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Do you know that soaked apples restore intestinal microflora better than yogurt or bifidobacteria? They are also useful for their high content of vitamins and microelements, help the immune system, strengthen teeth and hair, and restore lost elasticity to blood vessels. The list goes on. What can I say, our ancestors were wise people. Previously, in every basement there was a wooden barrel filled with pickled apples, but do all our contemporaries know their taste?
Maybe you should stop buying rubber fruits in the store in winter, or juices reconstituted from powder, which do not bring any benefits, are expensive, and, frankly speaking, do not taste very good? Let's make soaked apples at home, fortunately, there are plenty of recipes. Owners of private houses will be able to prepare them the old fashioned way, in whole barrels, and city residents, for lack of space or suitable containers, will cook them in jars.
What is urination
Before we tell you how to make soaked apples, let's understand the process. This ancient, undeservedly forgotten method of preparing berries and fruits is based on lactic acid fermentation, just like pickling vegetables. You can soak apples, pears, plums, cranberries, lingonberries or even physalis.Unlike vegetables, fruits and berries contain a lot of sugar, which during fermentation turns into not only lactic acid. It is converted into other preservatives - alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Homemade pickled fruits are the result of exposure to lactic acid, alcohol and carbon dioxide, retain their nutritional properties, have a refreshing taste, and are stored for a long time.
Basic rules for urinating
Wetting apples is not much more difficult than making jam or canning fruits; you just need to take into account some important points.
- In order for the yeast that causes alcoholic fermentation to work successfully and at the same time suppress harmful microorganisms, apples must be quite sour.
- The brine used to pour the soaked fruits must have a temperature not exceeding 30 degrees. Otherwise, the apples will acquire a very unpleasant taste. It is a violation of technology that explains the disgusting smell emanating from the fruits that are sometimes found on the market.
- Only healthy removable apples of late autumn or winter varieties with dense sour pulp, for example, Antonovka, Pepin, Anise, are suitable for urination. Of the early fruits, only white filling or Papirovka are suitable.
- Only apples of one variety can be soaked in one barrel or jar.
Wetting apples according to an old recipe
Our great-grandmothers made pickled apples at home this way. If you have an oak barrel, then there is nothing complicated about it; believe me, it is much easier to obtain wheat or rye straw than you might think if you wanted to.
Preparation of raw materials and containers
These soaked apples cannot be prepared in 3-liter jars; only oak, beech or linden barrels, large-volume enamel dishes or large glass containers with a wide neck are suitable. Collect the fruits of winter varieties, let them rest for 15-20 days. Sort through, discarding rotten, broken, wormy and diseased ones.
Pre-soak the barrels until the leak stops. Fill new oak trees with water for 2-3 weeks and change it every 2-3 days. This is to remove tannins before cooking the apples. After soaking, the barrels are filled with boiling soda solution and rolled. Take 20-25 g of caustic soda or 50-60 g of soda ash per bucket of boiling water.
Leave the solution for 15-20 minutes, pour it out, and rinse several times with cold, clean water.
Before laying the fruit, scald it with boiling water.
Before preparing soaked apples in a glass or enamel container, wash it thoroughly with hot water and soda and rinse thoroughly with cold water. Immediately before laying the fruit, scald with boiling water.
Grocery list
In order to get 100 kg of soaked fruits, you need:
- fresh apples – 107 kg;
- sugar – 2 kg;
- salt – 1 kg;
- malt – 0.5 kg (or 1 kg of rye flour);
- mustard powder – 150-200 g.
You will also need clean wheat or rye straw for soaking.
Urine of fruits
If you are using malt (sprouted barley), pour it into a saucepan, add 5 liters of cold water and boil for 15 minutes. Instead, you can use rye flour to soak apples.First, thoroughly dilute it with 1-2 parts of cold water, and then brew with boiling water. Add salt, sugar and mustard.
We prepare containers for soaking fruits. Pour boiling water over it, line the bottom with washed and scalded straw. Place cleanly washed apples tightly on it. As the barrel fills, line its walls with straw. When the soaking container is filled with fruits, place dry wheat or rye stalks on top.
If you are making soaked fruits in a barrel, seal it and pour the filling through the tongue hole. Fill a glass or enamel container from the top.
For initial fermentation, soak the soaked apples for a week at a temperature of about 20 degrees. Then transfer the container to a basement, cellar or other cold room, add fill, and plug the tongue hole at the barrel. If soaked apples are cooked in another container, cover it tightly. If necessary, cover the edge of the lid with a thick layer of dough.
After 1.5-2 months, eat delicious, healthy soaked apples.
Additives to improve taste
Covering each layer of fruit with straw will improve its flavor.
To give pickled apples a special aroma, you can add:
- currant and cherry leaves;
- sprigs of celery or parsnip.
To make a truly royal dish from soaked apples, you can replace sugar with honey (1.5-2 kg). Of course, this pleasure is not cheap and only beekeepers can afford it painlessly.
White liquid soaked in a jar
This recipe for soaked apples can be prepared at home by residents of city apartments, and not necessarily from white fruit. Any small fruit that easily fits into the neck of the jar will do.
Of course, if we were to really pick on it, it would be a stretch to call these apples pickled. But they have a similar taste, and you don’t really have to choose, since you won’t be dragging an oak barrel into a one-room apartment and even onto some floor.
Grocery list
For a two-liter jar you will need:
- apples – 1 kg;
- salt – 1 tbsp. spoon;
- sugar – 2 tbsp. spoons;
- vinegar - 3 tbsp. spoons;
- horseradish leaf – 1 pc.;
- cherry leaf – 3-4 pcs.;
- cloves – 2 pcs.
Important! Apples for soaking must be only of the highest quality - whole, without the slightest blemish.
Urine of fruits
Sterilize and dry the jars.
Wash the apples; if the tails remain, there is no need to tear them off.
Place washed cherry and horseradish leaves and clove buds at the bottom of each urine container.
Place the fruits so that they lie tightly in the jars, but do not force them in, otherwise they will become wrinkled.
Pour boiling water to the top, cover with a lid and a warm blanket or terry towels, let stand for 5-10 minutes.
Pour the water into a saucepan and boil. Repeat the procedure.
When you drain the water from the jar a second time, add vinegar, salt, and sugar while boiling.
Fill it, roll it up, put it upside down and wrap it in an old blanket.
This recipe for soaked apples allows some liberties. You can add currant leaf or replace sugar with honey.
Conclusion
We have given only two recipes for making pickled apples. We hope you enjoy them. Bon appetit!
