Turshia (Turšija)

Ingredients :

• 1kg of cucumbers (Average sized-Not too big, not too small)
• 1kg of peppers (Green or red, round or oblong)
• 1kg of cleaned carrots
• 1 large head of cauliflower
• 1kg of green tomato
• 300g of salt
• 300g of sugar
• 1liter of vinegar
• 3 liters of water
• 1 small bag of wine dam (5g) (Vinobran)
• 1 small bag of preservative powder (5g) (Konzervans)

Preparation :

Take 1 – Preparing all vegetables :

The peppers could be cut into two pieces and the pepper seeds removed. The whole pieces of peppers could be also sorted, without cutting, depending on what somebody likes.

The carrots could be cut into small pieces.

The cauliflower could be cut into smaller average size branches for easier sorting.

The cucumbers and green tomatos could be placed into the glass jar or plastic barrel in a whole pieces, but if someone likes it could be cut into smaller pieces. It does not affect the food taste.

Take 2 – Vegetables sorting :

Into the empty well washed glass jar or a plastic barrel (about 5-10 liters capacity) put previously washed vegetables, sorting and combining row by row, each of the different kind of vegtables. While sorting, it is necessary to push down slightly each row to make more room for the next one, until all the vegetables are used. When the sorting was finished it is ready to be overflowed with previously prepared liquid.

Take 3 – Preparing the overflowing liquid :

Into one separate plastic bucket pour 3 liters of water, one liter of vinegar, 300g of salt, 300g of sugar, one small bag of wine dam (Vinobran) and one small bag of preservative powder (Konzervans). Mix it all well until the whole mixture is united. Then, pour slowly the overflowing liquid into the glass jar or plastic barrel, already loaded with the sorted vegetables. Pour the liquid almost to the top of the glass jar or plastic barrel as the vegetables must be completely submerged in the liquid. Put the lid of the glass jar or plastic barrel’s lid (Cover) to close the glass jar or the container. If the barrel has wide opening at the top, put some havy plate, or something, to keep the vegetables under the liquid all the time. Keep it in the rooms with the middle cold or cold temperature and wait 7-10 days until the pickling process was finished. So, turshia could last for months, even 18 months under the good conditions (If it doesn’t disappear under the mysterious „greeding“ circumstances – Joke).

Now you’ve got an unforgetable addition to almost every kind of meat food, especially roasted meat, although some people like to eat it alone. Really tasty and healthy containing a lot of Vitamin C.

Additional note :

Turshia could be loaded into smaller glass jars (2-3 liters) or larger plastic barrels (10-25 liters), but it is necessary to keep all the proportional measures of the vegetables and the ingredients of overflowing liquid. Enjoy!