During the years of "perestroika", an overseas product - a sauce called Uncle Ben's - appeared on the shelves of shops that were bored with goods. Widely advertised (and advertising at that time was also a novelty and attracted special attention), the sauce became a kind of legend: they wrote jokes about it and everyone dreamed of trying it, even though the prices for it were "biting" and the salary was delayed ... And then inventive housewives came up with a domestic version famous sauce- homemade salad "Uncle Bens". Original product, which gave it its name, is still on the shelves, but is no longer in high demand, and the homemade Ankle Bens salad is made from zucchini for the winter to this day.

Cooking secrets

Popularity homemade salad Uncle Bens is not only a tribute to its name. The main thing is the delicate taste of the product, which can have a variety of shades, like the taste of its overseas prototype. In order to prepare the perfect Ankle Bens zucchini salad at home for the winter, you need to know a few secrets.

• Sauce plays an important role in the Uncle Bens salad. Its taste and aroma largely depend on the bouquet of the seasonings used. To obtain a product with high organoleptic qualities the ratio of spices and seasonings indicated in the recipes must be carefully observed.
• A quality salad is obtained only from quality products... When choosing products for the "Uncle Bens" squash, give preference to freshly ripened, undamaged and not overgrown vegetables.
• The salad will look beautiful if the pieces of vegetables cut into it are about the same shape. Usually they are cut either into cubes or cubes (squares).
• The salad will be well stored if the vegetables for it have been thoroughly washed, the jars and lids are sterilized.

It is most convenient to lay out the Ankle Bens zucchini salad in containers from 0.5 to 1 liter, but you can also use jars of a different size.

"Uncle Bence" from zucchini with garlic and tomatoes

Composition (for 4.5 l):

• zucchini - 2 kg;
• bell pepper- 1 kg;
• tomatoes - 2.5 kg;
• garlic - 0.2 kg;
• vegetable oil - 0.2 l;
• table vinegar(9%) - 50 ml;
• salt - 40 g;
• sugar - 0.2 kg.

Cooking method:

• Prepare vegetables, peel the zucchini and garlic, remove the seeds from the pepper, remove the seals from the tomatoes in the area of ​​the stalks.
• Cut the tomatoes into regular slices and mince them.
• Cut the courgettes into small cubes and put them in a cauldron.
• Mix the tomato mass with salt and sugar, vegetable oil.
• Pour the tomato paste over the zucchini and put on fire.
• Simmer over low heat, not forgetting to stir, for half an hour.
• Cut the pepper into small squares.
• Add pepper to the zucchini and simmer for another quarter of an hour.
• Crush the garlic cloves with a special press.
• Add garlic to vegetables, pour in vinegar.
• After extinguishing for another 5 minutes, remove the saucepan with salad from the stove and place in sterilized jars.
• Roll up the cans with metal lids using a special key, turn over and leave to cool. There is no need to cover with anything, since the vegetables have undergone sufficient heat treatment.

Video recipe for the occasion:

After the cans have cooled down, all that remains is to put them in the pantry. This salad resembles a thick sauce with pieces of vegetables - zucchini and pepper. It has a pronounced garlic taste and aroma and belongs to spicy snacks.

Sweet and sour "Uncle Bens" from zucchini

Composition (for 6 l):

• zucchini - 2 kg;
• tomatoes - 1 kg;
• onions - 1 kg;
• Bulgarian pepper - 0.7 kg;
• carrots - 0.6 kg;
• Krasnodar sauce - 0.25 l;
• vegetable oil - 0.25 l;
• citric acid - 5 g;
• table vinegar (9 percent) - 70 ml;
• salt - 80 g;
• curry seasoning - 10 g;
• sugar - 0.2 kg;
• water - 0.6 l.

Cooking method:

• Wash and peel the vegetables, remove the seed from the courgettes and peppers. Blanch the tomatoes for 2 minutes in boiling water, peel them off.
• Cut the onion and pepper into thin strips, and the zucchini into small pieces. Tomatoes can be cut into small pieces of any shape. Grate the carrots using the coarse side of the grater.
• Boil water, dilute the sauce in it, add salt, sugar, curry, add oil, stir everything and boil for 5 minutes.
• Dip the zucchini in tomato sauce, simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add bell peppers, onions and carrots, simmer with them for another 15 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and cook the snack until it is thick enough (like a sauce).
• Add citric acid and vinegar, cook for a couple of minutes and place in prepared jars.
• Close the jars hermetically and, after cooling, put them in the pantry for the winter.

Thick sweet and sour salad prepared according to this recipe goes well with all dishes: fish, vegetables, meat. It is especially good to serve it with poultry dishes.

Spicy "Ankle Bens" from zucchini with sweet and sour taste

Composition (for 4 l):

• zucchini - 1 kg;
• Bulgarian pepper - 0.7 kg;
• onions - 0.4 kg;
• tomatoes - 1 kg;
• garlic - 1 head;
• hot peppers - 3-4 pcs.;
• vegetable oil - 150 ml;
• sugar - 100 g;
• salt - 40 g;
• curry - 10 g;
• table vinegar (9 percent) - 50 ml.

Cooking method:

• Wash vegetables, dry.
• Cut the courgettes into thin sticks or cubes.
• Make cruciform cuts on the tomatoes. Dip into boiling water, after 2 minutes remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a container with cool water. Remove from water and clean. Cut the pulp into cubes.
• Remove the husks from the bulbs, cut them into thin half rings.
• Cut the sweet and hot peppers in half lengthwise, remove the seeds, cut the pulp into thin strips.
• In a saucepan, combine oil, vinegar, salt, sugar and curry. Bring to a boil.
• Dip the zucchini in the marinade, cook for 10 minutes.
• Add pepper and onion, cook the same amount.
• Add tomatoes. After boiling for another 10 minutes, add the crushed garlic.
• Simmer for a couple more minutes and remove from heat.
• Lay out the banks, roll them up. Leave to cool upside down.

The salad has an unusual taste: sweetish-sourish and at the same time spicy. Well suited to meat dishes and poultry.

Zucchini Ankle Bens with tomato paste

Composition (for 4.5 l):

• zucchini - 2 kg;
• onions - 1 kg;
• Bulgarian pepper - 0.5 kg;
• garlic - 5 cloves;
• water - 1 l;
• tomato paste - 0.2 kg;
• sugar - 0.25 kg;
• table vinegar (9 percent) - 60 ml;
• salt - 20 g;
• vegetable oil - 0.25 l.

Cooking method:

• Wash, peel vegetables, cut into pieces of the same shape.
• Combine butter, salt, sugar, paste and water, bringing this mixture to a boil.
• Dip the zucchini in the sauce and cook for 10 minutes after boiling.
• Add the rest of the vegetables besides the garlic and cook for another 10 minutes.
• Pass the garlic through a press, mix with vinegar and pour this mixture into the salad. Stir and cook for another 10 minutes.
• Spread out ready salad over the prepared jars, seal them and, turning them over, leave to cool.

The taste of this salad can be called traditional. It goes well with any dishes, including vegetarian ones.

Uncle Bens Zucchini Salad can be eaten as a stand-alone snack or served with other dishes as a sauce.

About the brand Uncle Ben`s

The history of the Uncle Ben`s brand began in 1943, when the American company Converted Rice Inc. for the first time put on the market cooked rice under that name. As a result, since the 1950s, Uncle Ben`s rice has become the best-selling rice in the United States. Not surprisingly, the successful Converted Rice was subsequently bought by the world's largest food manufacturer, Mars.

The Uncle Ben`s line includes sweet and sour sauces with and without vegetables, barbecue sauce, including smoked flavor, curry and chili sauces, as well as Mexican, Sichuan and Thai sauces.

In Russia, the Uncle Ben`s brand became especially popular in the 90s, when there was massive advertising of the brand on television. Black "Uncle Ben" has even become a popular hero of the folklore.

Uncle Ben's products are manufactured in Russia at the Mars LLC factory in Lukhovitsy.

Shops for sale
We would like to buy Uncle Ben`s sauce for a restaurant but we cannot find it in Kazakhstan. Are there retail outlets? Where can we buy in Kazakhstan?

Uncle bens
Where can you get it?

where is the ketchup
was like that delicious ketchup they have and not where no why?

variety of sauces
Sauces from "Uncle Bens" have been especially fond of me for a long time. They greatly complement any product on the table. It's also fast and delicious! There are sauces different types but I like sweet Thai chili more. And on the label, a kind black uncle invites you to buy it always;)

familiar to all of us
Previously, the "Uncle Ben`s" brand was a novelty for me from foreign countries. It seemed to be something unusual and unattainable. Then we used it on holidays as a delicacy. Nowadays, rice or sauce is rarely found.

When writing a review, try to describe

The hostess invented the "Uncle Bens" squash preparation in the 90s. Then on the recently empty store shelves overseas products suddenly appeared, including a squash-tomato sauce called "Uncle Ben's". Colorful jars excited the minds. Advertising on TV "added fuel to the fire", which in those years was also a "curiosity". Many dreamed of trying a foreign product. Prices for the sauce were “biting”, so not everyone could afford the tasting. But "the need for invention is cunning": inventive housewives invented their own "Uncle Bens" - pieces of vegetables in a tender tomato filling... The main ingredient was zucchini - tasty and inexpensive. A simple recipe immediately "went to the masses": an analogue of the famous sauce began to be prepared for the winter in almost every family.

In modern stores you can find original "Uncle Ben's" products, now they are affordable. But times have changed, the hype around sauces is a thing of the past. But the hostesses continue to make blanks under the same name - the recipe turned out to be so successful.

The hostess calls the Uncle Bens blank by different names - salad, appetizer, sauce, lecho. It is interesting that whatever you name it, everything is correct. "Affinity" with lecho is due to a similar set of ingredients. Components are added to the zucchini, without which it is impossible to imagine lecho, - Bell pepper, onion, tomatoes. "Uncle Bens" can be served as an independent dish (appetizer or salad) or as a sauce for any side dish, meat and even fish.

Selection of ingredients

How does the preparation of blanks begin? With the "collection" of ingredients. The most delicious and healthy canning is obtained from homemade vegetables. In such fruits there is no chemistry, they are grown in natural conditions without the use of growth stimulants. But not everyone has vegetable gardens or grandmothers who are ready to supply them with natural products. Many housewives have to buy ingredients from the market or the supermarket to prepare the Ankle Bens for the winter.

Getting ready to make a purchase? remember, that delicious salad will come out only from not overripe vegetables. Young zucchini have a thin rind and soft seeds, making the dish tender. The "season" of zucchini is the middle of summer, but there are varieties that bear fruit before the first frost. You need to focus on seasonality, but remember that this is a relative concept. Choose zucchini by outward appearance and you won’t go wrong.

• The size. For preservation, you need to buy medium-sized zucchini, a maximum of 15-20 cm in length. If the zucchini is too large, it is overripe and can spoil the taste of the salad.
• Appearance. Dents and indentations in the zucchini indicate that vegetables have long been harvested and stored incorrectly. It is not worth using such zucchini for conservation, even if the markdown attracts: they have long lost their usefulness.
• Peel. Evaluate the skins of the vegetables. In not overripe zucchini, it is thin. Not only can a thick rind indicate the "age" of the vegetables, but it can also signal that the zucchini has been treated with chemicals. Let the thick-skinned vegetables stay in the store - health is more important.
• Colour. An even color is one of the criteria for choosing zucchini for canning. Brown and yellow spots warn of the beginning of the process of rotting inside the vegetable. You can't eat such zucchini anymore.

If you are not sure about the quality of purchased vegetables, then soak them for an hour in cool water, and then proceed directly to cooking. This little trick will help to "remove" harmful chemical compounds if vegetables are "stuffed" with them.

"Ankle Bens" from zucchini for the winter: recipe variations

The hostesses prepare the Ankle Bens squash salad in different ways. Vegetables are added to the main ingredient (carrots, sweet and bitter peppers, onion) and greens. Vegetables can be cut at will, but similarly shaped pieces (such as sticks / squares) look more aesthetically pleasing.

To obtain perfect taste, you need to pay attention to refueling. It is made from tomatoes or tomato paste and spices are added. You can experiment with spices: add curry, dried herbs, chili. Thanks to this, the familiar taste will take on new shades. Do delicate sauce or spicy food- the choice is for the hostess.

But you should not experiment with vinegar: increase its amount - it will be sour. Always pay attention to what kind of vinegar is indicated in the recipe and how many percent is indicated on the bottle. If you miss this moment, instead of the vaunted taste, you will get sheer disappointment.

With diseases of the liver, kidneys and diseases of the cardiovascular system, you should not get carried away with conservation. High in sugar, salt and acetic acid in seaming can provoke an exacerbation of pathology.

Classical

Peculiarities. "Ankle Bens" from zucchini with tomatoes for the winter is prepared to diversify the menu in the season when fresh vegetables no. The dish turns out to be tasty, aromatic and reminiscent of summer. The piece is called a salad, but it is rather a thick sauce in which pieces of vegetables are "hidden". Garlic gives a moderate "spice", but you can exclude it from the recipe if you like preservation with delicate taste... The salad can be served with all meals. If you add dried Provencal herbs during cooking, it will make an excellent sauce for pasta. From the specified amount of ingredients, 4.5 liters of salad are obtained.

You will need:

• medium-sized zucchini - 2 kg;
• fleshy red tomatoes - 2.5 kg;
• sweet pepper - 1 kg;
• garlic - head;
• sugar - faceted glass;
• salt - two tablespoons with a slide;
• vegetable oil - 200 ml;
• vinegar (9%) - 50 ml.

Cooking steps

1. Cut the tomatoes into quarters. Twist them with a meat grinder or use a blender.
2. Cut the courgettes and peppers into medium cubes.
3. Mix tomato puree with butter, sugar, salt. Squeeze the garlic here with a press.
4. Fold the sliced ​​zucchini into a large pot, pour over the cooked red sauce.
5. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add chopped peppers. Continue simmering for another 20 minutes.
7. Pour in the vinegar and keep the salad on the stove for five minutes.
8. Divide the vegetable mass into sterilized jars. Twist.

Budget

Peculiarities. "Ankle Bens" from zucchini with tomato paste for the winter should be prepared for those who are looking for a budget option legendary salad... Pasta is cheaper than tomatoes, which are the main ingredient in the "classic". The pronounced zucchini-tomato taste will remind many of childhood: in the 90s, every second housewife prepared the Ankle Bens zucchini snack for the winter with the addition of pasta. Sauce with a slight "spicy" flavor is ideal for pasta, but also good as an independent dish. Following this recipe, you can prepare about 4.5 liters of canning.

You will need:

• medium zucchini - 2 kg;
• large onions - 12 onions;
• sweet pepper - five pieces;
• garlic - five cloves;
• sunflower oil (preferably refined) - faceted glass;
• purchased tomato paste - 200 g;
• sugar - a glass;
• salt - a full "heaped" tablespoon;
• vinegar (9%) - 60 ml;
• cold water - liter.

Cooking steps

1. Prepare vegetable components: peel, chop coarsely (you can in any form).
2. Dilute purchased paste with water. Add butter, sugar, salt here. Bring the resulting mixture to a boil.
3. Dip the sliced ​​courgettes into the cooked red sauce. Wait for it to boil, boil for ten minutes.
4. Add the rest of the vegetables. Leave to simmer for ten minutes.
5. Mix chopped garlic with 9% vinegar. Add the "preservative" to the saucepan along with the rest of the ingredients. Then keep the salad on the stove for ten minutes.
6. Distribute in sterilized containers, roll up.

If you bought soft zucchini, then check if there are any marks left on them when pressed. Remain - it is not worth preserving them, vegetables disappear. Soft zucchini, which do not lose their shape when pressed, can be used for blanks, but with the condition that you add twice as much vinegar as according to the recipe.

Sweet and sour

Peculiarities. If you like sweet and sour sauces, make Ankle Bens from zucchini with carrots, and add the purchased Krasnodar sauce to the dressing. The dish should have a thick consistency. If you take grated zucchini, and not chopped, then you will be able to prepare a sauce that resembles a store sauce in structure. It can be served with any side dish or with a main course of vegetables, seafood or river fish, any meat. Especially good "sounds" sweet and sour taste in tandem with poultry meat. The amount of ingredients is calculated for 6 liters of salad.

You will need:

• thin-skinned zucchini - 2 kg;
• large tomatoes - 1 kg;
• onions - 1 kg;
• sweet pepper - 600 g;
• large carrots - 500 g;
• sunflower oil - 250 ml;
• Krasnodar sauce - a half-liter jar;
• vinegar (9%) - 70 ml;
• table salt - four tablespoons;
• sugar - a glass;
• citric acid - one teaspoon;
• curry - three teaspoons;
• water - 600 ml.

Cooking steps

1. Chop the zucchini into cubes, the onions in half rings, chop the pepper into strips, the tomatoes - arbitrarily.
2. Grate the carrots (it is better to use a coarse grater).
3. Boil water. Add Krasnodar sauce, butter, granulated sugar, spices to the boiling water. Boil the mixture for five minutes.
4. Add the courgette to the tomato dressing. Simmer for a minimum of 12 minutes.
5. Pour the rest of the vegetables into the pan. Leave to simmer for ten minutes.
6. Add carrots. Boil for five minutes.
7. Pour in the tomatoes. Boil off excess liquid. When the consistency becomes thick enough, add "preservatives" - vinegar and "lemon". Hold on the stove for five minutes.
8. Distribute in sterilized containers. Screw on the lids.

The "zest" of the salad is added by the "Krasnodar" sauce. It is enriched with a whole bunch of spices - cloves, allspice, nutmeg... Thanks to tomato sauce, a spicy bouquet is felt in the "uncle bens" too. An obligatory ingredient in Krasnodarskiy is apples. Hence the sourness.

For lovers of "spicy"

Peculiarities. This recipe for "Ankle-bens" from zucchini for the winter should be adopted by lovers of "spicy". Garlic is present in many recipes, but such a sauce cannot be called spicy in the direct sense of the word - rather, spicy. If you cook "Uncle Bens" from zucchini with the addition of chili, then fans of "fire in the mouth" will simply be delighted. You can adjust the pungency to your taste. Sweet and sour and at the same time spicy sauce will be appreciated by gourmets. It goes well with meat, but also vegetarian meals with hot sauce Will "play" in a new way. From the amount of ingredients indicated in the recipe, you can prepare 4 liters of the blank.

You will need:

• young zucchini - 1 kg;
• red tomatoes - the same amount;
• bulgarian pepper (large) - seven pieces;
• medium-sized onion - five onions;
• garlic - ten cloves;
• sunflower oil - 1.5 cups;
• sugar - according to the proportions of butter;
• salt - two tablespoons;
• curry - a teaspoon;
• vinegar (9%) - 100 ml;
• chili - two peppers.

Cooking steps

1. Chop the washed zucchini into small squares, chop the onions into thin half rings.
2. Peel peppers (sweet and chili) from seeds, cut into strips.
3. Make cross-shaped cuts at the base of the tomatoes. Dip the tomatoes in boiling water for two minutes, then transfer them with a slotted spoon to cold water, leave for a minute. Remove the skin, cut the pulp into cubes.
4. Mix refined oil, sugar, spices, vinegar. Wait until it boils.
5. Add slices of courgettes to the prepared marinade. Boil for ten minutes.
6. Add pepper, onion half rings, boil for about ten minutes.
7. Add chopped tomato pulp, simmer for ten minutes.
8. Add garlic. Better to pass it through a press, you can finely chop it up. Put out two minutes. The salad is ready, you just have to roll it up.

Young zucchini in blanks is used directly with the skin and seeds. If you decide to "process" old vegetables, then the peel must be cut off, and the "insides" must be cleaned. If you don’t do this, the taste of the preparation will disappoint.

Rice salad

Peculiarities. Canning with zucchini and rice will help out the hostess when households ask for a snack and the refrigerator is empty. The salad is served both as an independent dish and as a side dish for any meat. From the amount of ingredients indicated in the recipe, 4 liters of preservation are obtained.

You will need:

• medium-sized zucchini - 2 kg;
• onions - 1 kg;
• carrots - the same amount;
• ripe tomatoes - 700 g;
• rice - 400 g;
• garlic - five cloves;
• sunflower oil - standard glass;
• salt - three tablespoons (with a slide);
• sugar - five tablespoons;
• vinegar (9%) - 50 ml.

Cooking steps

1. Grind the tomatoes with a blender.
2. Cut: onion, bell pepper - finely, zucchini - in medium cubes. For carrots, you need a grater.
3. Put the vegetables in a deep saucepan, squeeze the garlic here.
4. Mix the mashed tomatoes with salt and sugar. Pour in oil. Pour the dressing over the vegetables. Cook for 30 minutes.
5. Add thoroughly washed rice. Boil as much as before.
6. Pour in table vinegar. Put out ten minutes. Roll up immediately.

Uncle Ben's rice fantasy can be spiced up. Repeat the recipe step by step, but with a slight amendment: add two crushed red peppers along with the garlic. For those who love really hot snacks, chili can be added along with the seeds.

5 rules for successful procurement

Taste is not the only thing that matters in home seaming. When preparing canning, the hostesses expect that they will treat guests and households with it all winter. But it so happens that the cans "explode" or the salad begins to ferment. Follow these five tips and Uncle Bens will last until the next harvest. Unless, of course, stocks run out before the efforts of the household.

1. Wash vegetables thoroughly. Vegetables for salad need to be washed not just thoroughly, but very thoroughly. Ideally, use a special brush: then the vegetables will definitely be clean. If you plan to add spicy herbs to the salad, rinse it under running water for at least eight minutes. The purity of vegetables is the key to long-term storage of the salad.
2. Sterilize jars and lids. It is necessary to lay out the workpiece only in sterilized containers, use exclusively sterile lids. Otherwise, germs can get into the jar, as a result - the salad will "explode" or ferment. The most popular sterilization method is to "boil" cans and lids in water (five minutes after boiling). True, it is relevant only if there are few containers and they are small. You can sterilize the jars with steam: put a grate on a pot of water, put jars on top, keep them after boiling for 15 minutes. You can ignite washed, not dried cans and lids in the oven (temperature - 120 ° C, time - until dry).
3. Flip the cans. After rolling the salad, the jars are turned over and left to cool. This simple manipulation allows you to make sure that the lid is tight. After cooling down, make sure that there are no wet spots left under the preservation. Without a snug fit of the lid long-term storage impossible: the salad will ferment.
4. Cover. Preservation is recommended to be wrapped in a blanket and kept under it until it cools. Thanks to wrapping, the contents of the jar slowly lose temperature, and additional "canning" occurs. This increases the preservation of the salad.
5. Store properly. The ideal place for storing workpieces is the cellar. They can stay in such conditions for two years. In a city apartment, preservation should be stored in a cool, dark place, for example, in a pantry. True, the shelf life in this case will be reduced - you need to eat the salad during the autumn-winter season. The balcony is not the best place to store curls: freezing degrades the quality of the product.

If the lid on the jar with zucchini salad is swollen, then the blank will have to be thrown away: the canning technology was violated, and bacteria "settled" in the seaming. Don't risk your health!

Ankle Bens salad from zucchini for the winter must be prepared with vinegar, which plays the role of a safe preservative. Uncle Ben's sauce can be made to serve the same day. Take any recipe, remove the vinegar from it, and please your loved ones with a delicious dish.

Who cooks how: reviews

I liked the taste very much. Well, just VERY tasty. The only thing I didn't really like was the crispy onion and its distinctly distinctive flavor. My husband didn't like it either. Therefore, last year I modified the recipe a little, after having softened the onion until soft. Why such a name? It resembles the taste of the previously sold Ankle Bens lecho. I don't know if it's on sale now or not.

Mirage, http://forumodessa.com/showthread.php?t=19260

With vinegar it turns out very sour, tomato paste and tomatoes give acid, and also vinegar, I made this salad for the first time and I did not like it due to excess acid, I tried it without vinegar, it was delicious!

Svetlana, http://recept-menu.ru/salat-iz-kabachkov-ankl-bens/