An easy recipe producing delicious sweet and sour cucumbers which will be ready to eat in 24 hours.
This recipe is enough to fill at least two 500ml jars or equivalent. Keep any leftover vinegar mix in a sterilised jar in the fridge and reuse it to pickle more vegetables or use it to add to soups, stews and salad dressings if the flavours are appropriate. You could use this method for other vegetables when in season such as Beetroots, Carrots and Radishes.
500ml white wine vinegar
250ml water
250g caster sugar
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 bay leaf
1 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp sea salt flakes
About 4 clean, fat cucumbers (each about 15cm long)
A little extra sea salt
You will also need two 500ml Sterilised Kilner Jars (see below*)
- Put all the ingredients, except the cucumbers and extra salt, in a sturdy pan over low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. You can give it a gentle stir from time to time to help it along.
- Meanwhile, cut the cucumbers into halves, lengthways and then cut each length into chunks about 5cm long.
- Pack the prepared cucumber chunks into the jars and sprinkle with a little sea salt as you go.
- When the sugar in the vinegar mixture has completely dissolved, raise the heat and bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to simmer for 10 minutes.
- Carefully pour the hot liquid over the cucumbers in the jar. They should be completely covered. You may need to weigh them down with small spoons to keep the cucumbers under the liquid.
- Seal the jars and, once they are completely cold, store them in the fridge. The cucumbers will be ready to eat after 24 hours and should keep well for at least a month, probably longer.
*To sterilise the jars: –
Preheat the oven to 120c
Wash the jars and lids in hot soapy water
Rinse them in clean water
Put them upside down on a clean baking tray
Put them in the preheated oven for 15 minutes
Cover them with a clean cloth until they are cool enough to handle
If you want a healthier and more environmentally friendly diet, a good start would be to cook from scratch, avoid buying ready-processed meals, and so avoid foods with a high sugar and salt content. Have a look at food labels, you will likely be amazed by how much salt and sugar is included and, worse, how many of the ingredients are not recognisable as food.
Sherbhert champions delicious, healthy and sustainable food where its production minimises environmental damage, exploitation, animal suffering and subsequent processing. Sherbhert’s recipes are simple and use mainly UK seasonal produce sourced as locally as possible.
Sherbhert occasionally recommends suppliers entirely because of their good produce and ethos.
