Preserving cucumbers sweet and sour »This is how it's done

Sweet and sour pickles

Pickling cucumbers are usually grown outdoors. The small cucumbers ripen from the summer months until autumn. In productive years there is often a real glut of cucumbers. This is where it pays to pickle cucumbers in different ways. In addition to pickled and pickled cucumbers, the sweet and sour variants are very popular.

1. Use only perfect cucumbers and remove the flower base and the stem.
2. Scrub the vegetables under running water. The cucumbers must be really clean and must not have any damaged areas.
3. Sprinkle the cucumbers with salt and let them steep overnight.
4. The salt is washed off again the next day.
5. Prepare a stock of water, vinegar, a little lime juice, honey and mustard seeds. You can experiment to your heart's content when putting together the spices. For example, add dill, onions, bay leaves or juniper berries.
6. Bring the brew to the boil and as soon as the honey has dissolved, add the cucumbers. Cook the whole thing for about 5 minutes.
7. Place the cucumbers with the stock in previously sterilized, i.e. boiled, screw-cap jars. The brew should be filled to a centimeter below the edge of the glass, all the cucumbers are covered.
8. Close the jars and turn them upside down for a short time to create a vacuum.
9. Let the cucumbers soak in the cellar or in the dark storage room for at least four weeks before tasting them.

More tips for canning cucumbers

For sweet and sour cucumbers, you can also use white or brown sugar instead of honey. If you want, you can put other vegetables in the pickle jar, for example sliced ​​carrots, baby corn on the cob, small onions, cherry tomatoes or a chilli pepper. The chilli should be pitted, otherwise the whole thing will be too hot.
The additional vegetables are briefly boiled with the cucumbers.

Do not use iodized salt when canning cucumbers. Iodized salt softens the cucumbers and removes their aroma. Better take normal household salt or sea salt.
To prevent the cucumbers from becoming hollow on the inside, pierce them with a needle a few times before canning.
Pickled cucumbers keep for a few months in the jar. If a jar is opened, it should be kept in the refrigerator and consumed within a week.