Sweet Cucumber Pickle

Since we have accumulated a Cucumber Mountain over the last week, hubby has been dropping not-so-gentle hints that I should look up the Sweet Cucumber Pickle recipe that I made last year. It was a great favourite of his and he was very disappointed that I only made four jars … which he worked his way through very quickly. So today I found it and I’ve converted half a dozen cucumbers which were slightly blemished into five jars of Sweet Cucumber Pickle.

Here’s the recipe and you can check out the photos as well :-)

Sweet Cucumber Pickle (from Katie Stewart’s Cookbook, published by Book Club Associates by arrangement with Victor Gollancz Ltd in 1983)

Makes approximately 4lbs (1.8Kg)

Ingredients:

• 3 large cucumbers
• 2 large onions
• 2 oz salt
• 1 pint (600ml) cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar
• 1lb granulated sugar
• Half a level teaspoonful of ground turmeric
• Quarter of a level teaspoon of ground cloves (I used allspice)
• 1 tablespoon of mustard seeds (normally yellow but I used black ones)

Method:

Thinly slice the cucumbers. Peel and thinly slice the onions. Arrange in alternating layers in a mixing bowl, sprinkling salt between each layer. Cover with a weighted plate and leave to stand for three hours. After this time, the cucumber and onion will be swimming in liquid. Pour away the salty liquid and thoroughly rinse and drain the vegetables.

Put the vinegar, sugar and spices into a saucepan. (Despite its colour, the turmeric will turn this pickle a bright green – without it, the pickle would be a dull grey colour) Stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cucumber and onion. Bring to the boil and boil for ONE minute only – so vegetables remain crisp – then draw off the heat. Using a perforated spoon, transfer cucumbers, onion and mustard seed to storage jars.

Return the pan of syrup to the heat and boil rapidly for ten minutes to reduce the liquid and concentrate the flavour. Pour syrup over the vegetables – there should be sufficient to cover. Cover tightly when cold. This pickle is especially nice with cheese and biscuits or a raised pork pie.

Couple of notes:

Any recipe using vinegar calls for glass, plastic or good quality stainless steel or aluminium utensils – it will leach metal from copper or brass pots and corrode poor quality utensils)

Brining is essential when making pickles like this. Although it’s a bit of a fiddle, it’s well worth it for the intensity of flavour produced by removing as much water from the vegetables as possible.