Of course, everything can be bought in the store. And pickles are no exception. But, if you are a good hostess or want to become one, then you will have to learn how to pickle cucumbers.

Pickling cucumbers for the winter is a special ritual, and there are so many recipes! Read this article: how to pickle cucumbers in cold and hot ways, my original recipes for pickling cucumbers. Read on.

Here's what the pros advise.

Salt crispy cucumbers for the winter

For salting, you need to prepare.

Start with containers and dishes in which you are going to roll cucumbers.

• Suitable jars with a capacity of 1.5 liters to 3. I prefer three liter jars.

Take care of the lids too.

• For salting in a cold way, you will need plastic hard lids, those that need to be preheated.
• For hot salting, metal lids and a good seamer key are needed.

Ingredients.

Of course, the cucumbers themselves.

• Medium-sized cucumbers, of the same shape and color, with small pimples, are best suited for pickling.
• Before pickling, cucumbers must be soaked for at least 2 hours in cold water.
• Many recipes recommend cutting off the tips of cucumbers, I never do this, but cucumbers are salted and stored perfectly. So, to trim or not to trim is a matter of taste and aesthetics.

Salt and spices.

• Salt for pickling cucumbers is suitable for the most common table salt, the one in a simple paper pack, without iodine and all kinds of additives.
• For a cold method of pickling cucumbers, you will need dill sprigs, or rather umbrellas with seeds, currant leaves, cherries and plums. Also, garlic cloves and horseradish root will not be superfluous. Nothing else.
• For hot salting, you need bay leaves, peppercorns and citric acid as a preservative. No herbs and leaves are needed in the hot brine; cucumbers turn out fragrant and crispy even without them.

Recipes for pickling cucumbers for the winter - delicious and easy! Or how to pickle cucumbers

Cold method - the easiest and most affordable

Ingredients:

• cucumbers
• currant, cherry and plum leaves
• dill umbrellas
• garlic cloves

Cooking method:

1. Soak cucumbers in cold water for 2 hours. Place 2-3 teeth in clean 3-liter jars. garlic, dill umbels and leaves. Lay cucumbers very tightly on them, try to press them very tightly. In the process of pickling, cucumbers decrease and you will not get a full jar, but microbes easily penetrate into the empty space.
2. After laying the cucumbers, pour 1 tbsp into each jar. l. coarse salt with top.
3. Then pour cold boiled water and close with tight plastic lids.
4. Turn the jar upside down several times to disperse the salt.
5. Put the jars in a cool place, but not in the refrigerator. At first, the brine will be cloudy, then it will begin to lighten. Fluid may leak from under the cap, it is unnecessary to open and top up. Better notice this jar and eat it first. Cucumbers in this way are ready in 2-3 weeks, and are stored for almost a year.

By the way, cucumbers in the cold way are my favorite. They really remind me of my grandmother's cucumbers from a large oak barrel. Try it, you won't regret it!

Video recipe "Hurry pickled cucumbers"

Hot method of pickling cucumbers

By salting cucumbers in this way, you are preparing homemade canned food for the future. They do not require storage in a cool place, but the salting process is quite laborious and even dangerous.

You will have to tinker with boiling water, hot jars and pour cucumbers with brine 3-4 times. Stock up on patience and strength, the result is worth it!

Ingredients:

• cucumbers
• sugar
• Bay leaf
• peppercorns
• lemon acid

Cooking method:

1. Soak cucumbers, put tightly in 3-liter sterilized jars. In this recipe, cucumbers are reduced and even boiled down, so the denser the cucumbers are packed, the less fuss with half-empty jars.
2. Boil water and carefully pour over the cucumbers. Cover jars with lids and leave for 15 minutes.
3. Drain the water. Boil another water and again pour cucumbers with it. Leave for the same time. Drain the water into a large saucepan, add sugar and salt at the rate of 2 tbsp. l. salt and 3-4 tbsp. l. sugar per jar. Sugar retains color and crunchiness in cucumbers, but does not add sweetness to the brine. Boil the brine.
4. Pour 0.5 tsp into each jar. citric acid, pour boiling brine and roll up with metal lids.

Banks can be removed to cool in a buffet or in a far corner. After rolling up my cucumbers, I wrap them in a warm blanket for a day. As my mother taught, I think they are warmer there and so they become tastier.