At the end of summer, the moment comes when gherkins appear on the market, reminding us that it is time to prepare our favorite pickles for the winter.
There are various methods for canning pickles and there are even those that do not require boiling them. However, to ensure that you will have jars of pickles for a long time, we recommend that you sterilize them.
Choosing pickles for canning
Like all products that you use to seal in jars, the choice of the gherkins is very important. It is best to look for fresh, firm and small gherkins, but if you have ever made pickles, you know that if you buy them from the market, they are sold in bags and it would be difficult to see the size of each individual gherkin.
In this case, it is good to sort them into small and large ones, as the former can be consumed whole and the latter can be used to make winter salads such as Russian Salad, Snow White Salad (in winter, pickles are more suitable for making yogurt salad than fresh ones), etc.
Preparing the cucumbers
After you have bought the gherkins, you must definitely soak them in cold water for several hours (2-6 hours). During this time, you can prepare the jars, which you will use, keeping in mind that they must be thoroughly washed.
This is also the moment when you can prepare the other products that you will need to flavor the gherkins. As they say, there are many recipes for canning pickles. However, in addition to vinegar, sugar and salt, we recommend that you also prepare onions, garlic, carrots, dill (not fresh), black pepper and mustard seeds. All these additives add an irresistible taste to the jars of pickles.
Cut the peeled onion into strips (it is a good idea to leave it in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours beforehand or in cold water so that it does not irritate your eyes while cutting it), the peeled and washed carrots into circles and leave the garlic cloves whole or cut them in half.
When the time for soaking the gherkins is up, you will need to proceed to their processing - cutting their ends.
Recipe for canned gherkins
A standard recipe for jars of pickles is to add vinegar to the neck of the jar, 1 tbsp. salt and 1 tbsp. sugar. Add the above products, a few grains of black pepper and mustard seeds, as well as a few sprigs of dill. Start arranging the gherkins lengthwise in the jar, making sure that they are tightly packed together, so that you have the maximum number of gherkins in the jar. Add water to the edge of the jar, put the lids on and make sure that the jars are well closed. Shake them so that all the ingredients can mix.
The time for sterilizing jars of pickles varies depending on your taste preferences and depending on how crunchy you want them, the less you need to sterilize them. The time for sterilizing them is timed from the moment the water in which they will be boiled in begins to boil and is about 3-5 minutes, no more. When it the time's up, remove the jars immediately so that they do not boil longer than needed. Now you have excellent pickles for the winter and why not for the summer too!
Check out more tested pickle recipes and also how to make pickles without boiling, as well as other ideas for pickles with gherkins.
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