A little bit about canning

Most fresh vegetables can not be stored for a long time, so they should be eaten immediately, and the surplus can be stored skillfully for the winter. There are many ways to conserve vegetables: pickling, pickling, pickling, juicing, candied fruits, drying, freezing and drying. With any method of preserving, the taste and nutritional qualities of products with guaranteed storage for a long period can only be obtained if the vegetables are fresh, mature, healthy, without manifestations of any diseases, without traces of mechanical damage, carefully prepared and washed. The degree of maturity is of great importance, since ripe vegetables contain more aromatic and coloring substances, more juice can be obtained from them. However, there are a number of canning recipes that provide for the preparation of immature, still small and green vegetables.

The methods of preservation vary considerably, but there are a number of rules common to all of them:

All products must be washed thoroughly before canning, potatoes, cucumbers and various root vegetables should be washed with a brush. Greens should be carefully sorted, removing all the flaccid, yellow and damaged parts of plants.

It is necessary to wash vegetables with cold water, but they can not be left in it for a long time, as some of the soluble nutrients and vitamins are lost.

Cut vegetables on a clean wooden board with a sharp stainless steel knife.

To ensure that vegetables do not lose weight and do not lose vitamins, they need to be cleaned, washed and especially cut immediately before use.

If it takes some time to store the products prepared for canning, they should be covered with a damp gauze or lid and put in a cool place. Vegetables can be lightly sprinkled with lemon juice, this protects the vitamin C contained in the products from the destructive effects of oxygen.

О The most important rule in the heat treatment of vegetables is that this process should not last longer than necessary. The prolonged exposure to high temperatures significantly reduces the amount of vitamins, valuable mineral salts and aromatic substances in vegetables, which adversely affects the nutritional value of the final product.