I was sorting through the photos on my computer when I found this one and thought I better post about it - pickled cucumbers in buckets. It’s from a holiday I took to Poland last August and instantly caught my eye. These people are crazy about their pickled cucumbers and it’s easy to see why; they’re delicious!

Unlike the Gherkins you might be expecting, these Cucumbers are fermented in brine (not vinegar) and are super crunchy and sour. The Polish seem to love munching them as a snack or along side practically any meal.

This is my Mother in Law’s recipe (made with cucumbers from her own garden) but seems much the same across Poland. The rest of the family seem to love drinking the salty juice that is left over, too. Give them a go, and I promise you wont be disappointed!

This is also my entry to the time honoured Weekend Herb Blogging, being held this week over at the excellent Fool For Food.

Ogórki Kiszone Recipe - Ingredients

• Pickling Cucumbers (however many you have!)
• Water (again, this depends purely on how many jars and cucumbers you have).
• Salt
• 3 Cloves Garlic (per jar)
• Dill
• Horseradish Root
• 2 Cherry or Grape Leaves (per jar)

Ogórki Kiszone Recipe - Method

1. Wash cucumbers and pour over with some boiling water to clean.
2. Bring water to boil - use 1 tbsp salt per litre. Allow to cool.
3. In the bottom of some sterilised jars add the garlic, dill (where possible use whole, fresh dill - about the quantity from one bulb), cherry / grape leaves (or combination thereof), and a few chunks of horseradish root. Although my wife now denies it, I’m sure I saw some mustard seeds in there too (it can’t do any harm).
4. Fill jar with cucumbers (how many can you fit?)
5. Pour over the brine solution.
6. On with the lid and onto a window ledge (don’t ask me why - but my Wife swears it’s neccessary) for 3 days.
7. Off the window ledge and in store somewhere dark. You can start to eat them after around 1 week.

Enjoy!

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 at 10:17 pm and is filed under recipes: Fruit & Veg. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.