- the perfect summer snack. An elastic, strong cucumber, a delicious dill spirit - who can resist the temptation? It’s even more great that most recipes for lightly salted cucumbers generally exclude heat treatment, which means that all the beneficial substances in cucumbers remain unharmed.
It's time to diversify your summer diet. Keep a selection of signature recipes for lightly salted cucumbers. How to pickle cucumbers in a jar, recipes for crispy lightly salted cucumbers with cold water or boiling water, and even a quick recipe for dry pickling lightly salted cucumbers in a bag. Only proven methods!
Ideal lightly salted cucumbers are obtained from young, thin-skinned cucumbers of the same size. Fruits that are too large will be salted unevenly, and fruits that are too small risk softening quickly, especially when hot-salting.
Before pickling, check cucumbers for bitterness. Even a slight bitterness can ruin the result. The skin around the tail is usually bitter. If everything is in order there, you can safely use cucumbers.
Secrets of crispy lightly salted cucumbers: brine water matters
It is believed that spring water will give the best results. If there are no springs in the area, use clean bottled water without gas.
Tap water, even after boiling, retains technical impurities, and lightly salted cucumbers can end up with an unpleasant aftertaste.
The secrets of crispy pickled cucumbers: salt, herbs and spices
To pickle lightly salted cucumbers, both dry and brine, a traditional bouquet of herbs and spices is used.
Sometimes tarragon is added here, which gives a special aroma, and oak leaves, which make the cucumbers stronger and crispier. Peppercorns are sometimes replaced with red capsicums, then lightly salted cucumbers turn out spicy and appetizing.
Salt for lightly salted cucumbers needs regular, rock, coarsely ground salt. Extra marine or cooking brands will not work.
Hot brine is suitable if lightly salted cucumbers are needed for dinner today. This is the fastest pickling method - cucumbers will be ready in 5-6 hours.
Cold brine, depending on the temperature in the house, will bring lightly salted cucumbers to the desired stage in 1-3 days. But it will retain the original aroma of herbs and spices, and the cucumbers will turn out not just salted, but with a special “prickly” juice inside, which is characteristic only of lightly salted cucumbers.
The dry pickling method will provide you with lightly salted cucumbers within 24 hours. Fast, tasty, and no dishes to wash. But you can only cook small portions of cucumbers this way, because without brine they will quickly spoil.
Three proven recipes for lightly salted cucumbers
Ingredients:
Cucumbers – 5 kg
Dill - 7-10 branches
Garlic - 1 head
Horseradish – 10 leaves
Allspice - 4 tsp
Black pepper - 2 tsp.
Currant leaves - 10 pcs.
Salt - 6 tbsp.
Wash the cucumbers and soak them in cold water for 2 hours. Then cut off the ends on both sides.
Wash and prepare the spices. Remove dry spots from currant and horseradish leaves.
Place horseradish leaves, dill, currant leaves and spices on the bottom of an enamel pan. Then place the cucumbers tightly, and on top of them again horseradish leaves and dill.
Bring to a boil, do not boil 3 liters of water. Dissolve salt in it and fill the container with cucumbers with the resulting brine.
Cover the pan with a flat plate, slightly smaller in diameter, so that it fits snugly around the cucumbers. Place a press on top. A three-liter jar of water will do.
After 5-6 hours, the cucumbers can be tasted. They will gain maximum strength the next day.
Ingredients:
Cucumbers – 3 kg
Dill - 7 branches
Currant leaves - 10 pcs.
Horseradish – 10 leaves
Garlic - 1 head
Black pepper - 2 tsp.
Cloves - 6 pcs.
Salt - 7 tbsp.
Wash the cucumbers and cut off their ends. Wash the greens and peel the garlic.
Place two thirds of the herbs, garlic and spices on the bottom of a pan or jar. Place the cucumbers tightly on top, in some places placing them with currant leaves and dill umbrellas. Cover the cucumbers with the remaining herbs.
Prepare the filling - dissolve the salt in 3 liters. water and strain to remove any undissolved sediment. Pour brine over the cucumbers, put pressure on them and cover with a cotton towel.
Place in a shaded place for 2 days.
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Ingredients:
Cucumbers – 1 kg
Dill - 2 umbrellas or 4 sprigs
Horseradish leaves - 2 pcs.
Currant leaves - 4 pcs.
Cherry leaves - 2 pcs.
Garlic - 3 cloves
Salt - 1 tbsp.
Rinse and dry the washed and dried greens. Tear into several pieces by hand and place in a clean plastic bag or plastic container with a tight lid.
Wash the cucumbers, cut off the ends on both sides and also place in a bag or container.
Add salt and finely chopped garlic to the cucumbers and tie the bag tightly. It is convenient to use Zip-up bags.
Shake the bag or tightly closed container thoroughly so that the salt is mixed with the cucumbers and they release their juice. This juice will play the role of brine.
Transfer the bag or container to the refrigerator. In the next 24 hours, give the cucumbers a “shake” another 5-6 times.
To make cucumbers salt faster, cut them in half.
If you have never made cucumber preparations before, turn to the simplest recipes. Cooking lightly salted cucumbers is just what you need for the skill. It is enough to choose the right spices and seasonings, of course, without overdoing them.
This salting method is also good because you can cook it in small portions, try the dish after a couple of days and immediately draw conclusions: which flavor is successful and which is not.
Prepare:
Immerse the cucumbers in cold water and leave for half a day. Sterilize a 3-liter jar and place about a quarter of the prepared spices and herbs on its bottom (by eye). Place the cucumbers in a standing position mixed with spices. Cover the top layer with cherry and currant leaves. Pour boiling water over it for 15 minutes. Drain the liquid into a container, boil and pour the cucumbers again for another quarter of an hour.
Drain the infused water again, add sugar and salt, let the liquid boil for 3 minutes and pour it over the cucumbers. In a couple of days you will be able to treat yourself to lightly salted cucumbers.
Take:
To begin, put dill and parsley in a 5-liter saucepan with water, boil them for a short time, do not remove them from the water.
“Drown” the cucumbers in cold water for 5 hours, then cut off their ends and put them in a bucket. Pour boiling water over them, cover with a lid and wrap in a blanket.
Cool to approximately 40°C and place in a deep bowl.
Prepare 3-liter jars. At the bottom of each, place half a sweet pepper, 3 cloves of garlic, and a quarter teaspoon of ground pepper. Place the cucumbers “standing” in the jars and cover them with cherry and currant leaves.
Add 0.5 kg of salt and 300 grams of sugar to a saucepan with dill and parsley, let the water boil again and pour this boiling water over the cucumbers in the jars. They will be ready in a couple of days.
Cucumbers in lightly salted brine are one of the most popular appetizers on our tables. They go perfectly with any dish: boiled potatoes, baked meat, various soups, side dishes and savory pastries. Lightly salted cucumbers are prepared very quickly and easily, and there are many recipe options. Classic lightly salted with cold or hot brine, spicy salted, in a bag, with apples, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, spicy with horseradish and garlic - choose the cooking option that suits your taste.
For quick preparation of lightly salted cucumbers, small, elastic, young vegetables with thin, pimply skin are ideal. Varieties Nezhinsky, Parisian and Moravian gherkins, Muromsky are the optimal choice. In addition, greenhouse cucumbers are perfect for quick pickling. Overripe, limp, large fruits can only be used for preparing certain types of lightly salted preparations, for example, for pickling in their own juice. For preparation, it is better to select vegetables of the same size so that they are evenly salted.
According to the rules for preparing lightly salted, pickled and salted homemade winter preparations, you need to use ceramic, glass or enamel dishes. Plastic containers are unsuitable for this because they release harmful substances. Housewives often use jars to pickle vegetables, but a pan is a more convenient option - it is easier to place fruits in it, as well as to remove them. In addition, if vegetables are tightly compacted into jars, they will no longer have such an appetizing crunch.
There are a large number of different recipes for preparing lightly salted cucumbers, but most of them are designed for a pickling time of at least a day, but sometimes you want to try a spicy appetizer right away. How to make lightly salted cucumbers quickly? Below are different step-by-step recipes for lightly salted cucumbers, the preparation of which may take from 20 minutes to 3 days.
A mandatory step in the preparation of lightly salted cucumbers is their premature soaking in water. After this, the vegetables become more elastic and crunchy. Even the freshest fruits, just picked from the garden, should be kept in liquid for at least 2-3 hours. After salting, press down the vegetables with a weight placed on the lid, which should have a smaller diameter than the pan.
Ingredients:
With the arrival of summer and the appearance of an abundance of fresh vegetables, many housewives begin to experiment by preparing various delicious snacks. Lightly salted cucumbers are a great option to preserve the freshness of vegetables, but change the boring taste. This dish does not require much time from the cook; just 1 hour is enough. It is better to choose pickling rather than salad varieties of vegetables for cooking. Their main difference is the large number of pimples on the green surface of the cucumbers.
Ingredients:
Quick recipe:
Juicy, crispy, tasty cucumbers ideally complement any salad and go well with any dishes. To pickle assorted vegetables with tomatoes and herbs, you should choose fresh, small fruits of a rich green color (without yellow spots). This appetizer will appeal to lovers of moderately salty salads. The main thing to obtain an excellent taste is to correctly calculate the proportions of vinegar, salt and granulated sugar for the marinade.
Ingredients for a three-liter jar:
How to pickle:
Instant lightly salted cucumbers made in cold brine are very tasty and crispy. The appetizer is marinated for 2-3 days and acquires a slightly sour, spicy, rich taste. You can season it with any herbs (cilantro, celery, basil, parsley, dill), a slice of lemon, ginger, horseradish leaves, currants or cherries. Some brave housewives even add oak bark and mint to the snack. However, you should not overdo it with the amount of seasonings, so as not to overwhelm the taste of the cucumbers themselves.
Ingredients:
Step-by-step quick cooking recipe:
One of the simplest and fastest options for preparing lightly salted cucumbers is marinating with sparkling water. For this recipe, you can choose any greens, experiment with seasonings and combinations of vegetables. The appetizer turns out very tasty even with just dill. Please note that the smaller the cucumbers, the faster they will cook.
Ingredients:
To prepare lightly salted cucumbers very quickly, you should use one trick: vigorously shake the vegetables in the jar. This will help the fruits to salt faster. And for the most urgent pickling of cucumbers, they must first be cut into long slices. So, vegetables that are “beaten” when shaken will release juice faster, absorbing the aroma and taste of seasonings.
How to cook “five-minute”:
Lightly salted cucumbers are added to many dishes - salads, stuffed meat dishes, meatballs, cutlets, bagels, pickles. For the listed dishes, cucumbers are not the main thing, but vegetables complement them perfectly, giving them a special taste. Even the most ordinary sandwich with the addition of lightly salted cucumbers takes on a completely unusual sound.
Ingredients:
Quick and easy preparation of lightly salted cucumbers:
Over time, lightly salted cucumbers become salty. If you want to preserve the original taste of vegetables, it is worth providing them with proper storage conditions. Put the prepared, marinated snack in the refrigerator - this way you can slow down the fermentation processes when the brine begins to become cloudy. Do not cook a lot of cucumbers at once if you are not sure that you will have time to deal with them in 4-5 days. It’s better to make a little and gradually add new fruits to the brine as you eat the first ones.
Lightly salted cucumbers cook very quickly, and their fresh summer taste and aroma will delight those present at any feast. A light, tasty snack will be a real boon for housewives who cannot devote much time to the kitchen. Crispy cucumbers, prepared quickly, are suitable for serving after just a couple of hours of pickling. By watching the videos below, you will learn how to prepare aromatic, spicy lightly salted cucumbers, which go perfectly with any first and second courses.
Feeding your beloved relatives and close friends delicious food prepared from the harvest of your own garden is a real pleasure. Especially at the height of the summer season, when a wide variety of dishes made from fresh vegetables become relevant and appropriate. Including crispy lightly salted cucumbers - the best snack for vodka, table decoration at a picnic, the “quick” pride of the hostess! Rest assured, every woman has her own favorite, time-tested and experience-tested recipe for preparing such a dish at home for the family: cold or hot, in brine or in its own juice, with herbs or garlic, in a jar, in a pan, in a bag. And most often, the ideal secret recipe is passed down from generation to generation, from mother to daughter.
Have you already decided on the perfect version of a seasonal cucumber snack? No? Therefore, it’s time to try the most popular options with your family and choose the best lightly salted crispy cucumbers - look for recipes in our collection.
Cool, fragrant and deliciously crispy lightly salted cucumbers straight from the refrigerator are the simplest summer pleasure. Quickly salted in a minimal amount of cold marinade, they retain most of the beneficial vitamins, as well as living solar energy and the subtle aroma of green fields. Prepare lightly salted crispy cucumber rings step by step with photos for a family dinner, and if you like the result, save the batch in jars until winter.
To quickly prepare crispy lightly salted cucumbers with herbs in a saucepan according to the classic recipe, it is better to choose small, thin-skinned and pimply fruits with a bright green color without cracks, defects or wilted areas. Before you start pickling, you should taste part of the harvest. If the cucumbers are bitter, you will have to soak them in cold water or leave them for harvesting and pickling for the winter. Real lightly salted cucumbers will turn out perfect only from young, non-bitter specimens.
A step-by-step recipe for crispy lightly salted cucumbers in cold water “Hungarian style” is clearly not for those in a hurry. There is no place for quick vinegar ferment in a bag or pouring boiling water in a pan. This recipe is good for true connoisseurs of the natural fermentation process and natural acid. Pickling cucumbers “in Hungarian style” occurs as usual under the influence of live bread sourdough. Interested? Read the step-by-step recipe carefully!
Ideal lightly salted cucumbers do not have to be prepared according to the classic recipe. Dozens of all kinds of variations can make a lasting impression on gourmets. When quickly pickling cucumbers, fresh herbs (dill, rosemary, thyme, oregano), dried spices (marjoram, thyme, basil), peeled and thinly sliced ginger, fresh garlic in whole cloves or slices, spices (paprika, turmeric, mustard seeds) are often used , pepper powder or peas). Any combination of vegetables with flavoring and aromatic additives can pleasantly surprise you. But how to prepare the most delicious quick-cooking lightly salted crispy cucumbers in a jar, watch the video recipe:
We offer you another unusual step-by-step recipe for lightly salted crispy cucumbers without vinegar using the cold method. This is a traditional Swedish dish for the Christmas Eve feast. In this variation, fresh young cucumbers are not left whole, but cut, not into the usual strips or circles, but into a thin openwork spiral. This way the vegetables are salted much faster and look more impressive - elegant and festive.
Today I was at the market, bought cucumbers and really wanted to make lightly salted cucumbers. Fresh cucumbers are good, but sometimes you want to diversify your table. I prepare them in two ways. If you need to cook it very quickly, pour boiling water, and if you have time, add cold water. In these cases, lightly salted cucumbers taste and look different. I prefer cucumbers drenched in cold water.
for a 3 liter jar
Lightly salted cucumbers will be a good addition to main courses or as a snack.
