Why canned cucumbers become cloudy. Why cucumbers in jars become cloudy after seaming and explode: what to do, how to save? If the cucumbers are cloudy, can they be redone? Is it possible to eat pickled and canned cucumbers in cloudy brine

Probably, every family has its own signature recipe for pickled or pickled cucumbers. And every housewife is sure that it is according to her recipe that they turn out to be the most delicious and crispy. But even for the most experienced and skillful pickle in a jar can lose transparency. What to do if the cucumbers become cloudy, should they be sent to the bin?

Is it possible to eat cucumbers from cloudy brine?

If all the stages of harvesting are completed correctly and the lids are not swollen, and the brine is cloudy, this only means that fermentation has begun, during which lactic acid is formed. This often happens with salted vegetables, and not pickled, that is, with those for which vinegar is not added.

Lactic acid is a natural preservative, and it is also very useful for the human body. It improves blood circulation, lowers blood pressure and controls blood fat levels. Thus, if a precipitate appears, but the lid is intact and there are no air bubbles in the liquid, the product can be eaten.

If the water is cloudy and the lid is swollen, such vegetables, unfortunately, cannot be saved. A swollen or already torn off lid can be a sign of the presence of botulism bacteria. Of course, this cannot be determined without laboratory tests. But is it worth the risk if there is a chance of contracting such a dangerous disease?

What to do with a cloudy jar of cucumbers?

Even if the hostess knows that it is quite acceptable to eat the workpiece, she may wonder what to do if the pickle in the cucumbers has become cloudy. Is it possible to somehow return them to their previous state or interfere with unwanted processes? Experienced housewives advise rearranging the jars from a cool place so that all the dregs settle to the bottom. Such cucumbers, most likely, will no longer crunch pleasantly, but they will not cause any harm to the body either.

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In vegetables preserved in vinegar, the likelihood of milk fungus formation is much less. But, it may also happen that pickled cucumbers become cloudy. What to do in this case? There are several options.

• Roll out, cover with a nylon lid and leave for a couple of days in a cool place. This way you get lightly salted cucumbers, ready to eat.
• Open and roll up again. The water must be drained and boiled, vegetables and spices should be washed and put into re-sterilized jars.

The most reliable way to save the product is to prepare a new marinade by increasing the amount of vinegar. In this case, cucumbers should be washed and poured with boiling water 2-3 times. It is desirable to replace greens and spices with fresh ones.

• If the cloudy fruits have already salted enough, but turned out to be soft, tasteless or too sour, this is not at all a reason to throw them away. You can significantly improve their taste if you pour tomato juice and leave for three days at room temperature. This method corrects even the most hopeless specimens, the cucumbers will become crispy and very tasty.

Why blanks lose transparency?

Why did the cucumbers become cloudy and what should be done to avoid similar situations in the future? In the process of conservation, there are many nuances and rules, the violation of which can lead to such unpleasant consequences as damage to the product. In most cases, this happens precisely because of a violation of technology. Here are the most common canning mistakes.

• Vegetables, herbs, spices or jars were not washed well. Particles of dirt and dust can contribute to the development of the rotting process in an already rolled product.
• presence of nitrates. Of course, ideally, for seaming, you should take cucumbers grown by caring summer residents, but in the realities of a big city this is not always possible. When choosing vegetables, try to at least buy them during the high season, that is, at the end of June and July. Take fruits of medium size, dark green color, dense, crispy.

Before starting the pickling process, be sure to leave the cucumbers in cold water for several hours, and preferably overnight. Such a simple process will not only remove nitrates, but also make vegetables more crispy.

• For preservation, sea or iodized salt was used. It is certainly more useful than ordinary cooking, but it is completely unsuitable for salting. First, sodium chloride in its pure form is an ideal preservative, and various additives worsen the preservative properties. Secondly, iodine can give vegetables an unpleasant aftertaste, and also disrupts the fermentation process, which can cause the lid to swell and become cloudy. In addition, vegetables marinated in iodine-fortified salt will not be crispy and may taste bitter.
• Jars and lids were sterilized incorrectly or not at all. Now, in many preservation recipes, it is advised not to subject the container to such processing - supposedly it is enough to thoroughly rinse it and fill it with hot brine. However, this only makes sense if you are confident in the quality of the products and make the marinade with a lot of vinegar. For seaming vegetables without adding it, sterilization is required.
• The seal was broken. Containers for seaming should be chosen without chips and cracks, the lids should be new. It should also be taken into account that a crack could form during sterilization or pasteurization. To avoid this, observe the temperature regime, that is, do not pour hot brine on cold dishes and do not place hot jars on cool surfaces.

How to prevent the appearance of "suspicious" sediment?

• A large amount of spices and herbs can provoke the appearance of a cloudy sediment in seamings.
• Do not fill jars too tightly. During conservation, the fermentation process will occur, and if there is not enough space for this, the water may become cloudy and even rip off the lids.
• To keep the brine transparent, you can use one trick. After the fruits and spices are packed into jars, they need to be poured twice with boiling water and only then with marinade. This process will take longer, but the chances are significantly increased that lactic acid will not begin to form.
• Cucumbers rolled together with bell peppers do not become cloudy and have a piquant taste.
• After spinning, the jars must be turned upside down and left to cool completely in heat. Better yet, wrap them in a blanket. Firstly, the method will allow you to immediately notice the lack of tightness. And secondly, due to the fact that the jar will cool slowly, it will undergo additional heat treatment.

This is how we are arranged, having grown a crop, we definitely preserve something else for the winter. It can be a shame when, after a while, we find a cloudy pickle in jars of cucumbers, swollen lids that are about to explode. And the question of why cucumbers become cloudy and jars with them explode, what is done wrong, for sure, arises with every housewife. Let's look into these questions today and find the right answers.

The main reason is the presence of microorganisms in the jar. How can they get into a jar of cucumbers? Very simple: with cucumbers, herbs, spices, and also through poorly washed jars.

Other causes of cloudy cucumber brine can be

• use of iodized salt
• use for salting salad varieties,
• violation of the tightness of the container,
• old lids,
• lack of acetic or citric acid.

Why do cans of blanks explode?

Homemade items should be stored in a cool place. Conditions with a temperature not higher than + 5ºС in the cellar, underground, household refrigerator are considered ideal.

Closing jars can allow microbes to get in. Storage of canned food at temperatures above +5ºС leads to active reproduction of microorganisms. They begin to release their waste products - toxins and gas. Gas accumulates under the cover. Gradually, the amount of gas increases, the lid inflates, a so-called bombing is formed. At some point, the lid cannot withstand the pressure of the gas and explodes, flies off the can.

Why do cucumbers grow cloudy in jars?

So that the brine does not become cloudy in the jars and the lids do not explode on them, certain rules are followed during preservation.

1. Some hostesses sterilize jars in the oven, over steam in a kettle, in the oven, etc. Of course, this is not bad. However, it is not necessary to do this when canning cucumbers, since we put non-sterile vegetables and herbs in a jar. The main condition is that the banks themselves must be clean. To do this, it is enough to wash them with water and soda and rinse thoroughly.
2. The purity of cucumbers is achieved by washing in two waters. Before laying in a jar, vegetables should be thoroughly washed. In relation to cucumbers, the following can be said. Have you noticed a whitish coating on freshly picked cucumbers? The film becomes noticeable, it is worth lowering the cucumbers into the water. Beneficial bacteria live in this plaque, fighting pathogenic microflora, preventing the development of diseases on cucumbers. The film must be thoroughly washed off. Cucumbers immediately take on a green appearance, begin to creak. By removing the film, all bacteria are removed.
3. Greens should be no less clean. It is washed under running water. Then, cut into small pieces, boil in water for 2-3 minutes. The broth is diluted with boiled water and a brine is prepared. The greens themselves are transferred to the jar.
4. I don’t know if acetic acid or vinegar, which we always add to blanks, is sterile, but it also needs to be boiled. I always add it to the brine at the end and boil for 1-2 minutes.
5. After rolling the lid, the jars are turned over. This is necessary to check the tightness. Having twisted badly, microbes get inside the jar along with the air, starting to multiply there. Turning over the cans, the inside of the lid and the top of the can are disinfected.

And one more important tip.

Through poorly washed vegetables, causative agents of botulism can enter the preparations. The disease is dangerous because in a tightly closed jar it produces a toxin - botulinum, the strongest poison, often fatal. This toxin has no taste or smell. Its possible appearance can be prevented by washing the vegetables thoroughly and adding acetic or citric acid. Acids are harmful to bacteria.

What varieties are taken for canning?

For canning, it is necessary to take cucumbers in the stage of milky ripeness with a size of no more than 10-12 cm, preferably one size. Using fruits of different sizes, salt unevenly enters the pulp of cucumbers, so some of them are worse salted. Insufficiently salted cucumbers again serve as an excellent breeding ground for microorganisms.

Lettuce early-ripening varieties will not work. Their pulp is more tender, it will deteriorate faster in blanks. Having rolled salad cucumbers for the winter, after a while, opening the jars, you will find soft, tasteless vegetables. Choose for home-made preparations such varieties: Friendly family, Cheerful guys, Salting, Rodnichok. To be sure, when buying seeds, read for what purposes this variety is used.

What to do if the jar of cucumbers is cloudy?

Depending on how long the cloudy billet costs, proceed as follows.

• If the preparation was made a few days ago, it is necessary to open the jar, drain the brine, rinse the cucumbers and re-preserve them according to the recipe. Moreover, the amount of salt and sugar must be reduced.
• Having found a cloudy workpiece late in winter, look at the condition of your cucumbers. If they remain hard, crispy, use them for making vinaigrettes, salads, pickles. Soft - are not subject to further use, they are thrown away without regret!

Dear readers, I hope that the tips will come in handy and you will not encounter such an unpleasant situation in the future when the prepared cucumbers become cloudy or, even worse, explode.

Preserving vegetables is a great way to preserve food, but sometimes the brine becomes cloudy after a while. How to avoid this and what measures to take to correct the situation, we will describe below.

Causes of cloudy blanks

Even if you use the most proven recipes for harvesting cucumbers and tomatoes, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the liquid in the jar will lose transparency, the vegetables will lose their elasticity and taste, and the lids may even swell. This may result from non-compliance with the technology for the preparation of canned foods. The main reasons for spoiling blanks for the winter are:

• Poorly washed or damaged vegetables;
• Insufficient sterilization of lids and jars;
• Insufficiently tightly rolled cans;
• Failure to comply with the proportions specified in the recipe, or substitution of ingredients;
• Non-compliance with temperature storage standards.

Even one of the listed reasons can be critical when preparing pickled cucumbers or tomatoes. To prevent such detrimental effects on products, it is important to clearly know how to prevent it.

How to avoid turbidity of the cork?

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

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

Do not ignore pre-soaking cucumbers in water before pickling. This procedure will replace the air that may be in the vegetables with water, reducing the risk of bloating and cloudy brine. Carefully monitor the proportions of vegetables, salt and vinegar. Too little acid will cause fermentation.

How to save cloudy blanks?

If you do not feel like throwing cucumbers out of a cloudy brine, then you can try to fix the situation. The following method will be appropriate only if the vegetables have not been in a cloudy brine for a long time, have not lost their taste and crunchiness, and the integrity of the lid has been preserved:

• Remove cap and drain liquid. Rinse the cucumbers with warm water right in the jar and pour boiling water for five minutes;
• Drain the liquid into a saucepan and bring to a boil, then pour back into the jar with the vegetables and the newly added spices and salt. Roll up the banks.

Tomatoes can be done in the following way:

• Rinse vegetables thoroughly in salt water;
• Boil the existing brine or make a new one (which is preferable);
• Sterilize jars and lids and go through the entire preservation process again.

With repeated turbidity of the brine, it is better to get rid of this workpiece and not eat it.

Why should you be careful?

If enough vinegar has not been used in the preparation of pickled cucumbers for the winter, this will lead to the formation of lactic acid in the jars. In this case, the cloudy jar should be placed in the walking chamber for about a week. During this time, the sediment will sink to the bottom, and vegetables can be used to prepare various dishes.

If, in addition to turbidity, you notice that the lid is swollen, this means that you can’t use pickles for food. In the container, the process of reproduction of harmful microorganisms that can be dangerous to your health has already passed.

In order not to face the choice of throwing away food or re-preserving, you need to approach this process with special preparation and care. Add hot peppers and horseradish leaves to the marinade to help prevent bacteria from growing.

Well, finally, the summer season is over, and the shelves in the basement or cellar, densely filled with jars of home preservation, have become a pleasant result of summer work. Unfortunately, after some time, you suddenly notice that the brine in pickled cucumbers in some containers has become cloudy. And from one jar, even the lid was torn off due to fermentation. But so much work, time and effort was invested in the cooking process! What could be the reason? Surely in this article you will find answers to your questions.

The first reason why the brine in cucumbers becomes cloudy: insufficient sterility of jars and purity of products

At first, it is worth considering how correct the technology for pre-treatment of cans is. Many housewives limit themselves to washing glass containers with hot water using baking soda. However, it will be more reliable to additionally sterilize empty cans. The easiest option is to place them on a special stand over boiling water in a saucepan. Five minutes of warming up will be enough. You can also sterilize jars in the oven or microwave. Also take care of a good wash of all components used, from cucumbers to spices (horseradish leaves, dill "umbrellas", etc.).

Reason two: the brine in the jars is cloudy due to poor sterilization or sealing

Hot processing of preservation can take place in two ways. In the first option, jars filled with products are sterilized by placing them in boiling water for a while. With insufficient time, microbes can remain inside the containers, which subsequently cause the brine to become cloudy. The second method, often used in practice, is to repeatedly fill the products in a jar with a boiling solution. It is recommended to carry out three times hot working, observing the required time interval between each stage. Therefore, insufficiently heated cucumbers usually become cloudy and wander in jars. Also, the reason why the brine becomes cloudy may be in poorly closed lids with a leak. Perhaps the point lies in the breakdown of the clogging machine or the damaged neck of the jar.

The third reason why the brine in cucumbers becomes cloudy: the wrong ingredients for the marinade are taken

Do you always strictly follow the recipe or take the components for preservation "by eye"? It is especially important to observe the correct proportions of vinegar or acid. After all, it is these ingredients that ensure the safety of products for a long time. Also consider the quality of the salt. Iodized usually always gives a whitish precipitate.

The fourth reason why the brine in cucumbers becomes cloudy: the choice of a vegetable variety

It turns out that this moment also means a lot. After all, some varieties of cucumbers are intended only for fresh use. And when preserved, they become hollow inside, which causes a change in the color of the liquid in the jars.

The fifth reason why the brine in cucumbers becomes cloudy: incorrect storage conditions

Winter blanks should not be left for more than two or three days at room temperature. The most favorable temperature conditions for storage rooms are from 2 to 7 degrees Celsius. Therefore, immediately after cooling, the jars are placed in the basement or cellar.

Under all conditions, you will not have unpleasant surprises after examining stocks prepared for the winter.

Many housewives used to and now are engaged in home canning. And, although now there is no shortage of such goods in stores, there is nothing better than vegetables rolled up at home. In production, a large amount of vinegar is necessarily added to the brine, and it is impossible to drink it. Moreover, not canned, but pickled vegetables are sold. And what could be better than a mug with him in the morning, after the holiday. Therefore, every woman has her own unique salting recipe, which, as a rule, is passed down from generation to generation.

But when canning cucumbers, there is a problem of turbidity of the brine. This can happen with a few cans or with a whole batch of freshly rolled canned food. What to do to avoid this?

Causes of cloudy solution

Not sterile jars or poorly washed vegetables
Lid not sealed
Violation of the conservation procedure

Lactic acid or botulism?

If the brine is cloudy, but the lids are not swollen, the formation of lactic acid (milk fungus) has begun in the canned food. It's not scary. It only means that the fermentation process has begun.

This type of acid is the only natural preservative. As it accumulates, it stops the development of other bacteria. And in order for the solution to become transparent again, it is enough to put the jars in a cold place: a cellar or a refrigerator. The turbidity will settle at the bottom with a white coating. Cucumbers, of course, will not be crispy and will lose their attractive appearance. But for a salad or a pickle - they are quite suitable.

If the lids are swollen and the brine is cloudy, then there is nothing to do - you need to throw out the canned food. Because it's life threatening. Bloating is a 100% sign of botulism. The causative agent of this disease is microbes - anaerobes. They develop only in the absence of oxygen (canned food) and affect the central nervous system, which can be fatal.

In the natural environment, the spores of these bacteria live in the soil, along with which they fall on vegetables. Microbes die only at temperatures above 120 degrees, and at 100 degrees they are viable for several hours. Large amounts of salt and vinegar are absolutely safe for them. You can fight them only by boiling the product.

How to sterilize jars?

Non-sterility is one of the most common causes of cloudy brine, especially for beginners. It is not enough to hold it under hot water and wash it with soda. Sterilization is necessary to remove all microorganisms. You can do this procedure in several ways.

For a couple

This option was used by our grandmothers. Water is poured into the pan, brought to a boil, a grid with jars is placed on top of it, bottom up. The procedure lasts depending on the volume of the container: from 10 to 30 minutes.

Boiling

A more reliable method of sterilization than the previous one. The procedure is the same, only the banks are placed not on the grate, but in boiling water. It is necessary to lower them into the liquid gradually so that the glass warms up evenly and does not burst from a sharp temperature drop. The duration of the boil is the same.

in the microwave

If the jars are large enough to fit in a microwave oven, then you need to pour a little water into them and “cook” for 5 minutes at a power of about 1000 watts, until the liquid boils.

In the oven

A fairly simple way, since there is no restriction on the size of containers. To sterilize jars, the oven is heated to 150 degrees. The process takes 15 to 25 minutes.

Having carried out one of the above procedures, you can be sure that the brine in canned food will not become cloudy.

When seaming cans, it is better to use an autoclave. It provides reliable tightness. Do not buy jars with screw caps. After all, air can get into the slots, which will lead to clouding of the solution. Or jars that get air in can “explode”.

Getting rid of cloudy sediment

1. It is impossible to reduce or increase the proportions of the components of the salting solution. If you add more dill, the brine will become cloudy. The same effect will give a decrease in the amount of salt or vinegar. Or the absence of the latter. In addition to unappetizing appearance, it can be hazardous to health
2. Too tightly packed jars, many different herbs (currants, dill, etc.) - can provoke the appearance of a cloudy brine. Experienced housewives, in addition to cucumbers, add tomatoes or peppers to jars - in this case, the liquid will remain transparent
3. A proven method of getting rid of cloudy brine is boiling. To do this, it is necessary to open the jars with cloudy brine, wash them, sterilize them, re-make the solution and preserve the vegetables again. Boiled liquid must be poured twice
4. In addition to cucumbers, a cloudy solution can be when fermenting vegetables: cabbage, carrots and the same cucumbers. In this case, it is the norm. After all, lactic acid works. When salting mushrooms, you can also encounter such a problem. Method of struggle: pour the solution from the mushrooms, boil it, adding peppercorns, bay leaf and salt. Let it boil, cool and refill the mushrooms

Summing up, we can say the following: do not neglect the rules. Save time now and save more later. This is at best. And at worst, you risk your health and your loved ones.

Therefore, when starting to make canned food, thoroughly wash and sterilize the jars, rinse the vegetables only under running water, add the necessary brine components in the indicated proportions. Use an autoclave for seaming. And the problem of the appearance of a cloudy brine does not threaten you.