Aficionado: Grow Your Own: Cucumber Pickles!

Cucumbers have been growing prolifically in my tiny little garden patch. It was a wonderful surprise to wake up the day before Christmas to find the first cucurbits of the season ripe and ready for the picking.

Actually, technically speaking, cucumbers are normally picked while they're still unripe, with thin skins and juicy, crunchy flesh. If left to fully ripen, they become pretty cumbersome (haha), bitter and not very nice to eat. Their flowers are a bright and sunny yellow, much like zucchini flowers, only a little smaller. Their skins are smooth and waxy, but unbrushed, they're covered in tiny little prickles. When I run my fingers along the vine, it feels like I'm touching a bristled scouring pad. Cucumbers are also classified as a fruit believe it or not!

The cucumber seeds I planted in late spring are of the 'muncher burpless' variety, often referred to as 'seedless' (a common disambiguation), although they do still contain seeds. They're cultivated mainly for their delicate skins and even slicing qualities. I've harvested 31 cucumbers in the last 3 weeks, averaging around 240 grams a cuke which puts my harvest tally so far at 7.2 kilos! Apparently they also make decent pickles so with such an abundance of fruit I thought I'd join in a GYO event (hosted by Nate and Annie) and give pickling a go!

I used two different methods, one hot and one cold, and a few different spices. The hot pickle (with mustard, fennel, coriander and bay), I poured straight over the packed cucumber slices and sealed straight away. With the cold dill pickle, I let it cool first and then packed it when it was cold. The hot method resulted in a slightly softer and lighter coloured pickle with a crunchy but giving texture, kind of like the ones you get in a burger from a fast food joint. The cold method meant that the slices retained their vibrant green colour and were seriously crisp. I used a little less sugar in the dill pickle which I think works quite well and leaves it very cooling - perfect for that warm afternoon, nibbling on a cucumber sandwich in-between sips of English tea with the ladies on a perfectly manicured lawn at the state country club.