Here in the Hunter Valley winter is definitely on it’s way. Our nights are getting down to under 10 deg c and even though the days are stunning, there is a definite chill. This means that many of our warmer loving plants have packed it up for the season. The cucumber vine died back almost overnight even though we hadn’t had a frost. The cherry and cherry roma tomatoes plants are covered in green tomatoes but they are starting to get attacked by bugs and the basil is all but done. On the plus side our eggplants and zucchinis are still going strong and of all things, the pumpkins have decided to give a last hoorah putting on some last minute growth and baby pumpkins too. I will let them do their thing until we have a frost due then I will pick them like a woman possessed the day before. This is totally reliant of course, on me getting my timing right. But that is part of the fun of gardening. We had about 5 kgs of cucumbers and about 1 kilo of small green tomatoes that needed to be picked. I love cucumbers but if I ate 7kg of fresh cucumbers I think I would end up looking like one so I needed to do something with them to make them last longer. Hmm I wonder what I could do. Pickles of course! And as much as I love cucumbers I love pickles even more. I found a recipe years ago for a quick easy cucumber pickle that you store in the fridge. This means no fancy canning equipment needed just some basic ingredients, a pot and some sterilized jars. This is the best recipe I have used to make sweet pickle cucumber and it’s quite forgiving. My cucumbers this year were from last year's saved seeds that I let cross pollinate. The result was a super yummy cucumber but with lots of seeds. Not ideal for making pickles but they still turned out great. I will put the full recipe and instructions below, but as an overview this is what I did. Boil jars and lids for about 15-20 mins to sterilize. Only use either pickling jars or thick glass jars. Thinner jars don’t handle being boiled and will crack. The die hard preservers may argue that you can’t use old jars you’ve saved but using this method I haven’t lost one yet. Make sure you also put the jars and water in together at room temperature and bring to the boil together or you will definitely crack your jars. You also want to keep the jar off the bottom of the pot if you can. In a pinch you can put in some all stainless steel cutlery to act as a trivet. I boil up all the ingredients which is white vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard seeds, celery seeds or whatever pickling seed I have… I have even used coriander seeds for a different flavour. Turmeric and fresh dill. Fresh dill is a non-negotiable in my opinion. The upside is that when your cucumbers are coming to their end your dill will be exploding. I have plants popping up everywhere. You can also add in chilli with your cucumber slices if you like. I put all the ingredients except for the cucumbers and dill in a pot and bring to the boil. I take out my boiling jars and put my sliced cucumbers and dill fronds in, layering as I go. I put them in pretty tight without squishing them too much and pour in the hot liquid. Your jars should still be quite hot so the hot liquid won’t shouldn’t crack them. Fill all the way to the top to cover cucumbers and pop the lid on. Refrigerate as soon as it’s cool to the touch. They are ready within a few hours and will last a few weeks in your fridge. This is the easy and fast way. If you want to preserve them for longer then you will have to go through a full canning process process like a water bath or pressure canning process. This process isn’t that much harder but you do need some knowledge and equipment to do it right. Water bath canning is what I did for my green tomato relish aka piccalilli. Relish or chutneys are a great way of using up just about anything sort of non leafy vegetable. On a side note. What’s the difference between relish and chutney? A relish has a hero vegetable that is quite crisp and fresh and a chutney has a combination of vegetables and often fruit and is also saucier and thicker with deeper flavours. Back to the green tomato relish. The recipe and instructions are below, but what I wanted to highlight the water bathing method I used. By water bathing your relish, what you're doing is ‘cooking’ the bacteria out of the relish while also sealing the jar to stop bacteria from entering. This allows the relish to become shelf stable meaning you can store it in the cupboard for up to a year. This method is great if you have lots to make and store or if you don’t have much refrigeration room. To do this you need to have a big stock pot that is big enough to cover your jars by at least 3 cm, you will also need a rack or trivet to keep the jars off the bottom of the pot and you don’t want your jars touching each other. You will need a way or removing the jars out of the water once processed ...
