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Home canning recipes: Secrets of canning vegetables the Russian way

Want to try something new? Try these delicious, traditional Russian and Ukrainian home canning recipes for vegetables, winter salads, ketchups , peppers and tomatoes.

home canning recipe

Reasons to use Eastern European canning recipes:

 

Canning is popular in Ukraine and Russia, and canning recipes are quite different from what I observed in North America, here is why:

  • Firstly, there are a lot of recipes for canning fruit without sugar ( or adding little sugar).
  • Secondly, as far as canning vegetables is concerned, we love our winter salads, homemade ketchups and salsas. Because of the way we prepare them, they have fresher and more vibrant taste than anything I ate here ( I may be biased)
  • Thirdly, we make them either vinegar free or with much less vinegar than traditionally used in North American canning recipes.
  • Also, many of them are faster and easier as many recipes that don’t prescribe sterilization in jars. We use a different trick that I will share with you.
  • Last, but not least, we like to preserve the product so that we just open a can and either add to the food we cook, or eat right away with potatoes, rice, meat, or as an appetizer. In short, not just marinated vegetables, but medleys and salads.

I love eating Russian and Ukrainian vegetable preserves. But I hate canning. When I left Ukraine for Canada, I made a promise to never do food preserves ever again. I left my recipes behind. How many falls and summers did I spend canning tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and whatever else our family could buy or grow.

Canning is very time consuming. So, I was avoiding it at all cost. But I have underestimated the power of habit. For the last 13 years, I have been taking notice of bushels of tomatoes and peppers displayed at the grocery stores at this time of the year. I was calculating price per pound and per jar, and it was darn cheap. I was recalling those colourful looking jars filling shelves in my basement… I was experiencing attacks of nostalgia imagining my Christmas table with my favourite grandma’s tomatoes and Russian eggplant salad. I could not help myself.

Warning: This page is a departure from ‘cooking quick and easy’ principle that I created this website for.

Why subject yourself to the painful process of canning?

I gave in to the urge to start canning this year. I know it makes no sense for a busy professional like me to spend that much time on the kitchen. But we don’t always behave rationally, and I am no exception. I rationalized it this way:

  • save money: vegetables canned at home are always cheaper
  • control: I know exactly what I put in those jars, and don’t have any control over what manufacturers put there,
  • gifts: I will give some jars to my family and they will be happy
  • sharing: I will share these recipes with you, my visitors, who may have not been exposed to the art of canning the Eastern European style.

I spent two evenings canning vegetables – and as a result, I am here today to share with you some of the select recipes that I used from the Russian Internet.

Canning Tomatoes and Peppers

Preserving Red Peppers with Dill And Garlic

Use this as a side dish, appetizer, salad, on top of pizza, sandwich, or in soups or stews. russian-canning-peppers-garlic

I will update you on how this recipe survives the winter. I am a bit suspicious because I, personally, never canned garlic and dill without cooking it for at least 5 minutes. The author claims that this is a well tested recipe though. It looks tastes and smells awesome. So I will keep my fingers crossed and wait for the end of the winter to open the last jar.

Ingredients:
  • 3 kg (7 lbs) red peppers ( Sheppard or Red)
  • 3 normal heads of garlic ( if you use giant garlic, use about 16 cloves)
  • 1 bunch dill ( ½ of a big bunch.. about 1 cup chopped)
    Marinade:
  • Vegetable oil – 1 cup
  • Vinegar – 2 cups ( 5%)
  • Sugar – 1 cup
  • Salt – 3 tablespoons
Directions:
  1. Wash peppers thoroughly, clean from the seeds and stems, and cut in stripes about ½ inch wide. You can use peppers of different colours for better visual effect.
  2. Prepare jars and lids – wash them with soapy water, rinse and start sterilizing. You will need about 7-8 0.5 jars.
  3. Clean the garlic and chop it using Vitamix or your own hands ( wear gloves…)
  4. Wash the dill, shake off extra water, use paper towel to make it even drier, and chop it. You can use coriander, basil, parsley or other herbs of your choice.
  5. Prepare marinade. Mix all ingredients in the 3-4 l big pot and boil it.
  6. Take portions of peppers and place into the marinade, cover with a lid. Once it starts boiling, set timer to 4 minutes. Boil for 4 minutes.
  7. Split garlic mixed with dill into 8 parts. Put layers of the mix and peppers into the jar and cover it with a lid. Pack peppers tightly, so that minimum air is left in between.
  8. After you filed all jars, add remaining marinade to them, and finish canning by screwing in the lid.
  9. Prepare space to store jars overnight. Cover with blanket or towel, put the jars upside down on the blanket and tightly cover them from all sides and leave for a night or until they cool down.

Source

Please stand by for five more recipes. And if you have great home canning recipes to share, why not share them here? Just copy-paste them into the contact form, and I will add them to this page.

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