Sweet and Sour Pickled Cucumbers
First pickling action on the blog. I think the spring/summer months are the best months to work on pickling and preserving fruits and vegetables. While making the vegetable and fruit list each month for the newsletter, I realized how many options we have available during the summer. I know for people growing up with four seasons this seems super obvious, but it was only when I moved here that I fully grasped the need to pickle and preserve summer vegetables to enjoy in the winter.
Andrea already has quite the experience pickling and making jams since an early age but for me this is definitely something new. Except when it comes to pickling cucumbers and making my own ‘pika’. Pika is a condiment I grew up with in Curaçao, which is basically pickled onions with spicy peppers that you sprinkle on top of your meal for the little extra heat. I will definitely work on this recipe as well to publish soon.
Today I’m getting started with the lightly pickled cucumbers that are a great side dish for any meat dish. It’s super simple and the only thing you need to do is to allow the liquid to cool down completely after a light boil and add the sliced cucumber with jalapeño. The only thing that is different than usual is that I used coconut sugar instead of refined sugar which is why the liquid is a bit darker and not completely clear. Taste is the same though so don’t let that hold you back. Don’t forget to sign-up to the newsletter below to also receive our monthly veggie and fruit picks, we are working on it now and will go out next week. So don’t miss out and sign-up!
Sweet and Sour Pickled Cucumbers
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 3 cup boiling water
- 5 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- ½ jalapeño pepper sliced
- 1 cucumber cut in half and sliced on the diagonal
Instructions
- In a pan heat up the rice vinegar, white wine vinegar, water, coconut sugar and salt.
- Make sure the sugar and salt has dissolved before turning off the heat.
- Let it cool down completely before adding the sliced cucumbers and jalapeño pepper.
- Let it sit in it for at least 1 hour before serving.
Pickle noob here, but is it better the longer you leave it? And when would you say it’d need to be eaten by? (or by pickling it it’ll last forever?!)
So this is a quick pickle and personally I feel like eaten within 1 day get’s you the best flavor. The cucumbers are still crisp but have been able to get pickled within that timeframe. For this particular recipe I feel like max 1 week, any more than that and it gets too soggy for my taste. My personal experience is that they are so good they don’t even last that long and I reuse the brine twice by adding more cucumbers to it. Let me know how it goes. 😉
So I gave it a good go, and ended up making way too much (I think I used two cucumbers) 😅 I’ve still got some left in the fridge, and we’re 5 days in. Just tried it and I think because I cut the slices relatively thick and have kept it in the fridge, they’re still as good as in the beginning (though much spicier!). They’ll probably get eaten over the weekend so won’t get to test how long they last, but if not I’ll let you know!
Yay happy it was a success. So another tip is indeed if you slice it a bit thicker it will take a bit longer to pickle but it will also last you longer. But on the other hand if you’re in a bind you can slice it thinner and have it done in no time 😉
Perfect! So when I’m in a bit of a pickle I can rustle this up in no time (pun intended 😉 ) and when I have more time on my hands I can make a bigger batch for longer. So versatile – love it!
Hahaha you got it right and now I know who to go to for my food puns 😁