How to make pickled cucumbers crispy and not soft

Cucumber is a common vegetable, and there are many ways to cook it. Pickled cucumber is one of the most popular delicacies. It tastes spicy and delicious, and it goes well with rice, so it is very popular among people. Some people pickle cucumbers themselves, but how to make pickled cucumbers crispy and not soft? Let's take a closer look!

How to pickle cucumbers to make them crispy

If you want the pickled cucumber to have a crisp taste, we can do it in the following ways:

With skin

As we all know, cucumber itself is a relatively crisp vegetable. Both the skin and the flesh of cucumber have a high water content. The water content of cucumber flesh is even higher than that of cucumber skin. Cucumber flesh releases water during pickling, and it is not crispy if there is less water. Cucumber skin releases very little water, so the "crisp" taste of pickled cucumbers will be retained more. Therefore, when pickling cucumbers, keep the cucumber skin.

Remove the pulp

Cucumber pulp contains a lot of water, seeds, and is easy to break. When pickling, the cucumber pulp will affect the taste, and the cucumber pulp is also easy to deteriorate, so we can just remove the cucumber pulp when pickling cucumbers.

Water

Cucumbers have a high water content. When pickled, they will release water due to the infiltration of salt, soy sauce and other condiments. Instead of letting the cucumbers release water during the pickling process, it is better to let the cucumbers lose water before pickling. In this way, firstly, the cucumbers can be guaranteed to have a crisp taste, and secondly, the amount of condiments can be accurately controlled. This operation can be used when pickling many vegetables.

Drying

The salted cucumbers are dried in the sun, which means they are placed in a cool and ventilated place to dry, rather than exposed to the sun. To speed up the evaporation of water, you can use a fan to blow. After being salted, the cucumbers lose water and become wilted, and the taste is definitely not very crisp. If we dry them a little, the cucumbers will become smaller and the flesh will become firmer. Then, they will become very crisp after being marinated with seasoning juice.

How to make pickled cucumbers

Ingredients: cucumber, dried chili, (green chili), ginger, garlic, star anise, pepper, sugar, MSG, salt, and vegetable oil.

1. Wash the fresh cucumbers (it is best to use very tender cucumbers) and place them in a ventilated place to dry. Cut them into long sections, add appropriate amount of salt and marinate for about 1-2 hours to kill the moisture in the cucumbers and set aside.

2. Wash and cut the dried chili peppers into sections, peel and slice the garlic, peel and slice the ginger, dry them and set aside.

3. Heat the pan and add vegetable oil, twice as much as when cooking. When the oil is 50% hot, add star anise, peppercorns, and dried chilies and stir-fry until fragrant. Then add garlic and ginger slices and stir-fry. Then add light soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat and let cool thoroughly for later use.

4. Squeeze out the water from the blanched cucumbers and place them in a container. Pour the cooled juice into the cucumbers (it is best if the juice covers the cucumbers).

Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator or a cool place. You can eat it the next day. The pickled cucumbers are crisp and sour, appetizing and delicious. They will not go bad even if you store them for a year.

What to pay attention to when pickling cucumbers

Pickled cucumbers must have a crispy texture. If you want to ensure that the pickled cucumbers are crispy, fragrant and delicious, the selection of ingredients must be the key

1. Choose fresh cucumbers of the season. Don't choose too big cucumbers. Choose evenly thick and thin cucumbers. Too thick cucumbers have too many seeds inside, and too thin cucumbers may not be ripe.

2. During the pickling process, it is best to put heavy objects on the cucumbers to squeeze out the moisture in the cucumbers as much as possible. This will make the pickled cucumbers taste better.

3. Although cucumber pickles are delicious, they contain nitrite carcinogens for many people. When we pickle pickles at home, as long as we master scientific methods, we can avoid excessive nitrite carcinogens during the pickling process. Pickling should not exceed 2 days or 20 days. According to scientific measurements, the nitrite content in pickles is not high in the first 2 days of pickling, but reaches a peak on the 3rd to 8th day, begins to decline after the 9th day, and basically disappears after the 20th day. Therefore, pickles are generally pickled for less than 2 days, and should be pickled for a month before they can be eaten.