1 jar of cucumbers

I've gone pickle mad!  Here are two recipes for cucumbers when they are in abundance.  Seriously I think that my cucumber plants are in conspiracy.  I go out in the morning and the cucumbers are less than the length of my little finger, next day - enormous!  To use them up I keep my cucumber jars over winter and fill them up over summer.  These are refrigerator pickles, meaning they need to be kept in the fridge until used up.  - so don't make too many!

 

Bread and butter cucumbers is a simple and delicious recipe, you can make sliced cucumbers or spears, or if you have lots of tiny ones, leave them whole.  The fermented cucumber recipe is from my mother in law  (as remembered by Val!).  It originally comes from Ukraine. I now grow my own horseradish just for the leaves! 

 

Fermented food is very good for you, but MUST be eaten fairly quickly.  Unlike the bread and butter cucumbers, these will not keep for long as they contain garlic.  If garlic is not handled correctly it can cause botulism, not something anyone wants.  So, make them, leave them on the shelf for 2 days, open them and put them in the fridge, eat over the next 2 weeks.  Any longer and I would throw them out.  (or leave out the garlic!).  For a great article on these cucumbers read the interesting blog post here by FoodieUkraine.com. 

 

 

Bread and butter pickled cucumbers

Rating: easy

Ingredients:

enough sliced cucumbers to fill the jar.

1/2 onion sliced

1 tablespoon salt

1 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teasp mustard seeds

1/2 teasp celery seeds

large pinch ground turmeric.

Dill if you have any.

 

Method:

1. Combine the cucumbers onion and salt in a colander and let it sit for 1-2 hours
2. Wash salt off and drain.
3. Pack jar with vegetables and dill if you use it.
4. In a small pot, combine sugars, vinegars, and spices.  Stir until sugar dissolves and bring to a simmer.
5. Pour mixture over cucumbers in the jar, leave to cool a little and store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator.

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(as above, but)  Ingredients for 8 jars:

1 box cucumbers, sliced 

2 white onions sliced
salt each layer of these when putting in a bowl to soak
2 litres cider vinegar
1kg sugar
8 tblp mustard seeds
1 tbls celery seeds or dill seeds
about a tablespoon ground turmeric  (I just shake some in)
Dill if you have any.- or leaves from a horseradish plant, or bay leaves

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Fermented cucumbers

Rating : moderate

Ingredients

Cucumbers - use small ones only

Flowers, seed and leaves of dill plant.

Horseradish leaves - essential

Bay leaves - if desired.

1 clove garlic

teasp. black peppercorns

 

for the brine:

1 litre water

2 tablespoons salt

1 teaspoon sugar

 

Method:

Top and tail the cucumbers and soak them in very cold water for 2 hours.

Pall all the herbs, spices and garlic into the bottom of a jar, layering with cucumbers, or put the herbs in the centre and surround them with cucumbers.

Boil brine and pour into jar over cucumbers. 

Cover with a weight so that all the cucumbers are submerged and leave on the bench for 2-3 days.

Then put the lid on the jar and keep in the fridge.

 

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