Classic pickled cucumbers have long ceased to be the only option for winter preserving: to make a snack memorable for its flavor, all you need is to add chili ketchup to the marinade. It was precisely this unconventional recipe, filmed in an Instagram video, that food blogger Victoria Kozina shared, in a story published by the Ukrainian lifestyle project Styler (RBC-Ukraine). The finished preserve turns out crispy, aromatic, and with a soft, pleasant heat, making it a perfect complement to both an ordinary home dinner and a festive table. Below is a full breakdown of the process, from preparing the jars to storage.

Preparing the Jars and Adding the Spices

The first step the recipe's author highlights is preparing the containers: the jars and lids need to be thoroughly washed in advance, and at the bottom of each jar you lay down an aromatic "cushion" — horseradish, cherry, or currant leaves, an umbrella of dill, garlic cloves, as well as black and aromatic peppercorns. After that, the jars are tightly packed with cucumbers. For this kind of preserve, the blogger advises using small or medium-sized fruits that fit well in the jar and pickle evenly. Kozina separately emphasizes an important nuance: for the marinade it is better to use rock salt rather than iodized salt, so as not to compromise the clarity and taste of the brine.

Chili Ketchup Marinade

The marinade itself is prepared in a pot: for 2.1 liters of water, add sugar and salt, then pour in the vinegar and 300 grams of chili ketchup. The ingredients are stirred thoroughly and brought to a boil. It is the chili ketchup that gives the brine its rich color, depth of flavor, and that very mild heat that sets this preserve apart from classic pickled cucumbers. The hot marinade is immediately poured over the jars of cucumbers, after which they are covered with lids and sent for sterilization.

Sterilization, Sealing, and Storage

After sterilization, the jars are carefully removed and sealed with lids, then left to cool to room temperature. Only after the preserve has fully cooled is it moved to a cool place for long-term storage. The author strictly adheres to the sterilization time specified in the video — this is a key factor in the safety and shelf life of the preserve. In the same video, the blogger mentions kitchen towels, which she uses in the process, but they are not an essential element of the recipe itself.

Serving and Gastronomic Context

The finished cucumbers with chili ketchup are served as a standalone spicy snack and as a side to hot dishes: potatoes, meat, poultry, pilaf. Thanks to the rich marinade, they become a pleasant alternative to familiar preserving options and reveal themselves best in combination with hearty winter dishes. Thus, the recipe solves two tasks at once — it extends the cucumber season and adds variety to the table without a complex set of ingredients.

Contradictory Data

The provided sources do not offer a single "canonical" set of marinade proportions: the main Styler material records specific figures (2.1 L of water, 300 g of chili ketchup, plus sugar, salt, and vinegar), while other outlets (Unian, Kleo) offer roundups of several recipe variants with their own component ratios. In other words, the basic method — laying spices at the bottom, tightly packing the cucumbers, boiling a chili-ketchup-based marinade, and sterilizing — is consistent across all sources, but the exact gram amounts of sugar, salt, and vinegar may vary from recipe to recipe. Readers are advised to rely on a proven personal proportion and to strictly observe the sterilization time specified in the particular video or article.