Pickling Cucumbers

Pickling is an excellent way to preserve fruits and vegetables and enjoy their delicious crunch and flavor all year round. You can choose any vegetable for pickling, like small onions, garlic, cucumbers, green tomatoes, radish, asparagus, and peppers.

The pickling is done by immersing the vegetables in a brine or vinegar solution and flavored with herbs and spices. Cucumber pickle can be used as an accompaniment with burgers and sandwiches and it has the ability to perk up even the most bland dish.

Pickling cucumbers is not very hard to do and all you need to do is to devote an afternoon for making them. When you pickle cucumbers you should keep in mind that you must use pickling salt or canning salt and not the ordinary table salt. Also choose only fresh and firm cucumbers for pickling purposes. Here we will guide you on how to pickle cucumbers.

Ingredients

• Pickling cucumbers, 4 -5 (thinly sliced)
• Sugar, 1 cup
• White vinegar, 1 cup
• Brown sugar, ¼ cup
• Pickling salt, 1½ cup
• Mustard seeds, 1½ tbsp.
• White onions, 1 cup (thinly sliced)
• Cider vinegar, ½ cup
• Celery seeds, ½ tsp.
• Bay leaves, 2

Method
In a large glass bowl, combine the cucumber slices with the pickling salt and cover and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. Remove the cucumber from the refrigerator and rinse them under cold water and return them back to the bowl. Now add the sliced white onions and keep it aside.

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, white and cider vinegar, brown sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, and bay leaves and bring this mixture to a boil. Stir the mixture until all the sugar has dissolved and then pour this mixture over the sliced cucumbers and onions.

Let the cucumber stand in this vinegar mixture for an hour at room temperature and then refrigerate for 24 hours before eating. You can store this cucumber pickle in an air tight glass container and it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Ingredients

• Cucumber, 1
• Vinegar, ¼ cup
• Brown sugar, 1 tbsp.
• Sesame oil, 1 tsp.
• Ginger, 1 inch (sliced)
• Chili oil, 1 tbsp.

Method
Wash the cucumber and peel it. Cut the cucumber into thin slices and keep it aside in a bowl. In a small pan, heat the vinegar, and add brown sugar and sliced ginger. Bring this mixture to a gentle boil and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from heat and pour this mixture over the sliced cucumbers.

Use a spoon or a ladle to mix the sliced cucumbers ensuring that they are evenly coated with the vinegar and sugar mixture. Add the sesame oil and place the pickled cucumber in clean sterilized containers.

Ingredients

• Small green cucumber, 1½ kg.
• Fresh dill, 4 sprigs
• Pickling salt, 1 cup
• White vinegar, 2 cups
• Water, 4 cups
• Garlic, 8 cloves (peeled)

Method
Take a large jar and pour hot water into it. Rinse and allow the jar to dry naturally. When the jar is dry, place 2 sprigs of dill leaves and 4 cloves of minced garlic. Wash and cut the two end of the cucumbers and stuff them inside the jar until it is full. Add the water to the jar, one cup at a time and then add the pickling salt and white vinegar.

Add two more sprigs of dill leaves and the rest of the garlic cloves. Seal the jar and give it a good shake so that the cucumbers are well coated with vinegar and salt. Place the jar of pickled cucumber on the window sill and give it a week to ferment before consuming.

Make sure that the cucumbers are at all time submerged in the vinegar mixture so that they do not spoil. Always store pickled cucumber in glass jars and not metal jars as the vinegar in the pickle reacts with metal. Let the pickle ferment for a month and the cucumber lose their color and turn translucent before enjoying their piquant flavor.