Pickling barrel cucumbers for winter

Step-by-step cooking

1. Step 1:

   

   Here's what we'll need:actually, cucumbers; horseradish leaves; young garlic with stems; hot capsicum; salt, bay leaf; allspice; dill branches with umbrellas and various fragrant leaves-oak, raspberry, currant, cherry. We also need a container for salting. I have a container made of food-grade plastic with a lid and handles, with a volume of 20 liters. If you take a barrel, it should be thoroughly washed and scalded with boiling water.

2. Step 2:

   

   We sort out the cucumbers, wash them thoroughly under running water (each cucumber with handles!) We put it in a wide basin and fill it with cold purified water. We stand for 6-8 hours. This must be done so that the finished cucumbers are not empty.

3. Step 3:

   

   Put half of the spices in the prepared container on the bottom. I tear the big leaves in half, cut the garlic in halves.

4. Step 4:

   

   Then we put cucumbers in rows. To the bottom-the largest.

5. Step 5:

   

   Then-average. And up-the smallest ones, they will be ready before everyone else. Cucumbers should be stacked as tightly as possible, then the concentration of lactic acid during fermentation will be high and cucumbers will turn out delicious.

6. Step 6:

   

   Put the second half of the spices on top of the last row.

7. Step 7:

   

   Close with horseradish leaves. Making brine:salt is dissolved in cold purified water, stir thoroughly until completely dissolved and allowed to settle. I strongly do not recommend using fine table salt. It has various additives and a completely different level of salinity.

9. Step 8:

   

   After the brine settles, we pour it into a container without sediment. If you do not have enough brine, make another portion at the rate of 60 g of salt per liter of water. The brine should only slightly cover the top row of cucumbers.

10. Step 9:

    

    Put the plywood, put the oppression.

11. Step 10:

    

    Cover with gauze and leave for fermentation in a warm place (I keep it on the loggia) for a period of five to ten days. It is necessary to put some kind of tray down, because the brine can run out during fermentation. Depending on the ambient temperature, fermentation can begin on the third or fifth day. After the foam appears on the surface, it is necessary to remove it carefully with a ladle every day, wash the oppression and plywood.

12. Step 11:

    

    Well, seven days have passed. Cucumbers have acquired a beautiful olive color and a pleasant sour taste. Now carefully collect all the greens from above, rinse it in clean water and put it back. The plywood is also washed, we press it on top of the cucumbers. We close the lid and put it away for storage-in the refrigerator or in the cellar. After a month, cucumbers will finally ferment at a low temperature and acquire a true taste.

13. Step 12:

    

    But you can still take a sample now-under a glass of cold white!

14. Step 13:

    

    Have a good pickling!