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Many housewives are faced with the fact that pickles are empty inside, soft, and not crispy enough. This happens for many reasons that you should be aware of in order to avoid making more mistakes when preserving.
Why do pickles become empty and soft inside?
Most often, there are only two reasons why cucumbers become empty inside after pickling: poor quality product and errors during preservation. However, there are other cases.
Improper storage
One of the reasons why cucumbers become soft and empty inside after pickling is improper storage of the crop before processing. For corking you need to use only fresh herbs. Every day they lose nutritional value and nutritional qualities, such as elasticity.
Before pickling, you can store cucumbers for up to a day after picking. In this case, the fruits are placed in a cool room, preferably in the refrigerator. However, they should not be placed in plastic bags.
If the fruits are stored for a long time and incorrectly, they will be empty inside
Incorrect salting technology
Preparing pickles is not so easy; the whole process is divided into several stages. Violations in technology lead to poor taste, the fruits become empty inside and soft. To ensure that pickling takes place as required, jars of cucumbers are kept in suitable conditions.
Fermentation and the formation of lactic acid should begin as quickly as possible. To do this, the prepared jars are kept at room temperature for about 1-2 days. In this case, the indicator in the room should not fall below +15 ... +25°C. Otherwise, instead of lactic acid, when pickling cucumbers, harmful microbes are formed, which lead to poisoning.
Next, it is very important not to overcook the workpieces and remove them in the cold in time. The main fermentation should take place slowly under special conditions - at a temperature no higher than +5°C. This is how a long-term storage product is obtained that is crispy and not empty inside. The salting process in the cellar lasts about 1-2 months.
If the fermentation process of cucumbers is disrupted and it ends quickly, gas is formed in the jars, which leads to the appearance of emptiness in the greens. Most often, thin-barked fruits become empty inside.
Incorrectly prepared marinade
The formation of a large amount of gas in jars is caused not only by a violation of the salting technology, but also by improperly prepared marinade. When preparing pickles, you must strictly adhere to the recipe, otherwise the greens will become empty inside. The main reason is a lack of salt, which disrupts the fermentation process. Its optimal indicator in brine is 6-8%. If the marinade is not strong enough, then air and emptiness will form inside the seed chamber.
In addition, when preparing the marinade, you need to take into account the hardness of the salt.In extra varieties it is low, and the highest in coarsely ground products. Iodized salt is not used for pickling cucumbers. It prevents the formation of lactic acid bacteria.
Using too soft water also leads to the formation of voids. A hardness of up to 45° is suitable for pickling.
Poor quality cucumbers
It happens that the storage conditions for green cucumbers are met, the brine for pickling is prepared correctly, but the cucumbers still turn out empty inside. This happens due to a low-quality product.
For pickling, you need to select fruits based on the basic rules:
- use small or medium-sized greens with a small seed chamber;
- Harvest for pickling needs to be done early in the morning, and not in the heat, when it loses moisture;
- salt the crop of suitable varieties, and not for salad purposes.
If you take large or overripe cucumbers, they will inevitably become empty inside. Such fruits have a large seed chamber, which is filled with air during pickling. But even small greens can become empty if they are collected at noon. When there is no other option, they are soaked in water for 6-8 hours before cooking. This way they are saturated with the necessary moisture.
So that the cucumbers are not empty after pickling, they are compacted tightly into jars, small and strong specimens are selected
Unsuitable variety
Another reason why cucumbers become empty when pickled is that the variety is not suitable for this. There are fruits for salad purposes. They have thin and smooth skin, white pimples. They cannot be used for pickling. It is preferable to choose fruits with dark tubercles. Experienced gardeners praise several hybrids of suitable quality:
- Marina Grove;
- The hit of the season;
- Petrel;
- Masha.
These fruits always remain elastic and tasty and do not lose color when pickled.
Errors during cultivation
It often happens that cucumbers become empty inside due to a violation of the growing technology. There are several reasons for this, and the most common of them is insufficient watering. If the soil is constantly dry, then green plants actively lose moisture, because they are 80% water. From the moment the ovary forms until harvest, the crop is demanding on watering. It should be regular and plentiful. To prevent the formation of a soil crust, the soil in the beds is mulched.
Another growing mistake is unsuitable soil composition. The soil should be fertile and loose. Humus, peat and mineral fertilizers are added to it. Sandy soil is no good. There is no need to expect a big harvest.
Pickles become empty inside because they lack nitrogen during cultivation. It is difficult to overfeed a crop; its root system is superficial and will take as much as it needs. However, in addition to organic matter, bushes need mineral components: potassium, phosphorus, calcium. The lack of these substances leads to the formation of a void inside the fetus. Thus, at the beginning of the growing season, plants need nitrogen fertilizing, and already during the formation of the ovary and fruiting - phosphorus-potassium fertilizing. This is exactly the scheme that needs to be followed when growing cucumbers.
How to properly pickle cucumbers so that there are no voids inside
To get elastic and strong pickles, you need to follow the rules:
- Select small greens, sort them, soak in salted cold water for about 6 hours.
Soak cucumbers before pickling
- Use jars up to 10 liters in volume, otherwise it will be more difficult to obtain a quality product. Wash them first with baking soda.
Sterilize jars before storing cucumbers.
- The fruits for pickling should be placed tightly, at the bottom of the jar and spices and herbs should be placed on top.
Divide spices and herbs into equal parts and place in jars along with cucumbers.
Most often they take:
- dill umbrellas;
- garlic;
- peppercorns;
- horseradish, currant and cherry leaves;
- oak bark
The marinade for pickling is made hot or cold. In the first method, the jars are filled with boiling brine and left for seven days. After which the fruits are washed, the liquid is boiled again and the container is filled. Seal with nylon lids.
The cold method is slightly different. The brine is boiled, then allowed to cool and poured into a jar with cucumbers. After 4-5 days, add a portion of fresh brine to the top of the jar and lower it into the cellar.
Recommendations from experienced chefs
Experienced housewives use some tricks to add freshness to fruits before pickling. Even hollow greens will become elastic if they are soaked in salt water, then rinsed and immediately salted. Before cooking, each fruit should be pierced with a fork, so there will be less risk of voids forming.
For successful fermentation, clean well water is used. The tap water is pre-settled, but not filtered. Rock salt is used.
And finally, I would like to note that the most delicious and crispy pickles are obtained in oak barrels, and not in jars. This type of wood does not absorb brine, vegetables remain dense and acquire a unique aroma.
Conclusion
Pickles are empty inside if they were stored incorrectly or if they were pickled incorrectly. You can avoid this by listening to the advice of experienced housewives. They also choose suitable varieties, adhere to the rules of agricultural technology and marinade preparation.
