Cucumbers are available cheaply in stores at harvest time. But they can also be easily cultivated in a greenhouse or in a pot on the balcony with good yields. If the harvest is worthwhile, you have the option of canning your own cucumbers for the winter.
How can you can your own cucumbers?
To preserve cucumbers you need clean jars, a vinegar broth, spices and s alt. Cucumbers are cleaned, cut, s alted and then boiled in jars with the spiced stock. Canned cucumbers can be kept for several months.
Which cucumbers are suitable for preserving?
Snake cucumbers are the most well-known cucumbers. Everyone knows the long fruits, which, when sliced and well seasoned, make a delicious side dish. This exact cucumber salad can also be canned.
The name of pickled cucumbers reveals how they are processed. These are small to medium-sized cucumbers that can be preserved in jars in a variety of ways.
What types of pickled cucumbers are there?
The best known are the sour or vinegar cucumbers. These are in a vinegar marinade with other ingredients.
When it comes to gherkins, preserving them is a little more complicated because a variety of spices are added to the preserving stock. There are no limits to personal creativity here. Suitable spices are for example:
- Dill
- Onions
- Mustard seeds
- bay leaves
- Juniper Berries
- Allspice
- garlic
- Chili
- Mustard
Try to add a few carrot slices, some peppers or small onions along with the cucumbers.
A third variant is the pickled cucumbers, pickled in a brine. The lactic acid fermentation that takes place preserves the vegetables. This type of fermentation produces vitamin C. This makes s alted cucumbers a he althy source of vitamins in the cold season.
Picked cucumbers can be kept for several months. An opened jar should be stored in the refrigerator and eaten within a few days.
Important steps when pickling cucumbers
First of all, you need a large pot for the stock and enough mason jars. Stand here
- Jars with screw caps
- Jars with swing tops
- and jars with separate lids and rubber ring
available. Use the glasses that suit you. Before you can preserve cucumbers in it, jars and rubber bands or lids must be sterilized. Put everything in boiling water for 10 minutes or put the containers in the oven at 100 degrees for the same time.
- Now scrub the cucumbers thoroughly under running water with a vegetable brush.
- For salad, the snake cucumbers must be peeled if they are sprayed. Cut the snake cucumbers into thin slices.
- Cut the stem and flower base from the pickling cucumbers. Bitter substances could have been stored here.
- The cucumbers stay crunchy in the jar if they are s alted overnight before preserving.
- The next day, drain the cucumber water, rinse the cucumbers under running water and prepare a vinegar broth.
Of course you can use a ready-made cucumber infusion from the market for pickling. But keep in mind that this industrially produced infusion contains preservatives. It makes more sense to make your own brew. For this you need water and a good vinegar, mix both ingredients in a ratio of 1: 1. Add s alt and sugar, taste the broth to your taste.
You can now add spices of your choice to the infusion. We recommend dill, mustard seeds, juniper berries, onions, garlic cloves, but also a handful of other vegetable pieces. There are no limits to your imagination here.
- Boil the stock with all the special ingredients.
- Meanwhile, fill the cucumbers into the prepared jars.
- Pour the hot broth over the vegetables. Fill the jar to about 1 cm below the rim; the vegetables should be completely covered.
- Seal the jars.
Waking the cucumbers
As soon as the jars are filled and sealed, you can boil them down. To do this, use an automatic canner, a large cooking pot or the oven.
In the preserving machine
Do not place the glasses too close together in the container. They should not touch each other as the resulting heat could cause them to burst. Add water until the jars are about halfway submerged. Close the kettle and cook the jars for 25 minutes at 90 degrees. Let the glasses cool slightly in the kettle. Then carefully remove them and cover them with a tea towel until they have cooled completely.
In the oven
Preheat the oven and place the glasses in the drip pan. Pour water until the jars are 2 cm submerged in water. Wake up the cucumbers at around 190 degrees for half an hour. Here, too, let the glasses cool down a little in the oven. Then take them out and cover them with a tea towel to cool completely.
In the pot on the stove
Place a board or a heat-resistant cloth in the pot and place the glasses on it. Add water until the jars are halfway submerged. Close the pot and heat the whole thing. As soon as the water boils, turn down the heat slightly and simmer the jars for 30 minutes. Here too, let the preserving jars cool down in the pot before covering them with a cloth and allowing them to cool completely.
