How to prepare Nizhyn cucumbers for the winter: salad recipes according to GOST and other cooking options

The cucumber season starts in mid-summer. Cucumbers of various varieties and hybrids with yellow flowers at the tips delight the eyes of gardeners and add pleasant troubles to housewives. You need to have time to pickle them, marinate them, chop them, and roll them up for the winter. One of the favorites among cucumber preparations is Nezhinsky salad.

The history of Nezhinsky salad

Salad “Nezhinsky” is a discovery by specialists from the Nezhinsky cannery, made in Soviet times. The snack turned out to be so successful that it was exported abroad to friendly countries.

The basis of the salad is cucumbers. In the classic recipe, only onions, sunflower oil and seasonings were present along with them.

The budget delicacy was a real hit. Overripe vegetables were used to prepare the salad. Not only the price became the reason for the popularity snacks, but also taste characteristics. Soviet families purchased salad with the taste of summer as an addition to a side dish or as an independent snack. It is still popular now, when almost every family has a summer cottage where unpretentious cucumbers grow.

Everything is according to GOST: recipe for “Nezhinsky” cucumbers for the winter

This snack will remind the older generation of the USSR era. Back then, orderly rows of jars of factory-produced salad, prepared in accordance with GOST, complemented the modest store assortment.

Required ingredients:

• medium-sized cucumbers – 2.5 kg;
• onions – 1.5 kg;
• sunflower oil – 250 ml;
• vinegar essence 9% – 20 ml;
• salt – 2 tbsp. l.;
• bay leaf – 1 pc. on the jar;
• black pepper – 2 peas;
• allspice – 4 peas.

How to cook:

1. We wash the cucumbers from dirt and debris and send them to soak in cold water for 1.5 hours.
2. Cut the vegetables into circles about 3 mm thick.
3. Cut the peeled onion into rings or half rings.
4. Place onions and cucumbers in a saucepan. Add salt there too. Stir and refrigerate for an hour.
5. While the cucumber-onion cocktail is “resting,” it’s time to start sterilizing the jars and lids.
6. After an hour, add sunflower oil and vinegar essence to the salad and mix.
7. Place bay leaves and black pepper into the processed jars.
8. Fill the jars with salad. Pour in the released juice.
9. The time has come for the procedure for sterilizing salad in jars: cover the bottom of the pan with a cloth, put filled jars in it, covered with lids. Fill the pan with water so that its level is at the level of the neck of the jars.
10. Place on low heat and warm up the cucumber preparations. The time depends on the volume of the container: we “cook” half-liter containers for 20 minutes, half an hour for liter containers. Larger jars are not recommended for this salad.
11. Carefully remove the jars from the pan and roll them up.
12. We turn it over, wrap it up, leave it like this until it cools down, and put it away for storage.

Variations of the classics

Based on the classic recipe, variations appeared with the addition of other vegetables and spices. Cucumbers will find “mutual understanding” with sweet peppers, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, and garlic.

"Nezhinsky" economy option

This appetizer is made from irregularly shaped cucumbers, which does not in any way affect the taste of the dish.

Required ingredients:

• substandard cucumbers – 2 kg;
• onions – 2 kg;
• granulated sugar - 3 tbsp. l.;
• table vinegar 9% – 100 ml;
• refined oil – 100 ml;
• salt – 2 tbsp. l.;
• black pepper – 5-10 pcs.

How to cook:

1. We cut cucumbers as for salad, onions - into rings or half rings
2. Mix the vegetables with sugar, salt, pepper and let it brew for half an hour.
3. Place the vegetables and juice into a saucepan, cook for 10 minutes, add vinegar and oil, and bring to a boil again.
4. Place in hot sterilized jars and seal.

From overgrown cucumbers

The cucumber age is short-lived. Vegetables quickly gain weight and size and become unsuitable for pickling and pickling. But the “oldies” should not be written off. A salad made from vegetables that were not removed from the garden in time is not inferior either in aesthetic qualities or in taste to an appetizer made from cucumbers with ideal shapes.

People call him the “Winter King”.

Ingredients:

• “overgrown” cucumbers – 2 kg;
• sunflower oil – 240 ml;
• vinegar essence 9% – 120 ml;
• onions – 2 kg;
• granulated sugar – 40 g;
• salt – 80 g;
• ground black pepper – 1 tsp.

How to cook:

1. Soak the washed cucumbers in cold water for an hour.
2. Cut off the ends. Cut lengthwise into four parts, then cut each quarter crosswise. If the salad is prepared from overripe vegetables, it is recommended to remove the seeds.
3. Cut the onion into half rings. Mix with cucumbers.
4. Add sugar, salt, mix. Let it sit for an hour.
5. Cook over low heat until the juice boils.
6. Add oil and vinegar, stir and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.
7. Place in jars and roll up.
8. Wrap it up and leave it upside down until it cools.

“Nezhinsky” with garlic

Thrill-seekers will appreciate this savory snack.

Required ingredients:

• cucumbers – 6 kg;
• vinegar essence 9% – 300 ml;
• garlic - one head;
• salt – 100 g;
• greens (optional - parsley, dill) - 200 g;
• salt – 100 g.

How to cook:

1. Soak the cucumbers for an hour in cold water.
2. Rinse and cut into slices.
3. Chop the greens and garlic.
4. Mix everything and put it in the refrigerator for a day.
5. Place into prepared jars and cover with nylon lids.
6. Store in a cool place. Sterilized for 20 min. The salad can also be stored at room temperature.

Salad "Nezhinsky" mustard

The piquancy is due to the presence of mustard in the salad. It also extends the shelf life of the products.

You will need:

• cucumbers – 4 kg;
• vinegar essence 9% – 250 ml;
• vegetable oil – 250 ml;
• granulated sugar – 200 g;
• dill – 100 g;
• salt – 60 g;
• garlic - one head;
• mustard powder – 40 g;
• ground red pepper – 5 g;
• ground black pepper – 5 g.

How to cook:

1. Cut the processed cucumbers into slices.
2. Using a blender (mixer), mix mustard, vinegar, vegetable oil, sugar, salt and pepper.
3. Add finely chopped dill and garlic squeezed through a press to the resulting mass.
4. Pour the mixture over the cucumbers and place in a cool place for 4 hours.
5. Place into jars and sterilize for 20 minutes. and roll it up.

With tomatoes and sweet peppers

This tomato-pepper “tandem” will be appreciated by lovers of the sweetish tomato taste and the piquancy brought by sweet peppers.

Required ingredients:

• cucumbers – 2 kg;
• sweet pepper – 1.5 kg;
• tomatoes – 1 kg;
• white onion – 750 g;
• red onion – 750 g;
• hot pepper - one pod;
• vinegar essence 9% – 100 ml;
• vegetable oil – 300 ml;
• salt – 80 g.

How to cook:

1. Soak the processed cucumbers for one hour.
2. Cut into circles (can be quarters or halves of a circle). Onion - in half rings, sweet pepper - in strips.
3. Grind tomatoes and hot peppers in a blender.
4. Pour the tomato puree into the vegetables, mix, add salt, add vinegar, half the amount of vegetable oil. Mix again and place in the refrigerator overnight.
5. Place in jars, fill with juice and sterilize for 20 minutes.
6. Add 1 tbsp to each jar. l. heated vegetable oil, roll it up, wrap it up and leave it upside down until it cools.

With carrots

The orange root vegetable will add juiciness to the cucumber snack and enrich it with carotene.

List of ingredients:

• cucumbers – 7 kg;
• carrots – 1 kg;
• onions – 2 kg;
• greens (dill, parsley) - one bunch each;
• granulated sugar - 3 tbsp. l.;
• salt – 3 tbsp. l.;
• vinegar essence 9% – 100 ml;
• vegetable oil – 300 ml.

How to cook:

1. Cut off the ends of the cucumbers and fill the vegetables with cold water. Leave for three hours.
2. Cut into circles about 3 mm thick.
3. Cut the carrots into pieces, finely chop the onion. Chop the greens.
4. Mix all ingredients in a saucepan. Add vegetable oil, salt and sugar. Leave for 2 hours. During this time, the vegetables will give juice.
5. Place the pan on the stove and bring the salad to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes, remembering to stir.
6. Add vinegar and cook for another minute.
7. Place the snack in jars and cover with lids without twisting.
8. We put a cloth on the bottom of a large pan, place the jars and fill them with water up to their shoulders.
9. Place on low heat and warm up the cucumber preparations. The time depends on the volume of the container: we “cook” half-liter containers for 20 minutes, half an hour for liter containers.
10. Carefully remove the jars from the pan and roll them up.
11. We turn it over, wrap it up, leave it like this until it cools down, and put it away for storage.

Tips and tricks

There are little tricks for preparing Nezhinsky salad. They will help you prepare an appetizer so that the cucumbers remain crisp even after boiling or sterilization, and the salad lasts until winter and longer:

1. Spoiled vegetables are not suitable for harvesting.
2. Cucumbers are soaked in cold water for 2 hours so that they retain their crispness in the salad. If you overdo it, the vegetables will sour and become unsuitable for preservation.
3. Before boiling the salad, it is recommended to add salt, sugar and other ingredients to the mixture of chopped vegetables and let it stand for about an hour. The vegetables will release juice and the salad will not burn during cooking.
4. Glass containers for salad are washed and sterilized well. The jars must be the same size. To sterilize jars of salad, “grandmother’s” methods are used - steaming over a boiling kettle or pan, microwave, double boiler, multicooker. The best option is an oven that can accommodate several cans at once.
5. It is recommended to cook the salad for more than 15 minutes, otherwise the cucumbers will stop crunching.

This is interesting:

Review of the Mamluk cucumber variety for salads and delicious preparations for the winter.

Unusual round cucumbers “Chupa Shchups” for salads and winter preparations.

Hybrid cucumber “Emerald Stream” for the most delicious salads.

Conclusion

The famous Nezhinsky salad, originally from the USSR, once again proves that everything ingenious is simple. The recipe has been around for several decades and is passed down to subsequent generations, acquiring new nuances.

The Soviet Union is long gone, but housewives still “roll” Nezhinsky salad from pickled cucumbers for the winter, because it is simple, cheap, convenient and practical. In all its variations, it will complement a winter dinner and will help out if guests unexpectedly appear on the doorstep.