We have cucumbers. If we get rain this week we will have a lot of cucumbers. Our favourite types of cucumbers are Marketmore and Poona Kheera they are both tasty and make great pickles. Poona Kheera also can be used in stir-fries and chutneys. It is an unusual cucumber it has a white to yellow skin that changes to brownish red as it matures. Eat it as you would any other cucumber. A little grand-daughter of one sharer loves Poona Kheera so much at three years old she would gobble down a whole cucumber. Here is a recipe that we use:
Aunt Anna’s Mustard Pickles
10 cups cucumbers peel, remove the seeds and chop into roughly 1/2 inch chunks (7-9 cucumbers)
1-quart onions diced (6-8 white onions)
1-quart celery and cauliflower diced (2 cups of each)
1 red pepper diced (2 if you want more colour)
4 tablespoons pickling salt
Cover with 4 tablespoons pickling salt and water. Leave overnight. Drain well.
Sauce
4 cups vinegar
6 cups sugar
4 tablespoons dry mustard
1 cup flour
1 teaspoons turmer…
We're expecting to have extra berries after our CSA sharers have gotten theirs. If you would like a crate or two for making jam, or maybe just a couple boxes for snacking, please give us a call. They are $4.50/box, $54/crate.
To make chive blossom vinegar we trim off the flowers from chives and
soak them in vinegar for a couple weeks. The chive flowers infuse the
vinegar with a garlicky flavour and a beautiful pink hue. This can be
used as a flavoured vinegar for salad dressings, dips, to sprinkle on
fish or fries, or for a bowl of cucumber slices.
A ready batch.
Clean jars.
The light shining through the pink vinegar. So pretty.
Here's a recipe for a vinaigrette made with chive blossom vinegar.