There are many food options we can find in the market. If you like to cook, you can buy all the ingredients needed to make your meal from scratch. If you like to eat instant food, you can buy pre-cooked food that only needed to be preheated or cooked in a couple of minutes. There are many kinds of meals in this particular area. Instant noodle, chicken nugget, and French fries are just a few examples.
Now that we get easy access to any kind of information, we know the fact that instant foods have many downsides. They are very easy to make so it is very efficient time-wise and also delicious. But it does not contain the nutrition that the body needs to stay healthy. That is why we need to figure out another way to have tasty and healthy meals that is also easy to make.
For many years Russia has been known for its tradition of Russian Canning. The simplest way to explain it is it is a process of keeping food in airtight containers. Let’s find out more about it
Things to Know About Russian Canning
Russian Canning is a long live tradition that has become popular and done by so many people outside Russia. There are some things about it that we can learn:
1. The History of Russian Canning
It has been a part of Russians tradition that they love to pick fruits and vegetables, foods which are the base of Russians diet, and save it for the winter time. To maintain these foods until the season comes, while in early time refrigerators has not been invented yet, Russians save their foods by doing the fermentation. That way their food will not be ruined and even many nutrition experts claim that these foods are good for digestion and immunity.
2. The Use and The Uniqueness of Russian Canning
As mentioned above, a part of Russian Canning is keeping the food in airtight containers. With this condition, the food in it would be last for a 
long time. Yes, it will take some times to do the whole the Russian Canning process but you just have to do it one time! Later you can enjoy the food right away or add it to your cook. The fact that you are the one that does the whole canning process, it means you can control what ingredients you add into the containers. You can make sure that you do not add to much salt or sugar and putting in other healthy and tasty ingredients. This is the exact opposite of instant meals, which we cannot control the added salt or sugar in the meals we consume With the whole process doing at home, canning will for sure save your money too.
Russian Canning can be implemented for both vegetables and fruits. With canning, your needs for vegetables and fruits for the whole season is already guaranteed so you do not need to spend more money to buy them. Another perk of this good tradition is that it is also suitable to be a gift for your loved ones. You can decorate the containers with ribbons or stickers and give it as a pretty present which happens to be edible as well 🙂
Russian Canning produces foods with a different style from the other pickled foods. What makes it different is Russians tend to use salt instead of vinegar. Another thing that makes it unique is the use of no sugar. We can still find sugar and vinegar in Russian Canning recipes but it will only be in a small amount. The way Russians use ingredients differently is what makes Russian Canning foods taste nothing like the pickles you find at the market.
3. The Russian Canning recipes
There are some popular recipes if you want to try doing the Russian Canning
- Russian Pickled Tomatoes
Ingredients: 1,5 kg of dried tomatoes, 4 cloves of sliced garlic, 4 pieces of bay leaves, a bunch of each parsley and dill, a piece of scallion, 3 pieces of oak leaves, 2 tablespoons of black pepper, 6 tablespoons of salt, 2 tablespoons of sugar
Instructions: put all of the ingredients into a jar and fill it with boiling water. Pour the water from the jar into a pot, add the black pepper, boil it for 5 minutes, add the salt and sugar, and pour it back into the jar. Close the lid and turn the jar upside down for 3 days.
When will it ready: in 2 weeks. Once you open the lid, the pickled tomatoes will last for 6 weeks.
- Sauerkraut
Ingredients: 1 cabbage, 1 carrot, 1 tablespoon of salt
Instructions: chop the cabbage, add the salt, mix them using your hand for 10 minutes. After that, grate the carrot and mix it with the cabbage. Put them into a jar, close the lid, and place it on a place with no exposure to direct sunlight.
When will it ready: in 2 weeks. It is okay if you want to keep it for more than 2 weeks. It will only affect the tanginess of the Sauerkraut. Taste it after 2 weeks and wait for a little bit more if you want it to be tangier. When it reaches the level of tanginess you like, move the jar into the fridge.
- Pickled Apples
Ingredients: 1,5 kg of apples, 500 grams of rye flour, 1,5 liters of water, a ¼ tablespoon of salt
Instructions: put the apples into a jar. In a bowl, mix the rye flour and salt with boiled water. After it cools down, use cheesecloth to strain it through, and add it into the jar. Place something heavy on the top of the jar as a lid which also pushes the apples down at the same time. Keep it on the fridge.
When will it ready: in 4 weeks
Now that you know the uniqueness of Russian Canning and some of its easy recipes, which recipe will you try first? 🙂