Marinated zucchini for the winter like cucumbers: 4 best recipes, conditions and shelf life

In autumn, preparations for the winter take a lot of time for housewives. In addition to traditional snacks, you can cook pickled zucchini for the winter like cucumbers. After all, these vegetables are so close in taste characteristics. And although cucumbers in the marinade are more familiar to us, zucchini will not yield to them in quality.

Is it possible to pickle zucchini like cucumbers

Zucchini is classified as a dietary vegetable. There are so many vitamins and microelements in fruits that will allow you not to gain weight, normalize the work of the digestive tract. As a member of the Pumpkin family, the vegetable is similar in its oblong fruits to cucumbers.Pumpkins are especially similar in appearance when young and immature. If you plant zucchini with cucumbers next to them, then due to cross-pollination, you will get hybrids that look like both cucumber and zucchini.

Vegetables differ in that zucchini can reach huge sizes as they grow, up to 2-4 kilograms. At the same time, pumpkins cannot be used in cooking: they have such a thick peel, and there are a lot of seeds inside. But young light green zucchini are good for pickling, like cucumbers.

Requirements for the main ingredients

You should not choose everything for marinating zucchini. Ordinary varieties of vegetables or zucchini are best suited. Yellow types of zucchini are best not pickled. The size of the pumpkins plays a major role. It is necessary that the shape and size of the fruits of zucchini resemble cucumbers, be in length within 10-20 centimeters.

Before cooking, the fruits are kept soaked in water for 2 hours, then washed and cut into circles or sticks. If large seeds have already appeared, then it is necessary to clear the middle of the pulp from them. When a dense peel is formed, it is better to peel the fruit from it.

Preparation of containers

Jars for pickled zucchini should be chosen in such a volume that you can immediately eat the workpiece. If the family is happy to eat vegetable products, then you can use 2 and 3-liter. But it is better to take liter jars. They should be thoroughly washed with hot water and soda, rinsed. Sterilize the container in a steam or water bath for 10 to 20 minutes. They roll up the jars with iron lids, which are also sterilized.

Marinating recipes

Mistresses know different ways of cooking zucchini for the winter. Many prefer them because of their delicate and slightly sweet taste, fragrant pulp.

Young canned zucchini like cucumbers

Canned pumpkins begin with the preparation of zucchini. They must be washed under running water and cut into circles 1 centimeter thick. For a three-liter jar you need to take:

2 kilos of zucchini;
head or 2 garlic;
10 black peppercorns;
a few laurel leaves;
water 1.5 liters;
s alt 2 tablespoons;
4 - sugar;
1 tablespoon of vinegar essence.

First, pumpkin circles are laid, sprinkled with chopped garlic cloves, pepper, bay leaf. The brine is cooked on fire and vegetables are poured with boiling liquid.

Now the blanks are sterilized in a water bath. You need to keep it for 15 minutes, and liter jars - 10.

After rolling, leave the jars of wrapped pickled vegetables to cool completely.

It is advised to add circles of carrots, onion rings to zucchini.

You can flavor the preparation with an umbrella of dill, a leaf of currant, cherry, horseradish. It all depends on the taste of the hostess, her culinary passions.

No sterilization

If you don’t want to bother with sterilization, then you can close the zucchini for the winter without it. You need to take as many zucchini and spices as in the previous recipe. The circles of fruits laid in jars are poured twice with boiling water. Keep it for 4-5 minutes, covering the jars with a lid. After that, the water is drained. For the 3rd time, marinade is poured and rolled up.

There is another option for pickled zucchini without sterilization:

Prepare the marinade by taking 4 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of s alt per liter of water, add bay leaf and peas of black and allspice, vinegar essence.
Then sliced zucchini is lowered into the boiling liquid. They are stirred so that they warm up evenly.
Keep vegetables on fire for 3 minutes after boiling.
Quickly spread in prepared jars, pouring marinade on top.
It remains to close under the iron covers and put to cool under the covers.

To understand which recipe is right, you need to try them out.

With mustard

To make zucchini crunchy, just like cucumbers, you should use this recipe for pickling a vegetable.

Garlic cloves, peppercorns, bay leaf, vegetable fruits cut into bars are placed in liter jars.

To prepare the marinade, you need 500 ml of water:

heaped teaspoon of s alt;
tablespoon each of mustard seeds and powder;
2 tablespoons of sugar.

When the water boils, add a teaspoon of vinegar. Now everything is poured into jars and sterilized. Tighten after 15 minutes.

With citric acid

Tested delicious recipe for marinated zucchini with citric acid. Tender fruits are obtained, which are cooked quickly, without much effort.

On a liter jar you need to take, except for zucchini:

onion head;
1-2 garlic cloves;
half a teaspoon of citric acid;
an aspirin;
tablespoon of s alt;
a teaspoon of sugar.

For taste, add bay leaf, allspice, dill umbrella. The preparation will be tastier when it is rolled up with a leaf of currant and cherry.

Zucchini should be soaked for 4 hours in cold water before marinating. Then they are cut and, together with spices, fragrant leaves, sugar and s alt, are placed in jars. Then you need to put citric acid and aspirin on top.Pour boiling water over vegetables and roll up a container with zucchini.

Expiration date

Store zucchini blanks during the winter. It is better to make as many jars as possible to eat within a year. It is not recommended to keep longer: vegetables will become tasteless, tough.

Storage conditions

Marinated foods prepared with sterilization easily withstand cellar conditions. They are stored under iron covers at a temperature of +2 degrees. It is necessary that the humidity in the room be in the range of 75-80%, otherwise the covers will begin to rust. But those blanks that are cooked without sterilization are better to put in the refrigerator.

It is necessary to observe the state of pickled zucchini, do not open those jars that are swollen or mold has appeared inside. If you use a spoiled product, you can get poisoned.