Pickle Me This — B R E A D L U S T

Jul 5

Jul 5 Pickle Me This

I signed up recently for a CSA box. For those uninitiated, CSA stands for community supported agriculture and usually takes the form of a weekly box of fruit and vegetables from local and regional farms. Last week I received pickling cucumbers and not to be uninspired I decided to pickle them.

Pickling cucumbers tend to be smaller, bumpier and have thicker skins than most other cucumbers. I'm sure there's something else that makes them special and pickle appropriate. The great thing about pickling is you don't need bushels and bushels to do it- just enough to fill a jar.

Quickly now- how to pickle!

Wash all cucumbers and set aside to dry
Wash jars with hot and soapy water, rinse throughly. Set on clean towel to dry until needed
Slice cucumbers thinly and equally
Place spices and crushed garlic (if ya want!) in the bottom of the jar. I used a pickling spice mix, which has vague spice ingredients listed. You can devise your own spice mix and ya know, use what'cha got.
Stack the cucumbers in the jar, leaving about a half an inch or so from the top of the jar.

In a small pot bring to a boil 1 cup of water and 1 cup of vinegar (I used all white vinegar but try different kinds or a blend t get the flavor you like), 1 tablespoon of salt and a bit'o sugar if you fancy.
Once it's boiling, remove from heat and gently pour into jars. If you're doing one or two jars, you'll have some left over. More jars and you'll need to double the pickling recipe. Be careful not to splash it everywhere.
Place the lids on the jars and tighten. Let cool on the counter and then store in the fridge.

Note: these jar will not be seals and therefore are not shelf stable. If you want to do that, go for it.

Let the pickles do there thing for at least a week or two and then they'll be ready to go. Depending on the pickling liquid you make, you might not want to keep them around FOREVER because they could turn quite sour and inedible.