Marinating

Marinating recipes capture vegetables and mushrooms in a vinegar-based brine with salt, sugar and spices for long-term storage. The section gathers classic crispy preserves and quick no-sterilisation variants for jars of all sizes.

Quality marinated preserves depend on balancing four core ingredients: water, salt, sugar and vinegar. A standard vegetable brine per litre of water uses 2 tablespoons of salt, 3 tablespoons of sugar and 100 ml of 9% vinegar. To keep cucumbers and zucchini crisp, the jar gets a leaf of horseradish, blackcurrant, oak or cherry – the tannins lock the cell structure. Spices – peppercorns, cloves, bay leaf, dill umbels, garlic – build the aromatic profile and act as natural preservatives.

What the section covers

• Cucumbers – 1-litre and 3-litre jars, gherkins, mixed with tomatoes, with marigold petals;
• Tomatoes – whole, sliced with onion, in their own juice, with the 'snow' of garlic;
• Zucchini and patty pans – crisp for winter, with dill, Korean-style with carrots;
• Peppers and eggplant – stuffed, sliced, in tomato sauce;
• Mushrooms – marinated honey fungi, champignons, moss mushrooms, porcini without sterilisation.

Jars are sterilised with steam; brine goes in boiling. With correct ratios and storage the jars keep up to 12 months. Every recipe on recepty.mobi includes exact gram weights and step-by-step photography.