This is my first year of growing two type of heirloom cucumbers Crystal Apple an amazing round yellow cucumber and Vert De Petit Paris a smaller pickling variety. I’ve been letting them climb up the south facing wall of our little annex at the end of the garden. I found wire stock fencing makes for a great quick support.
Maybe it’s because of my German heritage that I absolutely love pickled cucumbers be it in sandwiches with cheese and mustard, as part of a delicious potato salad or just on their own.
Now that I had a bumper crop it was definitely time to pickle my home-grown heritage varieties.
I know that pickling and similar preserving method can seem to be quite complicated when it comes to the serialization process. Should you place your jars in boiling water or put them in the oven which I find the easier option out of the two especially when you've got a large quantities of jars.
But what if I told you that most of us already have a no-nonsense jar sterilizer in your kitchen - your dishwasher! All you need to do is pop in your jars and run it whilst you get your pickling ingredients ready and take the jars out making sure you don’t touch any of the inside and fill them up. It was such a revelation - thanks to BBC Radio 4's Kitchen Cabinet!
So here is my no nonsense recipe for pickled cucumbers:
INGREDIENTS
Homegrown Cucumbers - Apple Cider Vinegar - Mustard Seeds - Sugar - WaterMETHOD
Pop your jars into the dishwasher
Pick, wash and slice your cucumbers (leave them whole if you like)
Pour 600 ml of the cider apple vinegar and 600 ml of water into a pot with 2 tbsp. of sugar and bring to the boil ( this makes just 1.2 l of pickling liquid which was enough for four half a liter jars of pickled cucumbers)
Take your jars out of the dishwasher once the cycle is complete and pack the cucumber tightly in the jars
Bring a large pot with water to the boil
Sprinkle a tsp of mustard seeds over them
Pour the pickling liquid into the jars until the cucumbers are covered completely them close them.
Carefully place the closed jars in the pot of boiling water and leave them there for five minutes - this will ensure that your pickles will keep for a year unrefrigerated and unopened.
Store in the fridge once opened.