If you have friends and family members in doubt, make this sweet little ferment and enjoy watching them tuck in. This cucumber pickles recipe is similar enough to a common pickle that it shouldn’t raise too much suspicion.
Makes 1 x 1-Litre Jar
Ingredients:
– 1 fresh grape leaf or cherry leaf (optional, but it makes a better ferment)
– 1.5kg pickling cucumbers, thinly sliced
– 1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
– 250ml fresh lemon juice
– 250ml raw honey or maple syrup
– 80ml whey or brine starter
– 3 tbsp unrefined sea salt
– 1–2 tbsp celery seeds
– 1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
– 2 tsp ground turmeric
Method:
1. Put the leaf in the bottom of your clean 1-litre jar so that it lies flat. This helps the cucumbers to stay crisp.
2. Toss the cucumber and onion slices together in a large bowl, then transfer to the jar, pressing them down lightly with your fist or a pounder.
3. Combine the remaining ingredients in a jug and pour it over the cucumbers. This should be enough to submerge them in liquid, but if it isn’t, top them up with filtered water if necessary to cover. Leave 2.5cm of headspace at the top of the jar.
4.Seal the jar and keep at room temperature for about two days. Cucumbers soften easily, so after this time transfer them to the fridge and eat within two to three weeks to avoid mushy disappointment.
In her first book, The Cultured Club, fermentation expert Dearbhla Reynolds teaches you how to turn simple ingredients into superfoods by using one of the world’s oldest methods of food preservation. Human beings are known to have made fermented foods since Neolithic times, but we have evolved away from fermentation, mostly because needs no longer dictate. As life became more convenient, this crucial life skill dropped off the menu and pickling, canning and pasteurisation took over. But the practice of fermentation is currently undergoing a huge revival as people recognise its health benefits and seek to learn more about the craft, and the science behind it.
In The Cultured Club, Dearbhla will teach you the history and art of fermentation and how to turn simple ingredients into superfoods. Learn about gut health and basic fermentation techniques, and experience the vibrant flavours of foods and drinks such as kimchi, sauerkraut, fermented salsa, kombucha and kefir.
Get your copy of The Cultured Club, published by Gill Books, here.
The Cultured Club The Cultured Club
