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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Leave a few days without looking under the leaves, and a small cucumber can turn into a large overripe fruit with a rough skin and seeds. For ordinary pickling, such specimens are already inconvenient, but throwing them away is not necessary.
Seasoned canning expert Cristine Maka suggests using overripe cucumbers together with small ones, according to Tv net. The large ones should be grated, and the resulting mass used to fill the space in the jar between the whole cucumbers.
The peculiarity of this method is that no water is added to the jar at all. The cucumbers gradually release their own juice, in which the harvest will be stored.
How to use overripe cucumbers for winter harvesting?
First, prepare the jars and spices. Place horseradish root, garlic, bay leaf, black peppercorns, and half of the required salt at the bottom. The amount of salt depends on the jar’s volume. For a one-liter jar you will need 1 tablespoon. For a three-liter jar you need 3 tablespoons, but they should be split in half: 1,5 tablespoons go at the beginning, and the rest added on top.
Grate the overripe cucumbers. Some of the mass lay in the jar, then add the small whole cucumbers and cover them again with grated mass.
Such cucumbers are often discarded in vain / Photo by Unsplash
We “pack” them so that the grated cucumbers fill every corner of the jar.
— explains Cristine Maka.
Dill is better placed in whole bunches between the layers. Do not chop it — in winter it will be easier to retrieve from the jar. The last layer should be grated cucumbers. On top, sprinkle the second half of the salt and place a horseradish leaf.
Cristine recommends moving the prepared jars to the cellar. After a few days they should be checked. If the cucumbers have absorbed a lot of liquid and the juice level has dropped, add more juice obtained from the grated cucumbers. Small cucumbers can be used whole in winter, and the grated mass can be used in dishes that require salty cucumbers. Cristine, for example, adds it to solyanka, kharcho, and azu.
Besides jars for preservation, for processing overripe cucumbers you may need a grater, peeler, and a wide-mouthed funnel. Thanks to Prom’s assortment of over 120 million products, you can find everything you need in one place.
What else can be done with cucumbers that have ripened on the bed?
Even if you no longer want to can a large cucumber, it’s better to pick it off the plant. Overripe fruits left on the vines can slow the formation of new cucumbers. Therefore, at the end of the season, regularly inspect the beds and remove all overripe specimens. If a cucumber is still firm, you can peel it of its rough skin and large seeds and use it for harvests.
Canning and pickling remain among the most practical ways to preserve excess harvest. For home storage, various methods of salting and marinating cucumbers are best. And fruits that have become very soft, damaged, or unsuitable for canning can be used for compost instead of being thrown away.
There is also another option — leave an overripe cucumber for seeds, but there is a caveat. Seeds of hybrid varieties may, next year, yield plants with different properties, and cucumbers easily cross-pollinate with other cucumbers. Therefore, for saving your own seeds, it is better to use traditional rather than hybrid varieties.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Як використати перестиглі огірки: ось як використати їх для зимових заготовок і не тільки". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.
