How to Make Sweet Pickled Cucumber, No Cooking Required

Making Sweet Pickled Cucumber is a great way of using up excess cucumber and giving a rather bland food an enticing lift.

I decided to have a go at growing cucumbers this year. And I quickly discovered that they had teamed up with the courgettes in an attempt to take over the planet.  Having bombarded the friends and neighbours with free cucumbers I still had more than we could deal with.

This led me into looking into new ways of using cucumbers in new ways. The obvious option was pickling, and after a few attempts I ended up with the version below.

As the cucumber is technically a fruit, I have married it with a slight Asian influence using ginger, chili, and coriander as a background. The result is a sweet, light, zingy pickle, which marries perfectly with fish, particularly cured fish. Of course, it’s equally at home at the BBQ, on a burger or lifting your lunchtime sandwich to new heights.

This is not a long-term pickle used as a preserve but more of a short-term chutney which helps to season and punch up the flavours of the item it is served with.

You will need.

• ½ Lt preserving jar.
• Chopping board and knife
• Fine microplane grater
• Colander and bowl
• Small bowl
• Wisk
• Scales
• Measuring spoons

Sweet Pickled Cucumber.

Fills a ½ Lt preserving jar.

• 1 small or ¾ a large cucumber
• ½ tsp              table salt
• 45ml               cider vinegar
• 35g                 golden caster sugar
• 6                      coriander seeds
• A few              dried chili flakes
• 1 piece           stem ginger in syrup
• 1tsp                stem ginger syrup
• 1tpsn              finely grated ginger root

Sweet Pickled Cucumber, first stages.

The first task is to slice the cucumber, aim for slices about 3mm in thickness. Too thick and they become intrusive, too thin and the pickle will lack character. You can either use a sharp knife or a mandolin as you wish, whichever you feel safer with. The mandolin has the advantage of producing consistent slices but watch your fingers! There isn’t a chef on the planet that hasn’t cut themselves on a mandolin at some point.

Sweet Pickled Cucumber, salting.

Once all the cucumber is sliced take a colander set in a bowl and cover the base with slices of cucumber. Sprinkle the cut slices with some of the table salt, then add another layer of cucumber, then more salt. Keep going until all the cucumber and salt is used up. If you run out of salt don’t be afraid to use a little more to complete the process.

The function of the salt is to draw out some of the liquid in the cucumber. In turn this will season and crisp up the slices ready for the pickle.

Don’t be afraid of the amount of salt. Its not the volume of salt that will dictate the saltiness of the pickle but rather how long the slices are exposed to the curing.

When the slices have been exposed to the salt for 10 to 12 minutes, give then a good rinse under running cold water to remove all the salt. Don’t leave the slices sitting in water, drain them as soon as ready and tip them on to a clean cloth to drain.

Sweet Pickled Cucumber, the pickle.

I am flavouring the pickle with two types of ginger. Root ginger for its vibrant warmth, and stem ginger for a smoother sweeter flavour. I also like to add some of the syrup from the stem ginger as well for good measure.

Weigh the sugar into a small bowl then add the cider vinegar, and whisk together.

Then using a fine microplane grater grate a lump of stem ginger into the vinegar. Peel the root ginger (this is best done by scraping the root with a spoon). Then grate a teaspoonful of fresh ginger on top. Doing the grating this way will make sure all the sticky stem ginger finds its way into the bowl.

Add a teaspoon of the ginger syrup, followed by the chili flakes and coriander seeds. Give the whole thing a whisk, and it’s done.

 Sweet Pickled Cucumber, assembly.

Take a sterilized half litre Kilner jar and cover the base with a layer of the drained cucumber. Spread a spoonful of pickle over the slices, then add more cucumber and more pickle. Repeat until all the cucumber is used pouring any remaining pickle into the jar. Lightly press the cucumber down with the back of a spoon, then close up the lid. Give the jar a shake to insure all the slices are exposed to the pickle.

You will notice that the cucumber slices are not covered with pickle, don’t worry that’s fine. Place the jar in the fridge for at least four hours, or better still overnight.

As the pickle reacts with the cucumber the volume of liquid will seem to increase as the cucumber sinks down a little in the jar. Store the pickle in the fridge ready for use.

The pickle will keep up to five days in the fridge and I think gets better after a couple of days maturing.

Enjoy Life !

John.

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