Gaby
The difference between salted and pickled tomatoes lies in the brine: salt is added for salting, while vinegar or citric acid is used for pickling. Using hot brine can speed up the salting process to just three days, but cold brine will yield firmer tomatoes that taste more like pickles. Softer fruits may break apart during fermentation, so it’s best to choose small, firm tomatoes of uniform size for salting. You can salt the tomatoes directly in glass jars or in a wide pot where they won’t get damaged when removed from the jar.
Ingredients: tomatoes — 2 kg, water — 1 liter, salt — 2 tablespoons, sugar — 1 tablespoon, garlic — 5 cloves, dill — 2-3 stems with seeds, horseradish — root and leaf, currant — leaf, cherry — leaf, parsley — root and greens, black pepper or hot pepper, bay leaf.
Select small tomatoes without dents or signs of spoilage, wash them with a brush, and place them in a pot or directly into jars along with the spices. The herbs should also be washed, and the jars and lids should be sterilized or washed with baking soda.
Roughly chop half of the dill with scissors and place it at the bottom of the jar. Add the cherry, currant, horseradish leaves, and half of the minced garlic. To help the tomatoes salt faster, prick them in several places with a toothpick. Pack the tomatoes tightly into the jar, covering them with the remaining spices. Fill the jar to the top with cold brine (if sealing the jars immediately) or hot brine (if you want to speed up the salting process).
To prepare the brine: dissolve the salt and sugar in water at a ratio of 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar per 1 liter of water, then add the bay leaf, pepper, and sliced horseradish root. Bring to a boil and pour the hot brine over the tomatoes, cover with a lid, and let them salt for 2-3 days at room temperature, after which you can move the snack to the refrigerator.
For cold brine, prepare it the same way (boil the water, dissolving the sugar and salt), but let it cool completely. Once the tomatoes have salted (after 5-7 days), move the pot to the refrigerator to stop fermentation. For convenience, you can transfer the lightly salted tomatoes into jars. At temperatures between 0°C and +1°C, the pickles can be stored for up to 8 months.
If you seal the tomatoes in jars, you can place them directly in a cellar or refrigerator: the salting process will take one and a half to two months. Canned tomatoes in jars can be stored for 2-3 years.
Life Hack
To help the tomatoes in jars salt faster, cover them with nylon lids and leave them in a dark place at room temperature for a week. When the brine becomes cloudy, tightly seal the jars and move them to the cold for two weeks. After that, the salted tomatoes will be ready to enjoy.
