flowers appear. Pickled for the winter, gherkins are usually crispy and have a pleasant spicy aroma. They're often salted and pickled, added to salads, preserved with spices, fruits, and berries, served as an appetizer, or added to soups. Gherkins are rich in vitamins B and C, and contain iodine, iron, and trace elements such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium.

The intricacies of preparing gherkins for the winter

For jarring, choose fresh, small cucumbers. If they've been picked for a while, they won't be crunchy. It's better to steep miniature cucumbers in boiling water several times rather than sterilize them. Tomatoes, onions, apples, and garlic all impart a pleasant flavor to gherkins.

Pickled cucumbers are usually marinated with vinegar, but since this preservative is harmful to people with digestive problems, it can be replaced with citric acid. It is more convenient to roll up gherkins in jars with a capacity of 0.5 or 0.75 liters.

Selecting and preparing the main ingredient

Cucumbers, whether picked from the garden or purchased at the market, should be carefully sorted, discarding any with bruises or cracks. Place the green cucumbers in a bowl of cool water, which you'll need to drain several times. Wash the gherkins and soak them for at least three hours, then transfer them to another bowl filled with boiling water.

Preparing containers for pickling

The jars used to store the cucumbers are washed with baking soda and thoroughly dried. There's no need to sterilize the jars before pickling. The lids should be wiped clean and boiled in water for about 10 minutes. It's best not to use ones that have already been sealed, and if they're rusty, they're definitely not suitable.

Methods for pickling gherkins at home

Miniature cucumbers are pickled with spices and marinated with vegetables and fruits. No matter how they're prepared, they delight with their aroma and flavor.

Preserved gherkins can be spicy and tangy, crunchy and slightly tart. Berries, currant leaves, herbs, and tomatoes add their own unique flavors.

Gherkins for the Winter: Step-by-Step Instructions

Pickling small cucumbers is no more difficult than pickling larger ones, but they're much tastier and have a pleasant crunch. To preserve the pickles in a liter jar, you'll need to make a marinade. You'll need:

• salt - 60 g;
• vinegar - a quarter cup;
• sugar - 3 spoons.

Place currant leaves and dill sprigs at the bottom of the container, then add the cucumbers. Add cloves and hot pepper for a savory flavor. Fill the jars with boiling water. Once the liquid has cooled slightly, add salt and simmer in a saucepan with sugar and vinegar. Fill the container with brine, seal it tightly, and cover with a blanket. The pickled cucumbers are as delicious as store-bought. Guests and family alike will appreciate these crispy cucumbers.

Without sterilization with mustard

Miniature gherkins will delight you with their spiciness and sweet aroma if you use a recipe that includes cinnamon. A teaspoon of this powder is enough for a 3-liter jar. Pickling them for the winter doesn't take much time:

1. The washed cucumbers are placed in a prepared container.
2. Boiling water is poured into the gherkins.
3. The cooled water is heated again.
4. Add 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, 5–6 black peppercorns and a hot pepper pod, cinnamon, 7 cloves, and spices to the jars.
5. Vegetables are filled with hot marinade and vinegar.

The cucumbers should be sealed, turned over, and wrapped in a blanket. Use as many as will fit in the jar, usually about 3 kilograms. For this amount of cucumbers, you'll need:

• salt - 60 g;
• sugar - 2 tbsp;
• water - 1200 ml;
• acetic acid - 1 teaspoon.

Spicy gherkins are a true centerpiece for the table. This spicy and tangy appetizer will surprise guests and delight the whole family.

Recipe for a liter jar

To ensure quick consumption and less refrigeration, pickled cucumbers are conveniently stored in small jars. A liter jar requires about 600 grams of small gherkins. You'll need:

• sugar - 20 g;
• vinegar - 20 ml;
• salt - 1 tsp.

Place cherry or currant leaves, a couple of cloves of garlic, dill, a slice of hot pepper, and cucumbers in a glass jar. Fill the jar with boiling water. Once the water has cooled, reheat it. Pour the spices into the jar, add vinegar, and pour in the hot liquid.

With oak leaves

Some women have mastered the art of pickling gherkins so well that they're indistinguishable from vegetables preserved in barrels. The brine's clarity and wonderful aroma are due to horseradish and oak leaves.

Half a kilogram of fresh small gherkins is soaked for about 4 hours. Then they are placed in jars along with herbs, garlic cloves, and peppercorns. To prepare the marinade, boil water with sugar and salt, then add vinegar. The slightly cooled liquid is poured over the vegetables. The jar is sterilized for about 6 minutes, resulting in delicious gherkins.

With citric acid

Cucumbers can be preserved for the winter using not only essence or vinegar as a preservative, but also by adding various ingredients in the form of vegetables and root vegetables.

Spicy and aromatic gherkins are obtained with citric acid if you add hot and allspice to them.

Place the seasoning, carrots, garlic cloves, and cucumbers in a jar. Fill the jar to the top with water. After 15 minutes, pour the liquid into a saucepan, along with sugar and salt. When the marinade boils, season the gherkins with it and add citric acid.

With ketchup

Many women have developed a knack for pickling these spicy and crunchy miniature cucumbers using their own culinary recipes. To use one of them, you'll need:

• chili ketchup - 0.5 l;
• tomato paste - 2 l.;
• sugar - a glass;
• vinegar - 20 ml;
• salt - 60 g.

From 2 liters of water, spices and sauce you need to cook the marinade, fill the gherkins placed in a jar with it, sterilize for 20 minutes.

With onions and carrots

The root vegetables impart a unique sweet flavor to cucumbers. Before pickling, the cucumbers are dipped in boiling water, then placed in cold water, pierced with a sharp object, and left to marinate overnight. To prepare this winter pickle, you'll need:

• carrots - 1 pc.;
• 2 onions;
• bay leaf;
• dill and garlic;
• salt - 30 g;
• vinegar - 5 mg;
• peppercorns.

The root vegetable is sliced ​​into rings and soaked in hot water for a couple of minutes along with the onion. Greens, garlic cloves, and carrots are added to the jars. The brine is boiled, adding spices, seasonings, and vinegar. The vegetables are filled with the prepared marinade. The sterilized jars are sealed with tin lids.

With apples

Pickled cucumbers with a sweet and sour flavor are created by canning them with fruit. The gherkins are marinated using a mixture of spices, plain water, and vinegar. To seal a liter jar of gherkins, add a teaspoon of salt, 5 grams of sugar, and seasoning. Peeled apple slices and small cucumbers are placed in the jar. The jar is first filled with water, then with the marinade, and the lid is screwed on.

With gooseberries

Gherkins pair wonderfully with unripe berries, which impart a slightly sour but very pleasant flavor to the preserve. Some women pickled cucumbers with gooseberries, add very little vinegar to the brine.

In Hungarian

To preserve as many vitamins and microelements as possible in canned gherkins, the jars are not sterilized, but the vegetables are poured with boiling water not once, but at least twice.

For crispy and tangy cucumbers, follow this recipe exactly. For every liter of water, you'll need:

• cucumbers - 1 kg;
• sugar - 2 tbsp;
• garlic - 1 head;
• salt - 30 g;
• vinegar - ¼ cup;
• green;
• bay leaf.

The seasoning and gherkins are placed in jars and filled with a marinade made from the spices. The jars are sealed with tin lids and covered with a thick towel or blanket.

Shelf life and storage rules for canned food

Store pickled cucumbers in a well-ventilated basement or cellar where the temperature remains between 1 and 6 degrees Celsius. Tightly sealed gherkins will keep for up to 3 years. If the brine becomes cloudy or a film forms on the surface, avoid risking your health and avoid eating this snack.