A whole salty watermelon in winter is an exotic, but quite affordable pickling on our table. It has long been customary to salt them in old oak barrels with various vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices. A properly prepared dish is not only tasty, but also very healthy, because in the process of fermentation the natural properties are not lost.
Selection and preparation of ingredients
For the fermentation of melons and gourds whole in barrels for the winter, it is recommended to select ripe fruits, and preferably slightly ripened, with pink flesh. They should be without dents or scratches on the peel. The crust is thin, the pulp is dense. Overripe berries are not suitable for use.
The ideal fruit size is 15–20 cm, weight is 1–1.5 kg.
For salting, it is better to use an old wooden barrel, but a polyethylene flask or a ceramic container will do. Before use, the container must be prepared - wash well and scald several times with boiling water. Then dry, avoiding re-contamination.
A simple way is to dry under the sun, covering it with a clean cloth. Fruits also need preparation. Watermelons must be washed under running water, not necessarily dried. Water should be clean, filtered; it needs to be boiled and cooled to room temperature.
Did you know? A feature of the watermelon variety Chervonny King is the complete absence of seeds in the pulp.
Barrel recipes for salted watermelons
Salted watermelons in barrels are prepared without vinegar. Recipes with apples, cabbage, and also in own juice are considered traditional. But there are many options - gourmets cook them with bitter pepper, mustard, ginger, celery and other spices and seasonings.
Classic recipe
10 kg20 min.
oak leaves, currants, cherries
taste
Nutritional value per 100 g:
- Put a large food bag made of durable polyethylene into the prepared barrel.
- At the bottom, lay part of the spicy leaves.
- Gently lay the berries, sprinkling them with leaves.
- Dilute salt and sugar in warm water, stir until dissolved, cool.
- Pour the workpiece with brine.
- Cover with a towel on top, put a circle of wood, put a suitable oppression.
- The product will be ready for use in 2-3 weeks.
Important! Towel periodically needs to be changed to clean, and Iyears should be completely covered with brine. If mold has formed on top, urgent action is required — it must be collected and refilled with fresh brine, as needed before coating, having prepared it according to the recipe. Corrupted salting can harm the body.
Video recipe
Classic recipe
With cabbage
16 kg40 min.
black pepper peas
10 pieces.
Nutritional value per 100 g:
- Chop cabbage, grate carrots on a coarse grater.
- Grind vegetables with salt, add sugar.
- At the bottom, line the first layer of cabbage with carrots.
- Put the watermelons further so that they do not touch each other and the walls of the container.
- Between the rows of watermelons and in empty places to put cabbage.
- The final layer should be cabbage.
- Cover the barrel with a linen napkin, put a wooden circle on top and put the load on.
- In a month, the salting is ready.
Important! It is better to salt watermelons in the fall, when the summer heat subsides. At this time, the optimum temperature for fermentation processes.
With apples
16 kg40 min.
currant leaves and cherries
10-15 pcs.
Nutritional value per 100 g:
- Wash the barrel, scald several times with boiling water, dry.
- Wash the gourds, remove the stalks.
- Rinse apples under running water, remove leaves.
- Rinse the straw, pour over boiling water.
- First, lay straw and half the leaves down.
- Lay out watermelons, remodel them with straw and leaves of fruit trees.
- Put apples in the voids between the berries.
- In a separate container, dilute the salt in 10 l of water, mix until dissolved.
- Pour the liquid into the barrel, filling it until the contents are completely covered.
- Cover with a clean towel, put a circle and oppression.
- After 25-30 days, you can try watermelons.
Important! With fast fermentation, the taste of the workpiece deteriorates, with slow fermentation, the barrel product acquires bitterness.
In watermelon juice
10 kg30 min.
Nutritional value per 100 g:
- Cut the juice blanks into pieces, remove the pulp, grind to a puree state.
- Salt, mix until dissolved.
- In a prepared barrel, lay alternately a layer of whole berries and a layer of salted watermelon puree.
- Alternate until the ingredients run out.
- The top should be a layer of mashed potatoes.
- Cover with a clean cloth, put a circle of wood, press with yoke.
- After 2-3 weeks, the salting is ready.
Features of storage of blanks
After salting, the barrel should be in a dark place at an optimum temperature of +20 ... + 23 ° C. The product will salt for 2-3 days, then the barrel should be removed to the basement or other cool room. For long-term home storage after the completion of fermentation, the container must be closed and stored at a temperature of + 3 ° C. Each watermelon needs to be removed with a clean appliance.
You can also please yourself and loved ones with a striped summer berry in the winter, if you harvest it in the summer. The benefits of soaked fruit are invaluable. The main thing is to find your favorite recipe and enjoy the original taste until the New Year holidays.
Did you know? In Japan, unusual square-shaped watermelons are grown, placing fruits in cubic containers - as conceived by gardeners, this makes them more convenient for transportation. However, their pulp and seed are the most common.
