Autumn has arrived, summer residents and residents of private houses are picking mid-ripening apples and preparing juices, jams, preserves and wines from them. Fruits have become cheaper and more accessible on the market, which makes residents of megacities incredibly happy. The question of processing winter apple varieties will soon arise. Perhaps it is worth remembering how our grandmothers or great-grandmothers prepared them. And even though a city apartment or a small country house is not intended for storing food in large wooden barrels, soaked apples in a bucket can be prepared and placed on the balcony or in any cool room.
Raw materials and containers for soaking
If a wooden barrel is too large for you, and a three-liter jar is too small, an ordinary enamel bucket without chips or rust will come to the rescue. It's a great way to soak apples for the winter. To do this, it is better to choose late varieties that are picked directly from the tree.
Select whole, healthy, medium-sized apples and place them in boxes for 2-3 weeks to ripen.Then wash the enamel bucket with boiling water and soda, rinse with plenty of running water. Prepare a wooden circle to install the pressure (a plate or an inverted clean lid with a diameter smaller than the neck of the bucket can act as this).
Pickled apple recipes
There are many recipes for soaking apples for the winter, and almost all of them take liberties - you can add more or less additional ingredients. You just need to handle salt and sugar carefully - if you put too little of it, the fruits may simply turn sour; if you add too much, the taste may become too rich, which not everyone likes.
Do not forget that in the first week you must add water to the container. At this time, the fruits actively absorb moisture, and the surface of those lying on top is exposed, which can ruin the entire workpiece.
Simple recipe with honey
The easy-to-prepare recipe for pickled apples below does not require the use of straw, which is especially important for city residents who simply have nowhere to get it.
Ingredients
For apples soaked for the winter using this method, you will need:
- apples - 1 bucket without top.
For brine, for every 3 liters of water:
- honey – 200 g;
- salt – 1 tbsp. spoon.
Cooking Guide
Wash the bucket, place the apples tightly together, but do not press them down so that they do not get wrinkled.
Now you need to measure the amount of water needed. Its volume can vary greatly for each batch, because the fruits used for soaking can be of different sizes. Pour water into a bucket with apples, drain, determine its volume using a measuring cup or a liter jar.
Calculate the required amount of salt and honey, dissolve them in lukewarm boiled liquid, and let cool completely.
Pour the brine over the apples so that they are completely covered, press down with pressure, placing a jar of water or other weight on a plate or wooden circle, and leave to ferment for 2-3 weeks.
Take the finished soaked apples out onto the balcony or into the cellar or basement.
With straw and rye flour
This is a more complex recipe, it is easy for rural residents to prepare, but summer residents or city dwellers will have to get straw somewhere. Although it is rarely used in modern preparations, believe me, soaked apples made with the addition of wheat stalks not only have a unique taste. They acquire such an attractive golden hue that they become a dish that is not embarrassing to put even on a holiday table.
Ingredients
To prepare this recipe you need fruits of late varieties, best Antonovka. Take:
- apples - 1 bucket;
- wheat straw – 1 bunch (about 0.5 kg);
- black currant leaves – 10 pcs.
To prepare brine for every 3 liters of water:
- rye flour – 2 tbsp. spoons;
- salt – 2 tbsp. spoon;
- sugar or honey – 50 g;
- dry mustard – 3 tbsp. spoons.
Cooking Guide
Measure the required amount of water as indicated in the previous recipe.
Rinse the straw, pour boiling water over it, let cool and squeeze thoroughly.
Boil water, dissolving salt, sugar and adding dry mustard powder. Pour in the rye flour dissolved in a small amount of cool liquid. Stir well and let cool.
Line the bottom of a clean bucket with some steamed straw and currant leaves, lay a row of apples, and wheat stalks on top. Fill the bucket layer by layer, fill it with wort, and place pressure on top.
During the first week, regularly check the fill level; if necessary, add liquid from a container hidden in the refrigerator. Apples soaked according to this recipe will be ready to serve in a month. Place the bucket in the cold.
With cabbage and carrots
This original recipe allows you to simultaneously cook soaked apples and ferment delicious cabbage.
Ingredients
You will need:
- medium-sized apples – 3 kg;
- late varieties of cabbage – 4 kg;
- carrots – 2-3 pcs.;
- salt – 3 tbsp. spoons;
- sugar – 2 tbsp. spoons;
- water.
Choose juicy cabbage and sweet carrots. The apples must be really small, otherwise they will take a long time to cook.
Cooking Guide
Chop the cabbage and grate the carrots on a coarse grater. Stir, add sugar, salt, rub thoroughly with your hands until the juice comes out.
In a clean bucket, first place a layer of cabbage, then apples, again chopped vegetables on top, and so on until the top. Don't forget to compact the contents carefully.
There should be a cabbage layer on top. Pour the remaining juice into a bucket and place pressure on top.
If the liquid does not protrude from under the load, dilute a spoonful of salt and sugar in a glass of cold water and add to the apples soaked with cabbage.
Keep for 2 weeks at room temperature, refrigerate.
With lingonberries and fruit tree leaves
Most residents of the southern regions have only seen lingonberries in pictures or on TV. Even if they happen to buy this berry on occasion or receive it as a gift, they are unlikely to soak apples with it. But northerners can easily diversify their diet by making preparations with lingonberries, which will give them a beautiful color, a unique taste and become much healthier.
Ingredients
You will need:
- apples – 10 kg;
- lingonberries – 0.25 kg;
- sugar – 200 g;
- salt – 50 g;
- rye flour – 100 g;
- cherry and black currant leaves - 7 pcs.;
- boiled water - about 5 liters.
Cooking Guide
Boil water by adding salt and sugar. Dilute the rye flour with a small volume of cold liquid and pour into boiling water. Stir thoroughly and let cool.
Place half of the clean currant and cherry leaves at the bottom of the bucket, place the apples tightly, sprinkling them with lingonberry fruits. Pour in cooled brine. Place the remaining leaves on top and apply pressure.
After 2 weeks, take the bucket to the cellar or basement.
Conclusion
We have given just a few of the many recipes for soaking apples, we hope you will like them. Bon appetit!
