Preserving food for the winter is a very troublesome task, so few of the modern housewives are ready to devote part of their free time to this business. Meanwhile, any vegetables and fruits, even in pickled form, are a storehouse of useful substances, without which it is very difficult for our body to cope with the onslaught of winter cold. Therefore, dear hostesses, do not be lazy and make sweet, sharp and salty preparations for the winter in order to provide the family with not only tasty, but also useful supplies during the coming cold months. Moreover, there are many products that do not require too much effort in processing, but the minutes spent will certainly more than pay for themselves. One of these vegetables is zucchini - inexpensive, healthy and incredibly fast to cook.
Zucchini for the winter - general principles and methods of preparation
Zucchini is the same pumpkin, but in a slightly different shape. In addition, unlike other representatives of the pumpkin family, these vegetables have a more delicate pulp and thin skin, easily cleansed of pulp. Any salads from zucchini for the winter are prepared very quickly and are surprisingly juicy and light.
As a rule, zucchini is not stored for a long time, therefore, there are many recipes for salads, caviar, jam, and pickled zucchini, which allow you to enjoy a vegetable in the winter.
Zucchini is a source of easily digestible fiber, saccharides, fatty acids, and trace elements and vitamins so necessary for our heart. Light vegetables with a calorie content of just over 20 kcal per 100 g. products that are able to fully enrich our diet with iron, phosphorus, vitamins PP, E, A, C, group B. Dishes from squash help eliminate edema, congestion in the body, they are very useful for people with heart and vascular disease, as well as with arthritis, kidney disease, liver and hypertension.
Zucchini is usually harvested immediately after ripening, that is, in late summer or early fall. Squash preparations can be prepared in a variety of ways, as well as with the addition of a wide variety of products. Before cooking eggs, for example, vegetables can be chopped and fried, or, grinded in a blender, put out until the mixture is homogeneous.
No less delicious recipes are salads from zucchini and pickled vegetables, preserving all the taste properties of fresh fruits. By the way, the marinade is quite suitable and cucumber: we put spices, herbs, garlic, peas and peppers in a jar and fill with brine. However, it all depends on individual preference - make zucchini sharp, sour, sweet or salty.
Winter squash - food preparation
Zucchini for billets is better to use young - not too long, not too thick. An exception is squash caviar - for its preparation, you can use the "old" vegetables. So, young zucchini has a more delicate structure and a very thin skin, therefore, having decided on the recipe, it is enough to rinse them in running water and act according to the recipe. The “old” squash has a coarser pulp structure, large seeds and thick peel. Therefore, before preparing any of them, it is necessary to eliminate the skin and all internal seeds.
Winter squash - the best recipes
Recipe 1: Spicy zucchini salad for the winter
A refreshing snack will surely appeal to all spicy lovers. Zucchini for preparing salad is better to use young, and salt - not iodized (this is a mandatory rule).
Ingredients:
- 4 kg of squash
- two table. lies. salt
- one table. lies. Sahara
- 3-4 large carrots
- 3-4 heads of garlic
- vinegar 9% (1 cup)
- two glasses of vegetable oil
- seasoning for carrots in Korean (1 package)
Cooking method:
1. Zucchini peeled (if the vegetables are "old", remove the seeds) and cut them into cubes. Peel the carrots and grate. Shredded vegetables are mixed in a deep bowl.
2. Now we are going to prepare a pickle for a salad of zucchini. To do this, peel the garlic, grind it with the help of garlic presses, put it in a bowl. Add oil, nine percent vinegar, salt, seasoning and sugar to it. Mix everything thoroughly and fill it with a pickle of zucchini with carrots. Mix vegetables with brine with a wooden spatula.
3. Leave the marrow squash for three to four hours. Important: in no case do not use aluminum utensils for these purposes, since the oxidation of the metal provokes the release of harmful substances. For the preparation of sour-spicy salads, it is better to use an enameled pan, but without chips.
4. While the marrows are marinated, wash the cans and lids. After three to four hours, fill the cans with a blank for the winter and sterilize them for about thirty minutes in a large pan, filling it with water to the "shoulders". Then we immediately get it and roll it up for the winter. We wrap the hot salad with a blanket for one day, and after that we remove it in a special place for storing blanks.
Recipe 2: Zucchini Salad for Winter with Tomatoes
In this recipe we will use a mixture of various vegetables: zucchini, bell peppers of various colors (yellow, red, green), tomatoes and onions. For taste, you can also add carrots and garlic.
Ingredients:
- 3 kg of zucchini
- 1 kg of peppers
- 1kg of tomatoes
- 150 gr. onions
- 200 gr. grows wow. oils
- 200 gr. Sahara
- 80 gr. non iodized salt
- 100 gr. nine percent vinegar
Cooking method:
1. Scroll through the meat grinder tomatoes. Pepper clear of seeds. Cut it into medium strips. Zucchini peeled, if necessary - from seeds (if they are too large) and cut into medium-sized cubes. We clean the onion and cut into half rings.
2. Put the tomatoes in an enameled pan, bring them to a boil, then add zucchini, peppers, salt, sugar and vegetable oil to them. We cover the pan with a lid and simmer, stirring, the vegetables over low heat for thirty minutes. Then pour in the vinegar and simmer another ten minutes (a total of 40 minutes).
3. We wash the jars, send them to the preheated oven until the moisture evaporates. Do not forget to boil the lids. When the salad is put out, we begin to put it in warm cans, and then roll it up, cool it to room temperature and put it in the usual place for storing blanks.
Recipe 3: Pickled Winter Zucchini
Zucchini cooked according to the described recipe is obtained slightly acidic, crunchy and very fragrant thanks to the spices included in the recipe. An ideal snack to any table!
Ingredients (for three kg of squash):
- two liters of water
- 250 gr. 9% vinegar
- a glass of sugar
- three table. lies. salt
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- parsley (or any other greens) to taste
- for decoration onions and carrots (three to four rings per jar)
Cooking method:
1. Zucchini (young) peeled, cut into rings. We do the same with carrots and onions.
2. Cooking the marinade. Dissolve sugar, vinegar and salt in water. We put the liquid mass on the stove, bring everything to a boil. Next, lower the zucchini, close the dishes with a lid. Stew zucchini for three to six minutes, stirring constantly, so that the vegetables are evenly soaked in marinade.
3. We wash the jars, scald them with boiling water, and dry them in the oven. Next, put greens, horseradish, garlic, pepper (peas), a few rings of onions and carrots on the bottom of the cans. Then we transfer the pickled zucchini into jars (along with the marinade) and cork them with boiled lids. Turn the cans over, wrap the blanket until it cools, after which the squash can be removed underground or in the cellar.
Recipe 4: Zucchini caviar for the winter
Ingredients:
- 6 kg of zucchini
- 1 kg of onion
- 6 carrots
- a glass of sugar
- a glass of oil
- salt 2 table. lies.
- half a liter of tomato paste
- tomato flooring sauce liter
Cooking method:
1. We clean the zucchini and all other vegetables, twist them through a meat grinder, periodically draining plentifully allocated juice.
2. Put vegetables stewed over medium heat, adding vegetable oil, salt and sugar. After boiling, reduce heat and boil caviar for at least two hours. Then add the sauce and pasta, mix and cook for about forty minutes.
2. Banks are processed by the methods described above, we transfer hot caviar into them and roll them up (you need to boil the lids first). Turn the banks over, leave to cool for 12-24 hours and put them in a cool place.
Winter squash - useful tips from experienced chefs
- Zucchini before preparing the blanks can be used both fresh and frozen (after thawing) - this is not significant;
- Jars for zucchini blanks are best used not too large: ideally - 500 milliliters or one-liter;
- To make squash caviar tastier, add onion fried in sunflower oil, pre-chopped using a blender or meat grinder.
