Friends had a few to many cucumbers in their vege patch and asked me if I would pickle some. Heck yes!

Pickled cucumbers are great shit to have in your fridge for ploughmans lunches or antipasto type things, to accompany a thai curry, with smoked sausage, cheese, rye bread and beer… mmm.

So grow some cuke or get a friend who has an abundance in their garden!
You can leave the skin on and seeds in if they are lebanese or continental cuke, but if they are tough skinned it’s a good idea to peel and deseed them.

PICKLED CUKE
Cut the cuke into 5-10mm thick slices and put into a colander over another bowl to catch the liquid.
Sprinkle with a tablespoon of cooking salt for every cup of cuke and mix thouroughly.
Leave in a cool spot or your fridge for a day to draw out excess moisture.
After a day, rinse salt off the cuke and drain for 5 minutes.

While you are waiting for your cuke, get started on the pickling liquid, and pickling yourself if you’re keen

2 cups white wine or apple cider vinegar
2 cups castor sugar
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
(and try adding different flavours if you want to get adventurous… garlic, chilli, dill)
all ingredients into a pot, simmer over moderate heat until sugar has dissolved, chill.

*obviously you can increase the quantities of pickling liquid if you have a shitload of cuke.

Pack the cuke into sterilised jars or a plastic take-away container or whatever, cos let’s face it, these little puppies aren’t gonna last very long. Top with the pickling liquid and leave for at least and hour before eating.

Try them with the rabbit terrine i made last week, some company and a cold beer.