Autumn comes and the time comes for the production of tasty, healthy and interesting preparations from cabbage - a vegetable that, not so long ago, was in the first place in terms of prevalence in Russia. Recently, he has a competitor - potatoes. Nevertheless, such a variety of salads, snacks and winter preparations as for cabbage, perhaps, does not exist for any other vegetable crop. What they just don't do with it: they salt, and ferment, and pickle, and each type of blank has its own advantages.
How salting differs from pickling
In general, all known methods of preparing food for the winter, such as: salting, pickling, soaking and pickling are acid based. Only in the first three variants, lactic acid is produced naturally during fermentation under the influence of lactic acid bacteria. But when you pickle cabbage, you resort to the help of various acids from the outside world: most often acetic, sometimes tartaric, citric or apple cider. The very effect of conservation is achieved due to the fact that there is a shift in the level of acidity, which has a detrimental effect on the reproduction of unfavorable microorganisms. And in this sense, there is not much difference in what kind of vinegar is used to preserve the workpieces. Using ordinary table vinegar is just a habit as it is most commonly found on the market.
So, for the manufacture of salted cabbage, from 6 to 30% salt can be used. It has a very versatile effect on the finished product.
- First, the taste parameters of the preform change and, as a rule, improve.
- Secondly, in salted cabbage, fermentation processes are accelerated due to the active release of plant cell sap, which is rich in sugars.
- Thirdly, since salt suppresses the vital activity of extraneous microflora, it has some preservative effect on cabbage preparations.
But if the cabbage was salted using vinegar, then this process has a greater right to be called pickling. However, many housewives use the terms salting, pickling and pickling without making much difference between them, and even implying the same process by them - most often harvesting cabbage for the winter using salt and vinegar.
Moreover, since any salting of cabbage without vinegar makes the canning process extended in time - you have to wait from five to ten days - the addition of vinegar significantly speeds up the receipt of the finished product, which in its taste can practically not differ from that which is cooked for a long time.
That is why, in our time of high-speed technologies, recipes for salting cabbage with the use of vinegar are very popular.
All basic proportions are the same when using other varieties of billet vinegar.
Crispy and spicy cabbage
This option for making salted cabbage can be called universal, since it is quite suitable even for children, but when using garlic and red pepper, men will really like it.
The main ingredients for 2 kg of white cabbage are 0.4 kg of carrots and apples. For a spicier option, add 5 garlic cloves and 1-2 hot red pepper pods.
Marinade has the following composition:
- Half a liter of water;
- 150 ml of vegetable oil;
- 150 ml vinegar;
- 100 grams of granulated sugar;
- 60 grams of salt;
- Bay leaves, peas and cloves to taste.
First, you can start preparing the marinade. To do this, the water is brought to a boil, all the ingredients according to the recipe are placed in it and everything is boiled together for 5-7 minutes.
At the same time, all unsuitable for salting leaves must be cut off from cabbage: contaminated, old, wilted, green.
You can chop cabbage in any way convenient for you. Pepper and garlic, after removing all excess: husks, seed chambers, are cut into narrow and thin slices.
All vegetables are well mixed and tamped tightly into a glass jar. After the marinade has boiled enough, it is carefully poured into this jar to the very neck. The jar can be covered with a lid, but not tightly and put to cool. At the end of the day, the cabbage harvest is ready for use.
Cauliflower with vinegar
White cabbage is the undisputed leader among the large cabbage family in terms of the number of dishes made from it. But other varieties of cabbage can be just as tasty. So, if you try to salt cauliflower with vinegar according to the recipe below, then, undoubtedly, surprise and delight your family and friends with the original taste of an unusual preparation.
Cauliflower will need about 1 kg. The head of cabbage must be washed well and divided into small pieces, no more than 5 cm in size. It is imperative to add one large carrot, which, after removing the peel, cut into thin slices. One large bell pepper is freed from seeds and cut into strips.
Also, this preparation requires the addition of stalk and root celery (about 50-80 grams). However, you can always replace it with root and leaf parsley or other herbs of your choice. Cut celery or parsley into small pieces of any shape. If you are not trying to make a similar blank with an eye to long-term winter storage, then be sure to try adding two onions to this recipe. The onion is peeled from the scales as usual and cut into thin half-rings.
For the manufacture of pickled cauliflower a fairly standard fill is used:
- Water - three glasses;
- Vinegar - ¾ glass;
- Granulated sugar - ¾ glass;
- Salt - 2 teaspoons;
- Spices: allspice, cloves, bay leaves - to taste.
Mix all ingredients with water and bring to a boil. At the same time, take clean sterilized jars and put vegetables in them in layers: a layer of cauliflower, then carrots, again a colored variety, then bell peppers, celery, and so on. When the jar is stuffed with vegetables on the shoulders, pour hot marinade over its contents.
After cooling, it is advisable to keep the jar of cauliflower in a cool place for about two days. After infusion, you can enjoy the slightly sweet, slightly sour taste of pickled cauliflower.
If this cauliflower salting recipe you will like it so much that you want to twist a few jars for the winter for long-term storage, then you should proceed as follows.
Firstly, it is better not to use onions in the manufacture, since they do not contribute to the long shelf life of products. And secondly, after pouring boiling brine and vinegar over the vegetables, put the cauliflower jars to sterilize in boiling water for at least 20 minutes. After sterilization, cauliflower cans can be screwed on with both traditional metal lids and threaded lids.
In this device, at a temperature of + 240 ° C, it will be enough to sterilize cans of cauliflower for 10-15 minutes so that they are stored all winter.
Salting cabbage in the fall is sure to be done by any housewife, therefore, perhaps the above recipes for preparations with vinegar will come in handy not only to provide your family with vitamins in winter, but also to decorate the table during the holidays.
