Chef Lesia
Adzhyka po-Ukrainsky (аджика, tomato-pepper relish)
The tomatoes go from garden-red to brick-red while the peppers slump and the garlic waits. By the end, the spoon leaves a path and the whole south fits in one jar.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Mocheni Yabluka (мочені яблука, soused apples)
Created by
The apples stay whole, but they change their mind: crisp flesh turns winey, sour-sweet, and faintly fizzy, with dill stems and rye whispering from the brine.
Sauces & Condiments
Ukrainian
Make Ahead
Batch Cooking
Budget Friendly
25 min
Active Time
5 min cook•30 min total
Yield1 large 3-litre jar
The first surprise is that the apple bites back. It looks like an apple, yellow-green and sensible, then your teeth break the skin and the juice is cold, sour-sweet, a little fizzy, and suddenly a winter plate of roast potatoes or buckwheat has woken up.
Mocheni yabluka are not vinegar pickles. They are apples persuaded slowly in a light brine with sugar, salt, rye, and leaves for tannin, the old pantry thinking that says autumn fruit should still be feeding you in February. Aunt Nadia wrote only "keep them under, wait until it sounds right," which is comedy until you hear the jar begin to tick and sigh on the shelf.
The one thing that decides the dish is the apple. Choose firm, late, sharp apples with tight skins, not soft sweet ones that collapse into baby food. The brine does the rest while you live your life. Make a big jar; there is no tradition of a small one.
Soaked apples are recorded across the lands of Kyivan Rus, where late autumn fruit was layered in barrels with rye straw, currant or cherry leaves, and a salty-sweet pour to carry it through winter. In Ukraine they belong especially to the cool pantry and orchard belt, with Antonivka-type sharp apples prized because they keep their shape and take fermentation cleanly. Soviet canning pushed many living ferments toward sealed sweet compotes, but village pantries kept the sour, hissing version alive.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
firm sharp autumn apples
Quantity
1.5 kg
small to medium, unbruised
water
Quantity
1.5 litres
fine sea salt
Quantity
30g (2 percent of water weight)
honey or sugar
Quantity
60g
rye flour or rye malt
Quantity
1 tablespoon
blackcurrant, cherry, or oak leaves
Quantity
6
dill heads or dill stems
Quantity
2 heads or several stems
yellow mustard seeds
Quantity
1 teaspoon
lemon peel (optional)
Quantity
3 strips
extra boiled and cooled brine (optional)
Quantity
as needed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| firm sharp autumn applessmall to medium, unbruised | 1.5 kg |
| water | 1.5 litres |
| fine sea salt | 30g (2 percent of water weight) |
| honey or sugar | 60g |
| rye flour or rye malt | 1 tablespoon |
| blackcurrant, cherry, or oak leaves | 6 |
| dill heads or dill stems | 2 heads or several stems |
| yellow mustard seeds | 1 teaspoon |
| lemon peel (optional) | 3 strips |
| extra boiled and cooled brine (optional) | as needed |
Equipment Needed
- •A clean 3-litre glass fermentation jar
- •A fermentation weight or small clean jar
- •A digital scale
- •A small saucepan
Instructions
- 1
Choose the apples
Pick firm, sharp apples with tight skins and no bruises. Rinse them well, but don't scrub them bald. A little orchard life on the skin helps the ferment begin, while bruised flesh turns soft and muddy in the jar.
Antonivka-style apples are ideal. If you can't find them, use small firm Bramley, Granny Smith, or another tart storage apple. - 2
Make the brine
Bring a little of the water to a simmer, whisk in the salt, honey or sugar, and rye flour until smooth, then stir in the remaining cold water. Let it cool completely. It should taste lightly salty, gently sweet, and faintly grainy from the rye.
- 3
Pack the jar
Put half the leaves and dill in the bottom of a clean 3-litre jar, then pack in the apples snugly without forcing them. Tuck the mustard seeds, lemon peel if using, and remaining leaves between the fruit. The leaves bring tannin, which helps the apples keep their bite.
- 4
Submerge and cover
Pour the cooled brine over the apples until they are fully covered. Weight them down with a fermentation weight or a small clean jar filled with water, then set the big jar on a plate because it may leak once it wakes up.
Everything must stay under the brine. Anything floating above the surface can spoil; anything below it is where the good souring happens. - 5
Ferment and taste
Leave the jar at cool room temperature, out of direct sun. After several days the brine will cloud, fine bubbles will cling to the skins, and the jar will begin its quiet ticking. Taste when the apples smell winey and clean; they should be sour-sweet and lightly fizzy, not alcoholic or rotten. When they please you, move them to the fridge or a cold pantry.
Chef Tips
- •The salt is weighed against the water because this is preservation, not seasoning by mood. Two percent keeps the apples lively without making them taste like cucumbers.
- •Soft dessert apples are the step that won't forgive you. The timing flexes, the leaves can change, the rye can be malt or flour, but a mealy apple will always ferment into sadness.
- •Serve these cold with roast pork, buckwheat kasha, potato dishes, cabbage, sharp cheese, or chopped through a winter salad with dill and unrefined sunflower oil.
Advance Preparation
- •The apples usually ferment 10 to 21 days at cool room temperature, then continue to sharpen slowly in the fridge or cold pantry.
- •They keep for 2 to 3 months cold as long as the apples stay under clean brine. Make them in autumn for winter plates.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 150g)
Calories
95 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
640 mg
Total Carbohydrates
25 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
19 g
Protein
0 g
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