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Russian Information Guide |Rus-a| Life Style| Customs and Traditions | Pickles
Winter pickles
Russian national cuisine is a collection of the different cooking traditions. We have refined techniques since Peter the Great epoch. Today as many times ago we are fond of preparing canned fruits and vegetables for winter.
Of course now in a modern world we can buy fresh food even in February, we have good importers from all over the world. But canned and salt food is popular all over the year. We like jams. We make them ourselves according to different national recipes. Russian jam is called "Varenie". It is made from sugar and different berries, fruits and flowers.
We like to salt cucumbers, mushrooms and tomatoes. In fact such kind of canned salt food is called "Solenya" (pickles) and they are very popular among pregnant women and people who drink strong alcoholic beverages such as vodka. We also add pickles in other dishes from soups to garnish.
Sauerkraut - thin sliced and canned fermented cabbage with carrot is another one famous Russian traditional winter dish. It is good for your health and as all other canned food except "Varenie" has low calories.
The canning process requires exact balance between cooking and waiting of ingredients inside the can to become enough salt.