Very pleasantly to open a jar with crunchy cucumbers in the cold winter evening and to enjoy the useful and tasty vegetables which kept not only vitamins, but also a smell of summer. It is possible to prepare cucumbers for the winter in different ways: salt in barrels and banks, to pickle and preserve with various spices and spicery.
The cucumbers salted in a flank
Long since cucumbers could be salted for the winter in barrels. As the best kegs are considered oak, beechen, aspen and lime. Preparation of a container consists in its most careful sink and steaming by boiled water. This type of preparation is popular also today, the vegetables salted in a flank develop a peculiar unique taste. To salt cucumbers in a flank, it will be required: - 10 kg of cucumbers;
- 10 l of water; - 600 g of salt;
- 300 g of fennel; - 100 g of garlic; - 60 g of horse-radish (leaves or roots); - 30 g of leaves of cherry; - 100 g of leaves of blackcurrant; - 60 g of parsley, tarragon and celery; - 30 g of mint. Touch cucumbers, whenever possible take vegetables about one size. Best of all small-fruited vegetables of bright green color with a thin skin and dense pulp are suitable for salting. Then wash cucumbers with cold water. Lay 1/3 all on a bottom of a barrel of spices (carefully wash up all spicery before a bookmark), then in vertical position lay out a half of a portion of cucumbers over which place a third more of all spices. Afterwards – the remained cucumbers, and from above – other spices. Stack cucumbers dense ranks.
Prepare a brine. For this purpose boil water, add salt and boil several minutes before its full dissolution. Fill in the laid cucumbers with the prepared hot brine, close pure fabric and a wooden circle. That cucumbers didn't emerge, put cargo and leave for 3-4 days to be salted at the room temperature. Then take out kegs with cucumbers to the cool place. Comfort temperature for storage from 0 to +3os.
Pickles
For preparation of pickles it is necessary to take: - 1.5 kg of cucumbers (on a 3-liter jar); - 4 big garlic gloves; - 2-3 umbrellas of fennel; - 5 l of water; - 2 tablespoons of salt (with top); - 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar; - 3-5 peas of allspice; - 1-2 tablespoons of 9% vinegar. First of all, carefully wash up and dry cucumbers. On a bottom of the clean dry sterilized 3-liter jar put 2 large garlic gloves, a seed umbrella of fennel. Then fill to bank with cucumbers. It is necessary to stack them densely. From above place couple more of umbrellas of fennel and 2 cut garlic gloves. Prepare a brine. For this purpose pour in 5 liters of water in a pan and bring it to the boil. Then add salt, sugar and allspice peas. Boil a brine within 5 minutes, so far sugar and salt won't be dissolved completely. Fill in the cucumbers laid in bank with the prepared hot brine. Let's stand 10 minutes and merge back in a pan. Again bring a brine to the boil and once again fill in with it cucumbers. Add a vinegar tablespoon in bank, close covers and put to the cool place. Fill in the banks intended for storage in room conditions with the boiling brine three times (at an interval of 10 minutes) and add to them on the 2nd tablespoons of vinegar.