What to do if the cucumbers in the jar become cloudy: how to correct mistakes and prevent them in future preparations

Causes of cloudiness in jars of cucumbers

Before answering this question, you need to remember what procurement rules may not have been followed.

Let's look at the main mistakes :

• poorly washed jars - perhaps there are pieces of food or dust left on the walls, or poorly rinsed detergent;
• cucumbers that are not clean enough;
• poor quality lids;
• using iodized or sea salt instead of regular salt - such salt contains substances that spoil the brine;
• improper storage of the finished product - the workpieces cannot be left for several days at room temperature;
• damage to the can - you may not notice small cracks in the neck area;
• in rare cases, the cause may be a mixture of several varieties of cucumbers that are not intended for marinade.

Cucumbers for preservation have a rich dark green color. They should taste slightly sweet and be medium in size.

Why do cucumbers become cloudy?

Cucumbers don't just fade. This only happens if the development process for their manufacture is interrupted. There are several main reasons:

• The utensils for preparing cucumbers are not selected correctly. You need to take jars of high quality, suitable for consumption. Even if there are minor cracks in the neck, it is no longer possible to salt them. They must first be washed with warm water with a small addition of soda. Then the container must be rinsed thoroughly;
• Another reason is insufficient sterility. Here we are talking about the brine itself and the jar in which you are going to preserve the cucumbers. Before you start pickling, you need to hold the jar over boiling water for a few minutes. The jar is considered ready for use only when drops of evaporation begin to appear on its bottom. Each cucumber and spices also need to be thoroughly washed;
• In most cases, cloudiness occurs due to the lid not being tightly closed. This work is beyond the strength of a fragile girl, so it is better to entrust it to a man. The lid must be rolled up so tightly that not a single microorganism can penetrate the container;
• Even if all points are followed, cucumbers can still become cloudy. The reason for this is the incorrect cooking recipe. For example, acid and vinegar were not used. As a rule, the purity of the solution itself depends on them. Even the wrong salt can affect the quality of the product;
• The last important factor is proper storage of the product. If pickling occurs in the cold season, then the cucumbers should stand in the room for no more than three days. Storage itself should be carried out only in those rooms where the temperature is up to 7 degrees.

If all the rules are followed when salting, the cucumbers will be suitable for consumption for several years.

Dirty vegetables

If the cucumbers or other ingredients of the recipe (fragrant herbs, horseradish, garlic, etc.) were not washed well enough, then the contaminants that got into the jar with them may contain bacteria or mold spores. This will lead to the process of rotting and, as a result, to cloudiness of the brine.

Lack of sterility

For sterilization when twisting cucumbers, one of two methods is most often used:

• vegetables placed in jars are poured with boiling salty solution several times;
• the filled container is placed temporarily in a large pan of boiling water.

In both cases, the cucumbers may not warm up enough, and the microbes that got into the jar will remain alive and begin to multiply in the already rolled preparations, which is why the solution becomes cloudy. Bacteria can also be present on the walls of poorly washed containers.

Another reason is the use of detergents for washing jars and poor rinsing of dishes. In this case, the brine is made cloudy by the soap particles remaining on the walls. It is also important to sterilize empty, washed and dried jars over hot steam for at least 5 minutes each.

Ingredients

• Iodized and sea salt give a whitish precipitate, so you should not use them for preparing cucumbers. The iodine they contain can disrupt fermentation, causing clouding of the solution and even swelling or breaking off the lid; in addition, it gives the vegetables a bitter taste and makes them soft and not crunchy. Always use plain table rock salt for pickling cucumbers. By the way, you can prepare very tasty lightly salted cucumbers using our recipe.
• Do not store varieties that are intended for fresh consumption. They are usually large and smooth, soften when salted, and voids form in them, which can cause the brine to become less transparent.
• Cucumbers suitable for canning are dense, dark green, with pimples, no more than 15 cm long, sweetish in taste, with a minimum number of seeds. Examples of varieties for pickling: “Muromsky”, “Altai”, “Competitor”, “Nezhinsky”, “Parisian Gherkin”, “Buran F1”, “Murashka”, “Voronezhsky”.
• Cloudiness of the product may be due to insufficient acid or vinegar in the recipe. They ensure long-term preservation of pickled vegetables. Do not resort to the “by eye” method; always stick to the recipe, keeping the proportions exactly.
• And even the marinade can be cloudy if you overdo it with herbs, roots and spices: too much of them can change the clarity of the substance.

Violation of tightness

These may be poorly sealed jars due to poor quality lids or damage to the neck. The problem may also lie in a faulty seaming key.

Failure to meet storage criteria

After screwing, jars of cucumbers and any other vegetables should not be kept at room temperature for more than 3 days. As soon as they cool down, take them to a cellar or other suitable place for storage - with a temperature of +2...+7 °C.

Presence of chemicals

The brine often becomes cloudy, even if all canning rules are followed, if the vegetables contain a lot of nitrates. City residents and people who do not have a summer cottage are not immune from this. However, you can reduce the risk of purchasing cucumbers loaded with chemicals by buying them at the height of the vegetable season (late June - July) or from trusted sellers

How to save workpieces

What to do if the brine becomes cloudy? In some cases, the marinade can be saved, and the work will not be in vain.

There are several ways:

1. Give the rolled up jars some time. There is a small chance that the lids will not swell and you will end up with fermented cucumbers. These vegetables can be used in making soups.
2. Open the jar after boiling a kettle of water. Pour out the old liquid and rinse the vegetables with boiling water (you don’t have to remove them from the container). After 5 minutes, pour the water into the pan and make a new brine, adding a little more vinegar.
3. Pour the brine into a clean saucepan and boil it for at least 5 minutes. Then pour it over the cucumbers, pour it back into the pan, bring it to a boil and only then pour it into the jar. Cucumbers can also be sterilized. In this case, the taste will be slightly different from the classic one.

Why cans with foam?

Foam in the jar is a sure sign of the beginning fermentation process. If the hostess saw these changes immediately, the seams can still be saved.

Why do jars of cucumbers foam?

• jars and cucumbers with spices are poorly washed;
• poor quality sterilization;
• air got into the middle of the can.

To save cucumbers, you should open the jar, remove the cucumbers and drain the brine. Re-subject the jars to the sterilization process. Boil the brine and pour it over the cucumbers placed in sterilized jars. Roll up thoroughly.

When can you eat cucumbers from cloudy brine?

Before you take this brave step, remember that there is always the possibility of getting botulism bacillus into the jar . At best, you can get away with an upset stomach.

Important! Botulism is a serious, fatal disease. Do not neglect the rules for storing the product. It is better to throw away the missing vegetables and make a new preparation.

In some cases, eating cucumbers from cloudy brine is possible:

• if the solution became cloudy within a few days after preparation and the methods we indicated later helped;
• if the liquid changed color a little later and the lid did not swell;

If both signs of fermentation are present (a swollen lid and poor brine) , then under no circumstances should you eat the cucumbers or try to “save” them.

Poor quality containers and tools

It happens that everything is fine with vegetables, and the technology is followed to the nearest millimeter, and the recipe is tested, but the brine in one of the jars suddenly darkens. This usually happens when using containers or tools with defects (jars with chips on the neck, defective lids, low-quality seaming machine). Therefore, before starting use, check everything listed for suitability.

• How long do jar lids last and can they be reused?

  Do you know everything about using and storing different jar lids? Test yourself!

Before use, jars and lids must be sterilized to kill germs. The second “phase” of this process is wrapping the cans in a blanket. From the outside it looks funny, but preservation prepared using this method, provided that the proven recipe is strictly followed at the storage stage, spoils extremely rarely. But if you don’t do this, then the risk of getting a cloudy brine, a swollen lid or an “exploded” workpiece increases.

To be sure that a previously used can has retained its quality, when removing last year’s harvest from it, it should be opened carefully, trying not to scratch the neck with a can opener (popularly called a can opener). By the way, the choice of this tool, like lids, also needs to be approached responsibly.

• How to choose a seamer and lids for home canning

  A good can sealer is 50% of the success of home canning. Which one should you buy so that the seams will last all winter?

“Grandma’s” method of checking the tightness of rolled cans and the quality of their sealing by turning them over and cooling them upside down, despite its “antiquity,” still remains effective, and therefore many (though not all) housewives continue to use it.

How to pickle cucumbers correctly so that they do not become cloudy

You will need 1.5 kg of cucumbers and 1 liter of water , 2 cloves of garlic, a horseradish leaf and 2 tbsp. l. salt, ground black pepper, currant leaves as desired.

Advice. It is better to fill the jar as tightly as possible and fill it completely with water.

First, rinse the ingredients well and sterilize the container. Place horseradish leaves, currants, and coarsely chopped garlic on the bottom of the jar. Pack the cucumbers tightly.

Fill the jar halfway with cold water. Prepare a saline solution and add it to the cucumbers until the container is completely filled. Close with a tight nylon lid and put in a cool place.

How to quickly and easily pickle cucumbers

To the question of why pickled cucumbers in jars become cloudy, there is one answer - a violation of the preparation technology. When preparing cucumbers, you must follow the recipe exactly .

Ingredients:

• cucumbers - 1.5 kg;
• garlic - 3-5 cloves;
• horseradish or currant leaves - 2 pcs.;
• bay leaf - 2 pcs.;
• dill - 2 bunches;
• salt - 2 tbsp. l.;
• sugar - 2 tbsp. l.;
• vinegar 9% - 1.5 tbsp. l.;
• allspice - 2-3 peas.

Cooking method

The main thing is to rinse the jar and food well . The recipe is designed for a 3 liter container. Place garlic, pepper, currant and horseradish leaves, and bay leaf on the bottom of the vessel. Place cucumbers on top - more will fit in the jar if you lay them vertically, pour boiling water over them and let stand for 10 minutes.

Then drain the water and refill the container with boiling water . After 15-20 minutes, pour the liquid into the pan, pepper and salt. Bring to a boil, pour brine over the cucumbers. Add vinegar, roll up the jar with a sterilized lid and turn it over.

Take note:

Secrets of quick preparation of pickled cucumbers

How to pickle large cucumbers in slices for the winter

Recipes for pickling crispy cucumbers with aspirin

Canned cucumbers are cloudy: what to do

Situations arise when it is not the solution that becomes cloudy, but the canned cucumbers themselves. This is a normal sign if it occurs the first day after salting. However, if this effect lasts more than 4 days, then the product is considered spoiled.

First you need to taste them. Naturally, this needs to be done in small quantities. If cucumbers are bitter, it is better to throw them away, otherwise consuming them can harm human health. If the taste is normal, then you can try to over-salt them.

This requires:

1. Open the damaged jar;
2. Drain the marinade into a saucepan;
3. Get the cucumbers;
4. Rinse them with warm water;
5. Place back into jar;
6. Pour over the heated marinade.

Sometimes the cause of cloudy cucumbers is the preparation of the wrong marinade. Therefore, to improve the effect, it is advisable to prepare a new brine.

Advice from experienced housewives

Annual preparations in large volumes allow you to develop your own patterns and secrets of preserving vegetables until spring.

Experienced housewives give these recommendations:

1. To minimize the risk of the jar swelling, add some mustard seeds. They will also help make the vegetables firmer and crispier. When the jars of pickled cucumbers and mustard seeds have cooled, they are put away in the cupboard until winter.
2. If you want to protect your preserves from mold, place a couple of thin slices of horseradish under the lid. Horseradish root will act as an additional preservative; with it, the marinade will not darken or become cloudy.
3. Alcohol stops fermentation processes and kills mold fungi better than any other natural substance. It is enough to add 1-2% vodka (40% alcohol, odorless moonshine) of the amount of water to the marinade or brine to avoid vinegar, which affects the taste of cucumbers.
4. Do you want to make cucumbers more juicy and crunchy? Then find a small piece of oak bark, boil it first and add it to the jar. Crushed oak bark is sold in paper packages in pharmacies. Keep in mind that the bark makes the cucumbers a little darker than usual.
5. If you need the cucumbers to pickle faster, cut off the tails or prick them with a fork.
6. If you use screw caps, there is no need to turn the jars over. Turn over the jars, closed with machine lids, and cover them with a blanket.

Rules for storing pickled cucumbers in a jar

To avoid the formation of a white coating, it is important to follow all the storage rules for preservation. The optimal place is the cellar; you can leave jars of pickled vegetables in the refrigerator

The best conditions are considered to be temperatures up to +4 degrees and humidity of approximately 80%.

It is allowed to store pickles in an apartment, but the lids must be tightly closed to prevent air from entering. Vegetables that have been prepared using the cold pickling method can only be stored in the refrigerator. Otherwise, the product will quickly become moldy and unfit for consumption.

Pickles that have been removed from the container can be stored in the freezer. They do not lose their taste; they can be added to various dishes that require heat treatment.

It is better to store cucumbers in barrels in basements, where the temperature is approximately 0 degrees

In this case, it is important that the vegetable is completely covered with brine, there is good pressure, and the temperature in the room constantly remains at the same level. The pickling process lasts about a month, it is better not to consume the products ahead of time

The easiest way to preserve products is to properly prepare them. Cucumbers need to be thoroughly washed and sorted. For preservation, it is recommended to use strong and healthy cucumbers. The best are those that were collected in the morning and have black pimples.

Attention! Properly prepared containers are also the key to success, so it is important to follow the entire cooking sequence. A white coating on cucumbers does not always indicate that the product is hopelessly spoiled. In some cases, the formation of such a substance is a natural process and does not require the destruction of conservation

However, it is worth remembering that the appearance of plaque on pickled cucumbers is almost always a sign of spoiled food, which should be gotten rid of

In some cases, the formation of such a substance is a natural process and does not require destruction of the conservation product. However, it is worth remembering that the appearance of plaque on pickled cucumbers is almost always a sign of spoiled food, which should be gotten rid of

A white coating on cucumbers does not always indicate that the product is hopelessly spoiled. In some cases, the formation of such a substance is a natural process and does not require destruction of the conservation product. However, it is worth remembering that the appearance of plaque on pickled cucumbers is almost always a sign of spoiled food that should be gotten rid of.

How to avoid clouding of the blockage?

Always begin by carefully inspecting all ingredients being prepared for canning. Tomatoes and cucumbers should not have any damage. They and other components should be rinsed very well. Canning containers must be sterilized over steam and dried in the oven. The entire work area must be absolutely clean.

After you have rolled up the lids tightly, you need to make sure that they will maintain maximum tightness. To do this, they need to be placed upside down for a day and covered tightly with a blanket. After this, let the jars sit for about ten days in a cool place. If during this time you do not see any negative changes, then they can be stored.

Don't ignore pre-soaking cucumbers in water before pickling. This procedure will result in the air that may be contained in the vegetables being replaced by water, thereby reducing the risk of swelling and cloudiness of the brine. Carefully monitor the proportions of vegetables, salt and vinegar. Not enough acid will cause fermentation.

How to prepare cucumbers for spinning for the winter

You can avoid an unpleasant outcome in the form of cloudy brine in a jar of cucumbers, swelling of the lid or the formation of mold using the correct algorithm for preparing for the preservation process. The housewife must pay due attention to both the jars and the ingredients.

How to prepare cucumbers for seaming for the winter:

1. First, you should choose the right cucumbers: small, with dense, tuberous peel. It is desirable that they be approximately the same size.
2. Cucumbers need to be washed and soaked in water for 8-10 hours. It is best to choose spring water. If it is not possible to use exactly this, you should fill the cucumbers with purified water from the store.

After this, you can begin the key aspects of preservation - preparing the brine, putting cucumbers and other ingredients in jars and sealing.