Russian Brined Apples | Beets & Bones (2024)

Brined (or lacto fermented) apples are as essential to Russian food tradition as kvass and rye bread. As all fermented foods, it was a way to preserve nutrients from harvest to harvest. Of course, times have changed, and wax covered neon-in-February fruit made its way to the Russian markets too. But folks still carry on the ages old tradition, if not with some modifications.

TRADITIONAL PREPARATION OF RUSSIAN BRINED APPLES

There are still people who make Russian brined apples the way their great great grand parents did — in large oak barrels (dubovaya bochka) lined with rye straw. That prevents apples from mechanical damage and enhances flavor. Apples get a topping of more straw and clean burlap. Then folks seal the barrels, leaving small openings for pouring the brine. Those openings serve for adding water during the course of fermentation.

VARIATIONS OF RUSSIAN BRINED APPLES

There is a plenitude of recipes for Russian brined apples in the old country. Some are apples only, some have salt and the same pickling spices as sauerkraut and cucumber pickles. In fact, they often ferment in the same vessel as sauerkraut. And other recipes use honey or sugar and ‘sweet’ spices like cinnamon, cloves, cardamom. One common thing is the use of firm, very ripe yellow apples from the late harvest, September to October. The Russian name for those apples is Antonovka, this is from the name image search to give you an idea of what they look like.

I tried brining red apples and they get mushy and discolored, yuk! Good apples wrinkle slightly and get almost translucent under the skin. They can be firm or on the soft side, but never mushy. Golden Delicious work okay. Although I haven’t gotten that translucency from them that I remember from my childhood, I do enjoy them. Every fall I get some mystery yellow apples at the farmers market, small, fragrant and beautiful — those work really well for brining.

MY FAVORITE RECIPE OF RUSSIAN BRINED APPLES

My favorite recipe is with honey, rye flour and rye malt and some mint. Rye gives a subtle fragrance that I just love and honey keeps apples from getting sour. If I tried to describe the taste and texture, it would be like biting into lemon lime soda, fizzy and fresh, just amazing.

I use rye starter to get fermentation going, which is a popular practice in the north of Russia; it allows PH to drop very quickly and prevents any off-flavors. To make sprouted rye, also referred to as malted rye, you can follow the same process described here, and grind the grains in a coffee grinder. Fermented red rye malt, called ‘Solod’ in Russian, is another ingredient often added to brined apples. Rye is very quick to sprout and my time from soaking to drying the sprouted berries is less than two days. You can also buy it already made. The advantage of sprouted rye is that grain starches turn into simple sugars that are an easy fuel for fermentative yeast and bacteria, and the quicker you can establish a good environment for the little guys, the more predictable your fermenting outcome would be. On the photos below you can see the white froth that forms on top of the brine – it smells pleasant and looks pleasant as opposed to occasions when I fermented without the flour – the froth is dirty yellow color and smells funny.

Folks often add leaves from sour cherry and black currant to the brined apples, which add a very nice fragrance, if you happen to be fortunate to have access to those. Otherwise, try this recipe to get a baseline, then let your imagination guide you. 🙂

PLEASE NOTE – IMPORTANT!

• Make sure to not use red apples – you will not want to eat them, just take my word for it!
• Unripe red apples that are green in color, or crab apples don’t work either.
• Do not use non-organic store bought apples, the wax coating will prevent the brine from penetrating the apples. And it’s not a good idea to poke holes in the apples to go around that.
• You want to monitor the water level closely. Apples need to stay submerged in brine all the time, otherwise they will get brown and mushy. Apples will absorb water (some more than others) so you will need to add more to keep the apples covered.
• Whey is not used in any of the traditional recipes for brined apples, even though it is widely available.
• This recipe is not something I came up with trying to be complicated – it is a very old recipe that I’m simply sharing with you. I felt compelled to add this note after reading all the comments on Facebook 🙂

HOW TO MAKE RUSSIAN BRINED APPLES

Ingredients
Enough apples to fill one gallon mason jar (I got 11 apples, small to medium) – late harvest yellow (never red!) firm varieties are traditionally used in Russia, the only ones to fit that description that I can find in Chicago are golden delicious. What I have on these pictures are local farmers market apples that look a lot like what’s used in Russia.
Handful of mint leaves
Filtered water (about 8 cups)
2 tablespoons whole rye flour
2 tablespoons sprouted (malted) rye flour (optional, but recommended) how to sprout
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1-2 tablespoons of sourdough starter, preferably rye (how to make rye starter)

Equipment
One gallon mason jar with lid
Medium sauce pan
Hand whisk
Measuring spoons

Instructions
Wash apples and mint, and place them in a gallon mason jar with mint closer to the bottom. Try to wedge the apples to that they stay below the shoulder of the jar. Mine are wedged so they can’t move at all.

Pour water into the jar to measure how much you need, then pour it into a sauce pan.
Add rye flour and sprouted rye flour, whisk well. Add salt.
Bring to slow boil whisking frequently; remove from heat. Cool. Add honey and stir to dissolve. This is brine.

Add rye sourdough starter to the brine, whisk until dissolved and frothy.
Pour the brine over the apples so that there are a couple of inches of liquid above the apples.
Cover tightly. Leave at room temperature for 5-6 days. You will notice fermentation activity the next day.

Twice a day (or more often, if able) remove white froth that forms on top of the brine with a spoon.
If you notice the water level going down, you can add more water (boiled and cooled). It happens because apples absorb water, and some do more than others.

Transfer to refrigerator; and allow to ferment 30-60 more days. The apples get better with longer storage.
Keep in refrigerator up to a year.

ALSO TRY MY RECIPE FOR RUSSIAN BRINED PLUMS ~

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