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Surely everyone remembers that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers prepared preserved cucumbers for the winter. There are, of course, a whole range of recipes for these, both for quick pickles and for classic preserved cucumbers that need to rest before consumption. However, we will not deal with the preparation of ordinary preserved cucumbers, but will show less well-known ways of storing cucumbers. Imagine storing a cucumber salad made from your own cucumbers for the winter.
Preparation of cucumbers in their own juice
Preparing cucumbers in their own juice, which you can use many ways in winter, is not difficult at all. The only thing you need is to have all the necessary ingredients ready and follow the procedure described here. If you follow everything, you don’t have to worry that you won’t succeed in preparing cucumbers in their own juice. For preparing cucumbers in their own juice you will need a few whole cucumbers, 1 kg of coarsely grated cucumbers, 2 tablespoons of salt, sprigs of dill (they can also include the fronds), garlic and horseradish.
Prepare sterilized preserving jars with lids. Place a little broken dill and sliced horseradish at the bottom of each jar to give the cucumbers the right flavor. On the dill and horseradish place a handful of grated cucumbers, then a few whole cucumbers, and layer like this until the preserving jar is full. Don’t forget to intersperse the layers with an appropriate amount of garlic, which is best sliced.
Pour the remainder of the juice from the grated cucumbers over the full jar, place a little sliced horseradish on top again and you can add a sprig of dill. At the end of the process you only need to close the jars thoroughly and preserve them. You should preserve them in a covered pot with a little water at a water temperature of approximately 80 ° C; the water must not boil, for about half an hour. After this time remove the jars from the pot and place them on the counter lid-side down, leaving them like that until morning. In the morning turn the preserved jars over and store them in the place you have chosen.
Preparation of cucumber salad for the winter
Cucumber salad is a very popular summer treat here that can refresh you perfectly on hot summer days. It is definitely worth mentioning that you should not skip eating cucumber salad in winter either, because cucumbers combined with yogurt provide really valuable substances for the human body that help maintain health. So if you have decided to prepare cucumber salad and store it for the winter, prepare all the necessary ingredients. You will need 5 kg of fresh cucumbers (they can be long cucumbers or pickling cucumbers, just stick to the weight), 1 kg of onions, about 300 g of fresh dill, 100 ml of spirit vinegar, 5 level tablespoons of granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons of salt and a little pepper to taste.
Wash the cucumbers thoroughly and well so that they are really clean. Then let them soak for about one hour. After this time slice the cucumbers into rounds. Put these prepared cucumbers, along with the juice they released, into a large bowl. Then peel ordinary yellow onions and cut them into fine dice. When you have really fine pieces of onion, add them to the grated cucumbers and mix. Place this pre-prepared cucumber salad over low heat and stir regularly. Thanks to this process it will be able to wait for you until winter.
The cucumbers will for a while look like they are doing nothing. Remember to stir them very often. Burnt cucumbers would become bitter and spoil the whole taste of the salad you have prepared. Let the cucumbers with the onion simmer over low heat until they change color. After some time there will be a slight change in the color of the cucumbers, and that is the right time to remove them from the stove. Then you only have the last step in preparing the salad left: season the cucumber salad with vinegar, sugar, salt and a little pepper. At this stage you should already have a sufficient number of sterilized preserving jars ready, which are suitable for storing the cucumber salad.
If that is the case, nothing prevents filling the jars with the cucumber salad. Fill the jars to the brim, close the lids thoroughly, turn them upside down and leave them covered with a thick blanket until morning. The next day you can set the jars upright and store them.
