Many from childhood remember the taste of pickled cucumbers, which were treated to by the grandmother in the village. With the onset of the cucumber season, I want to cook a similar salting. Moreover, the problem of the lack of a barrel, or a place for it, is easily solved even in apartment conditions: greens can be pickled in a bucket: plastic or enameled. How to do this, read on.

Advantages and disadvantages of pickling cucumbers in a bucket

The procedure for pickling cucumbers in a bucket is no different from pickling them in a barrel.

• Moreover, such salting has its advantages:
• Space saving. To place an oak barrel in an apartment, and even so that it was in the cold, is often impossible. Another thing is a bucket. It can be put where it is convenient for you, it will not occupy much valuable space.
• Cost savings. Not everyone on the farm has an oak barrel, and its price today is not small. It is easier to use for sure a plastic or enamel bucket available at home, or purchase a bucket of the right size, made of food-grade plastic.
• Cucumbers pickled in a bucket are as good as salted ones in a barrel or in a jar.
• The procedure for preparing such pickles is quite simple: it is much easier to place cucumbers in a bucket than in a cramped jar.

As for the shortcomings of salting in buckets, they are practically absent. Experienced housewives recommend putting the product in jars after the fermentation is complete, but this is not necessary.

Important! Pickled greens are much healthier than pickled ones. The fact is that a preservative is used when pickling — vinegar. This ingredient is not needed for pickles, since during the fermentation process they form their natural preservative-analogue — lactic acid, which gives the brine a dull white hue.

Cucumber preparation

An important stage in the preparation of pickles is their selection, sorting and preparation for pickling. In our time, overgrown cucumbers can only be suitable for feeding livestock. And for eating, the best option would be not fully ripened cucumbers 12-13 cm in length, but not more than 15 cm.

This choice is explained, in addition to its attractive appearance, by the fact that in not fully ripe vegetables there is the greatest amount of sugar, which is essential for the normal process of pickling. Proceed to the selection of fruits with subsequent preparation should be no later than the second day after harvest.

For pickling for the winter, it is advisable to choose cucumbers of the same size with thin skin. It is not recommended to choose salad cucumbers for the salting process - they have a thick peel that does not facilitate the penetration of saline, and as a result of good taste from such cucumbers can not be achieved.

When cucumbers are selected, it is necessary to remove all defective, crushed, damaged specimens, and fruits with yellowness. Remove tails from the selected cucumbers and rinse thoroughly with cold water.

Ready vegetables should be poured with cold, preferably spring, water for 5-8 hours. During this time, they absorb the necessary amount of moisture, get rid of bitterness and internal voids, which guarantees them to become tasty, crunchy and hard after cooking.

How to salt cucumbers in a bucket for the winter

Our ancestors salted and fermented cucumbers in barrels, but this method is not rational in our time, due to the high cost of the barrel itself. It is much more profitable to use an ordinary bucket for containers - or, more precisely, enamelled, but without chipping.

If you pickle cucumbers in a galvanized bucket, over time its walls will oxidize and the product will become worthless. Alternatively, plastic containers can be used.

It should be borne in mind that the secret of storing cucumbers all winter depends not only on the cooking method and variety of cucumbers, but also on dishes, water and other things. So, for example, if you save on salt in brine, the product may turn sour and deteriorate.

When preparing a bucket for salting, it should be treated with a solution of soda with hot water and then thoroughly washed with running water. And immediately before laying the cucumbers, the bucket should be doused with boiling water, like all dishes that will participate in the preparation.

Important! If you have the opportunity to pickle more than one bucket, you can sort small fruits separately from larger ones. Small fruits will be ready faster than large ones.

With pepper

Usually, when talking about cucumbers with pepper, they mean hot pepper. However, when bell pepper appears on the market, it is time for canning and preparation of preparations with this inexpensive vegetable for the winter, including in combination with cucumbers.

Like barrel

Connoisseurs of old recipes probably would like to try this delicacy in a classic form, from an oak barrel. It turns out that a barrel is not necessary for this.

Any recipe for pickling cucumbers in a bucket can be slightly supplemented by adding a specific taste and aroma to the dish by adding a small amount of oak bark or several small oak beams to the dishes.

But it is worth remembering that the oak is much harder than vegetables and its brine will not soften - therefore, such an ingredient must be laid on top of all the others. Then he will not harm the cucumbers, does not deform them, so that they will not deteriorate.

How to store pickles

You can store the workpiece directly in the bucket in which the fermentation takes place, but only if the container is in a cool and dark place (cellar, basement, refrigerator). If this is not possible, it is best to put crispy vegetables in jars and roll up.

This can be done only after the fermentation process is completed, which depends on the type of salting: green salts of cold salting roam for 30–45 days, hot - 7–10 days. The olive color of the peel will indicate the readiness of vegetables. The salty greens rolling consists of the following items:

1. Drain the brine and filter it through a sieve or gauze (three times).
2. Washing greens and greens under a stream of clean running water, in order to eliminate white plaque.
3. Washing cans in water with soda.
4. Spreading washed greens and spices in jars (they are also recommended to shift and cover vegetables from above).
5. Putting cucumbers in a jar.
6. Boiling the brine and bay them with pickles for 20 minutes. Then the brine is drained and boiled again. The procedure is performed again after 15 minutes. In the process of boiling, white foam will form on the brine, it must be collected using a slotted spoon.
7. Zelentsy filled with brine roll up with sterile lids, wrap them up and leave them to cool completely.

Did you know? Cucumbers were widely used by the ancient Greeks for medical purposes. It was believed that they are able to lower fever.

Pickled cucumbers rolled up in jars can be stored even in apartment conditions, at room temperature.

Useful Tips

Check out some of the secrets of pickling greens, borrowed from experienced hostesses:

1. Spend some time calibrating the fruits: approximately the same size of vegetables will contribute to their uniform salting.
2. Do not despair if your Zelentsy give away bitterness: organize a cold water pool for them for 6-7 hours - and the bitterness will pass.
3. Salt the vegetables immediately after harvesting, or at least on the same day.
4. Thoroughly wash the container in which the salting will take place.
5. The crispness, taste, quality of pickles directly depends on the quality of salt that you used. Ideal for salting - ordinary rock salt, iodized is strictly prohibited, as it will make the salting soft.
6. You can diversify the set of spices to your taste: for example, to the traditional cherry, grape, currant leaves, dill, garlic and horseradish, you can add a little caraway, tarragon, basil, mustard, etc. Oak leaves with bark will also be appropriate.
7. Do not use utensils that react with salt (galvanized utensils, metal lids, etc.).
8. You can not add vinegar to pickles (as mentioned above, it is used for pickling).
9. Pay attention to water quality. Well water is ideal for salting, but not everyone has the opportunity to use it. Pickles can also be filled with ordinary tap water, but it must necessarily go through the filtration process.

Important! Never use chlorine water for salting.

As you can see, favorite pickles can be easily and simply prepared without a barrel. Cucumbers salted in a bucket are inferior to barrels in quality, and the process of their preparation, due to its simplicity and convenience, is available to almost everyone.