Of course, now you can buy any preservation all year round, and the choice is so great that your eyes run up. But despite this fact, many people prefer to make preparations themselves, since many have their own plots and gardens, while others buy vegetables and fruits in the markets. In order to enjoy delicious pickled cucumbers or pickled tomatoes, apple jam or berry jelly in winter, in the middle of summer and in autumn it is necessary to start making preparations for products so that they delight us with their taste and appearance. This can be done in several ways. The most popular are drying, freezing, pickling, salting and pickling. So, today we will talk about how to salt, pickle and ferment foods correctly.
Pickling and pickling vegetables are based on the preserving effect of lactic acid, which inhibits the development of putrefactive, butyric and other bacteria. Lactic acid is formed as a result of lactic acid fermentation of the sugars found in fruits and vegetables. The salt added during fermentation helps to improve the quality of food products. Salt in high concentration (over 10%) inhibits the vital activity of most microorganisms. Marinating is based on the fact that the composition of the solution for pouring fruits and vegetables includes acetic acid, salt, spices and sugar. Acetic acid is more toxic to yeast, molds and bacteria than lactic acid.
What determines the success of pressure canning, because very often it happens that you do everything according to the recipe, and the cans explode, the marinades become cloudy and as a result the products disappear. Ideally, it is best to use fresh, freshly harvested fruits, berries and vegetables for canning. But, unfortunately, not everyone has this opportunity. Therefore, when buying fruits, vegetables or berries for canning, you must choose only fresh products that have been correctly collected and stored. To obtain high quality canned food, it is necessary to use raw materials that are uniform in terms of ripeness, color and size. For the preparation of compotes, jams, natural canned food, products must be immature, with dense pulp, without visible damage. For the preparation of juice, sauces, jam or jam, on the contrary, the most ripe berries are selected.
The first stage in the preparation of vegetables, fruits or berries is washing. During washing, dust, sand, earth, and also partially microorganisms are removed from fruits and vegetables. especially carefully, you need to wash fruits and vegetables that have been treated with pesticides. Berries with tender pulp (strawberries, raspberries or currants) are washed in small portions in a colander or sieve under a slight pressure of water with gentle shaking. Then there is cleaning, in which damaged, inedible or non-nutritious parts are removed - seeds, seed pods, peduncles, etc.
As a container used for canning, glass jars, glass narrow-necked and wide-necked bottles, wooden barrels and other vessels can be used. Barrels and other containers that are not hermetically sealed are usually used for fermentation and salting. Banks are thoroughly washed with baking soda and rinsed in running water. The final processing of the cans is to process them with boiling water or steam. To do this, warm jars are immersed in boiling water for 1-2 minutes or treated with steam, placing them on the spout or neck of a boiling kettle. The lids intended for sealing containers are washed in warm water and then dipped in boiling water for 5-7 minutes. Processed jars are covered with scalded lids and stored until packaging. It is not recommended to store processed cans for more than 30 minutes before filling. Banks, intended for packaging canned food in them, and lids that cannot be sterilized, are dried in the oven until traces of moisture are completely removed from the walls of the can. Barrels are washed with brushes. Rinse with clean warm water and then steamed. At home, steaming is carried out several times. Boiling water is poured into the barrel and covered with a lid on top. Sometimes, during steaming, a handful of aromatic plants (for example, dill, mint, etc.) are placed in the barrel to remove the foreign smell.
Products prepared for packaging are placed in washed and scalded cans to a certain level - an annular protrusion on the neck of the can. Stack vegetables and fruits tightly to prevent them from floating up after sterilization. Vegetables and fruits with delicate tissue are placed in jars carefully so as not to violate the integrity of the fruit.
Syrups and marinades for filling cans must be pre-filtered through 3-4 layers of gauze. Syrups, marinades or tomato sauce should be poured into enamel or stainless steel mugs. The pouring temperature should be at least 70-80 ° С.
Processing products in cans at a temperature of 100 ° C or more is called sterilization, and processing at lower temperatures is called pasteurization. Heat treatment destroys microorganisms on the surface of the container, in fruits, syrup, which can cause damage to canned food. At home, the sterilization time of canned food is taken into account from the moment the water boils in the vessel where the cans with food are heat treated. Heat treatment of canned food is performed as follows. A wooden or metal grate is placed on the bottom of a saucepan, special sterilizer or other vessel. If not, it can be replaced with a fabric pad folded in several layers. Jars covered with lids are placed on the grate, and then warm water is poured at a temperature of about 40-50 ° C. The higher the temperature of the product in the jar, the higher the water temperature should be. The water level in the vessel - the sterilizer - should be 2-3 cm below the end of the can's neck. Then the sterilizer is put on fire and the water temperature is brought to a boil. From this moment, the sterilization time recommended for this type of canned food is counted. The boiling of water in the sterilizer should not be intense, as in this case water from the sterilizer can get into the can with canned food. It is recommended to heat the jars for 10-20 minutes, depending on the container capacity. After the end of sterilization, the cans are removed one by one from the sterilizer with a special grip or with a clean towel, placed on a dry wooden table, immediately sealed and tipped down with the throat. The jars are cooled in air.
For some types of canned food, sterilization must be carried out at temperatures above 100 ° C. For this, solutions of sodium chloride of different concentrations are used. The more salt is in solution, the higher its boiling point. Heat treatment of canned food at a temperature of more than 100 ° C is carried out with the cans rolled up. To prevent the lids from falling off the neck of the cans when the pressure inside the can increases, it is necessary to use special metal clamps.
Many housewives, instead of sterilization, use the method of repeatedly pouring boiling water over fruits and vegetables. For this method, the jars must be filled with whole fruits or vegetables, then pour boiling water over the contents, leave in this position for 5-10 minutes, drain the water and refill with boiling water. This process should be repeated at least two to three times. As a result, boiling marinade or syrup is poured into the jars and the jars are sealed. The jars prepared in this way are turned upside down and cooled in a dark, dry place.