Want to make pickled tomatoes but don’t have a barrel? It’s OK! Try fermenting them in a bucket. To taste, they practically do not differ from barrel tomatoes, such tomatoes are very fragrant, slightly carbonated and moderately sour-salty. Unlike tomatoes salted in a barrel, these do not need to be collected periodically appearing white bloom. And the cooking process itself takes a little time.
In order for such barrel tomatoes to come out really tasty, a mandatory condition is necessary – the pickling bucket (you can take both plastic and enameled ones) must have a tight (sealed) lid so that air does not enter it during the pickling process.
Ingredients:
- Tomatoes – how many will fit in a bucket.
- Garlic – 2 heads.
- Cherry leaves – 15-20 pcs.
- Blackcurrant leaves – 15-20 pcs.
- Dill branches (with umbrellas) – 4-6 pcs.
- Allspice and black peas – 10 pcs.
- Bay leaf – 6 pcs.
For brine::
- Water – 2.5 liters.
- Salt – 150 g.
How to cook:
1. Before salting tomatoes, prepare a container for salting: wash a bucket (plastic or enameled) well with soda, rinse thoroughly and pour over with boiling water. Put a couple of washed dill branches on the bottom (always with umbrellas). Branches can be put whole or cut.
2. Then put five washed cherry leaves.
3. Following the cherry leaves, lay the washed currant leaves on the bottom of the bucket.
4. Next up is the spices. On top of the greens, put three bay leaves, four cloves of garlic and five peas of black and allspice.
5. Select whole (not damaged), elastic (maybe slightly underripe) tomatoes for pickling, rinse them.
6. Then lay them in a dense layer on the bottom of the bucket.
7. Fill the bucket halfway with tomatoes, then put some greens and spices (so pickled tomatoes will be much more aromatic), and then again – tomatoes.
8. Place the remaining dill umbrellas, blackcurrant and cherry leaves, garlic cloves and peppercorns on top of the tomatoes.
9. Prepare the brine: dissolve the salt in cold (preferably well) water.
Please note that the amount of brine depends on the volume of your bucket. It must be calculated based on a simple proportion: 60 g of salt is required per liter of water. For a 5 liter bucket, approximately 2.5 liters of water will be needed, respectively, 150 g of table salt. On top of the tomatoes (they should be covered with brine), pour another 0.5 – 1 tbsp. l. salt (salt will dissolve during salting).
10. After the tomatoes are placed in a bucket, cover it with a tight lid (pour boiling water over it beforehand), and put it in a cold place (cellar, refrigerator or basement) for salting.
After 2 – 2.5 weeks, pickled tomatoes can already be tasted (salted tomatoes will be ready after a week). It is advisable to store pickles no more than 3 – 4 months.
Bon appetit!