Mochenye yabloki

Step 1: Scrub a 5 litre glass jar, ceramic crock or food-grade bucket, a plate that fits inside and a weight (a jar filled with water) in hot soapy water, then rinse with boiling water and leave to drain dry.

Step 2: Make the brine: whisk the 1 ¾ oz rye flour into 250 ml of the 12 ½ cups water until smooth. Bring the rest of the water to a boil, stir in the flour mixture and the 1 ⅝ oz salt and boil for 2 minutes, stirring, until it turns slightly milky.

Step 3: Let the brine cool to about 104°F, then stir in the 4 oz honey until dissolved. Leave to cool completely and settle, about 2 hours.

Step 4: Wash the 6 ⅝ lb firm, sour apples in cold water and leave them whole with their stalks; discard any with bruises or broken skin, as they will rot the batch. Rinse the 30 blackcurrant leaves.

Step 5: Line the bottom of the crock with a third of the leaves. Pack in a layer of apples stalks up, add more leaves and a sprig of 4 mint or tarragon sprigs if using, and repeat, finishing with leaves.

Step 6: Pour the cooled brine over, leaving the sediment behind if you prefer clearer brine, until the apples are covered by 4–5 cm. Lay the 1 large white cabbage leaf leaf on top if using, then the plate and the weight, so nothing floats above the surface.

Step 7: Leave at a cool room temperature (15–68°F) for 7–10 days. The apples soak up a lot of brine in the first days, so check daily and top up with fresh 1.5% brine (15 g salt per litre of boiled, cooled water) to keep them covered. Bubbles, a cloudy brine and a clean, sour smell are good signs; a flat white film (kahm yeast) is harmless, so skim it off with a clean spoon.

Step 8: Move the covered crock to a cold place at 2–6 °C, such as the fridge or a cold cellar, and leave for 4–6 weeks more. They are ready when the flesh tastes tangy and juicy right through and the brine is lightly fizzy.

Step 9: Serve whole or in wedges, lifting them out with clean tongs. They keep 3–4 months in the fridge as long as they stay under the brine. Discard the batch if you see fuzzy mould in green, black or pink, the apples turn slimy or mushy, or it smells rotten instead of sour. If you bottle the leftover brine to drink, keep it in the fridge and open the bottle daily to release pressure.