20 simple step-by-step recipes for pickling cucumbers for the winter

Pickling cucumbers allows you to preserve them for a long time, making them perfect for winter consumption. Fruit preservation is based on the formation of lactic acid in the brine without air. It's important to know how to pickle cucumbers properly to prevent them from spoiling. This includes fermentation temperature and the correct proportions of salt and sugar.

Pickling cucumbers: basic rules and secrets

The key to pickling cucumbers is choosing the right ones. Not just any cucumbers will do, but those that:

• collected in one day;
• have unformed seeds;
• covered with dark skin, with black spines;
• 8-10 centimeters long;
• with an elastic tail.

If you were unable to collect the required amount of fruits at once, you can keep the green fruits in a cool place for up to 3 days.

Nowadays, glass jars, ranging in capacity from 1 to 3 liters, are the preferred container for cucumbers. You can also pickle cucumbers in a wooden tub or enamel bucket. Be sure to thoroughly wash the container with baking soda.

What varieties are suitable?

Popular varieties of cucumbers grown for pickling include:

1. Bochkovoy's hybrid gherkin is perfect for pickling. The thin-skinned cucumbers are crisp and pleasant to the taste, without any bitterness.
2. Vesyolye Rebyata is an early-ripening variety. The fruits have small bumps and are green with short stripes.
3. The high-yielding German hybrid has tubercles and green skin. The fruits have a pleasant aroma and excellent flavor.
4. Light green Far Eastern cucumbers grow up to 11-13 centimeters in length. Their flesh is aromatic and tender.
5. The cuckoo's tongue is prized for its excellent qualities. The fruits are also delicious in brine.
6. The Kurazh variety produces cucumbers with white spines. Their skin is thin, green, and bumpy.

You need to be careful when choosing cucumbers for pickling. This will ensure the pickling product will last longer.

Preparing the ingredients

Pickling gherkins is done only after thoroughly rinsing them in several waters. It is recommended to soak gherkins by placing them in cold water for 60 minutes.

Prepare a few sprigs of dill in advance, peel the required number of garlic cloves, and wash fresh horseradish leaves and root. Some people enjoy pickles with hot pepper pods. A brine made with berry bush, oak, and bird cherry leaves will be aromatic.

Delicious recipes for pickling cucumbers

People used to pickle cucumbers in barrels for the winter. Now they prefer glass jars. The best preserves come from approaching the process of preserving for the winter with skill and passion.

Classic recipe

When placing herbs, spices, and garlic on the bottom of a tub or pot, be sure to scald them. Now the key is to arrange as many cucumbers as possible vertically. Prepare a solution of 40-50 grams of salt per liter of water. Double the amount of salt if storing the cucumbers in a warm place.

They are kept at home in a container, closed in a circle with holes and under pressure.

When transferring the cucumbers to jars after 5 days, rinse them three times with boiled water and salt. Seal the jars with metal lids and leave them covered for 2 days.

Pickling for the winter in 1-liter jars using the hot method

When storage space is a problem, a pickling method with sterilization is used. For a liter jar, prepare more than 2 kilograms of fresh cucumbers of equal size. They will be delicious wrapped in dill, horseradish, or currant leaves.

All additional ingredients are scalded with boiling water before being placed in the jar.

Once the jars are filled with cucumbers, spices, and herbs, add salt (3 teaspoons) and sugar (3 tablespoons), then pour boiling water over them. Cover the liter jars with lids and sterilize for 10 minutes. Finally, add a teaspoon of vinegar essence and seal.

We salt using the cold method

This easy recipe is suitable for even inexperienced cooks. Its highlight is the addition of cherry, horseradish, currant, and oak leaves.

Place all the spices and herbs in the bottom of a thoroughly washed 3-liter jar. Place the cucumbers tightly inside, standing upright.

Dissolve 3 tablespoons of salt in a small jar and pour the liquid over the cucumbers. Add spring water to the top. Place washed horseradish leaves on top, filling the remaining space with water. Place the container with the vegetables in a deep container for 3-4 days to ferment, covering it with a linen cloth. As the brine leaks, add more water, seal the container tightly, and store it in a cool cellar.

We prepare crispy cucumbers, like from a barrel

This method of pickling cucumbers gives them the same taste and aroma as those from barrels.

Start by layering the spices in the jars, including cherry and currant leaves, dill umbels, and garlic cloves. Then add fresh cucumbers. Cover the jar neck with a dill umbel and a sprig of tarragon. First, fill the jars halfway with clean, cold water.

In a separate container, dissolve 70 grams of salt in boiling water. Pour the cooled solution into the jars containing the vegetables. Add water as needed, but leave a 10 millimeter headspace. Store the jars in a warm place until fermentation is complete. Since the brine will spill out of the jars, place them in a deep bowl.

After 3 days, the solution drained from the container is boiled and poured over the fruits.

A simple recipe with mustard, without sterilization

This recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of mustard powder per 3-liter container. The remaining ingredients are as usual.

Place spices, garlic, and cucumbers in glass containers and pour hot water with 3 tablespoons of salt dissolved in it. Cover with cheesecloth and let sit for 2 days. Skim off any foam that appears on top regularly.

Pour the boiled brine, drained from the jar, over the dry mustard. Once the brine has cooled, pour it back into the saucepan and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Now it's time to pour the brine over the cucumbers and roll them up.

A method of salting without vinegar

Adding acetic acid to the brine helps preserve the winter preparation longer, but then it will be a pickled product, not a salted one.

The bottom of the container is lined with dill umbrellas, aromatic leaves, and spices. Then comes a layer of cucumbers, and again, interspersed with herbs and garlic cloves.

Pour half a cup of hot salt solution over the cucumbers, then add clean water to the top. Place a weight on top, which is removed once fermentation is complete. It's best to pickle directly in the cool cellar.

In 20 days the cucumber will be ready.

Crispy pickles with vodka

The preparation is made from 1.5 kilograms of cucumbers with:

• sugar - 80 g;
• salt - 60;
• a glass of 150 ml vodka.

Add spices, garlic, and aromatic leaves. Dissolve salt and sugar in water, pouring the liquid over the fruit. Top with vodka. Cover the containers with a cloth to allow fermentation to proceed, skimming off any foam regularly.

The brine is then boiled again. The fruit is covered with the brine, and the jars are then sealed.

Pickling cucumbers without sterilization under a nylon lid

You can pickle quickly:

• putting the fruits in a jar;
• filling with additional ingredients;
• pour 3-4 tablespoons of salt into a 3-liter container;
• covering the vegetables with cold spring water.

Snacks keep well under regular lids in the refrigerator.

A quick way to pickle gherkins

Small cucumbers do best in liter-size jars. Wash the cucumbers and arrange them in a jar. Add the aromatic ingredients to the bottom, not forgetting the horseradish slices and garlic. For a liter of jar, you'll need 2 tablespoons of salt and 3 tablespoons of sugar, boiling them for 5 minutes. It's best to strain through cheesecloth after cooling. Pour the infusion over the gherkins, covering them with a horseradish leaf.

The jars are left in a warm place for about a week. After fermentation, water with the same concentration of salt and sugar is added to the containers.

The jars are sealed with either metal or regular lids.

Recipe for large cucumbers

Cucumbers often grow so quickly that before you know it, they've become large. It's difficult to fit overgrown cucumbers into even a 3-liter container. Choose tubs, pots, or enamel buckets. But you can use the fruits in the following ways:

1. The cucumbers are cut into circles.
2. In the jars - half a portion of dill, carrot slices, garlic cloves.
3. Then add cucumbers and the remaining carrots with garlic.
4. Pour a tablespoon of vinegar and vegetable oil over the vegetables, sprinkle with sugar and salt.
5. Add cold water and seal the container.

Large cucumbers are good for juice. Medium-sized cucumbers will be pickled in it. A kilogram of cucumbers is used to make a paste, which is mixed with 3 tablespoons of salt. Dill, a hot pepper pod, and herbs are added to the jar, followed by the grated cucumber flesh. Then add the smaller cucumbers, pouring the cucumber juice over everything.

Lightly salted cucumbers, finger-licking good recipe

This lightly salted product is prepared quickly, in two hours. Add the necessary spices to a saucepan. For those who prefer a spicy snack, add a cayenne pepper. Then place the gherkins in a container. Bring the brine to a boil. Add a spoonful of salt per liter of water. Sugar can also be added.

Cucumbers are poured with boiling brine, covered with a saucer and weighed down.

After a few hours, you can cut the green cucumbers and serve them with boiled new potatoes.

Quickly prepare cucumbers in a bag. Add one tablespoon of salt per kilogram of cucumber. Place the spices, herbs, and gherkins in a plastic bag or zip-lock bag and sprinkle with salt. Leave for two hours, shaking occasionally.

Russian-style pickled cucumbers

Cherry, currant, and oak leaves are placed in the jars, then cucumbers and garlic, then more herbs. Finish with a layer of gherkins.

To prepare the brine, boil a liter of water with 2 tablespoons of salt. Fill the jars with the brine and leave them for 3 days.

Then you need to drain the brine and properly pour fresh solution over the cucumbers.

Kremlin cucumbers

For this recipe, wash the cucumbers (3 kilograms) and cut them into 3-5 centimeter thick slices. Add 3 tablespoons of salt, 200 grams of sugar, 4 tablespoons of vinegar, and 2 heads of garlic to the saucepan with the slices. Mix everything together and let sit for 4 hours, shaking constantly.

Place the ingredients into jars, draining the resulting juice.

Country-style pickles

First, keep the cucumbers in cold water for 4 hours, then place them in jars with horseradish leaves, dill, and garlic. Fill the jar with well water up to the top, adding a horseradish leaf. Place a small bag with 3 tablespoons of salt on top.

The product will ferment for three days. The water is then drained and boiled. The resulting solution is poured into jars and sealed. This produces the most delicious preserves.

Pickled cucumbers with carrots, bell peppers and horseradish

The cucumbers are salted with:

• 3 carrots, cut into circles;
• small slices of bell peppers;
• pieces of hot pod;
• horseradish root.

Place dill and horseradish slices at the bottom of the container. Then add cucumbers, alternating with carrots, bell peppers, and garlic.

After pouring the hot salt solution over the jars, keep them at room temperature for three days. Drain the solution and bring to a boil, then pour it over the vegetables again.

Classic pickled cucumbers with herbs and garlic

You can make pickles in any container. The more different herbs you use, the better the taste.

Wash the cucumbers, trim the stems, and arrange them in a bowl, alternating with garlic. Add 2 tablespoons of salt to a cup with a liter of water, stir, and pour over the vegetables.

A proven recipe for crispy fruits with vinegar

Here, you can pickle with 70% vinegar essence. A spoonful of vinegar and the same amount of salt is enough for a liter of liquid. The boiling solution is poured into a container containing cucumbers, spices, and herbs. First, keep it at 18 degrees Celsius for a day or two, then put it in a cool place.

Pickling cucumbers and tomatoes

Cucumbers and ripe tomatoes are compatible with each other, pairing them with spices and herbs. Soak the tomatoes in water containing 2 tablespoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar. However, it's important to remember that the pickles will be ready in 30 days, as tomatoes take longer to cook.

Salted with oak leaf

Oak leaves are used to line cucumbers for pickling, giving the brine an unusual flavor and making the product firm and crunchy.

Other aromatic leaves should also be added to the jar. It's recommended to add mustard seeds or powder. The filling should be hot.

Pickling crispy cucumbers in liter jars for the winter with lemon or citric acid

You can pickle cucumbers with lemon juice. This will help them last longer, and the lemon juice will add a tart flavor to the brine. For a liter jar, you'll need half a teaspoon. Prepare a solution with a tablespoon of salt. Boil it, pour it into the container with the vegetables, and let it sit for two days. Then drain the brine and make a fresh one for the brine.

Duration and rules for storing canned food

Pickled cucumbers can be eaten after 15-20 days. They last longer in cellars and basements at temperatures between 0 and 2 degrees Celsius. If it's warmer, you need to add more salt to the preserves.

It's recommended to use the salted product during the winter. Afterward, it will become sour, and the cucumbers will only be used in soups or main courses. Jars containing moldy solution should be removed; the food from them should not be consumed.