I recently read a blog in which the author described the cucumbers of her youth, “as thick as baseball bats, their tough skins dappled with small, prickly spikes. Running my fingers along their peel was as pleasurable as stroking barbed wire.”
She, of course was singing the praises of today’s so-called seedless varieties, particularly the popular plastic-wrapped English cucumbers, so packaged to add an additional layer of protection to the thin, delicate skins. They are delicious! But, why do we need to replace a natural layer of protection with an unnatural one, once again?
The cukes in my garden are a “burpless” variety, a long-fruited oriental cucumber that produces impressive yields. The prickly spikes are easily scrubbed off, and the skin is not so tough as to make it hard to digest. Depending on my recipe, though, I may partially peel them (I like the striped effect, which always looks pretty), or peel them completely — which is often much easier to do than removing shrink-wrapped plastic! If I am watchful, and the cucumbers are picked when young, they are delicious in salads. If they grow a little bigger, I can make pickles. And if I blink one too many times, I harvest the “bats” and make pickle relish!
Dill Pickle Relish
Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup coarse Kosher salt
3 cups white vinegar
3/4 cups sugar
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp dill seed
2 tsp mustard seed
2 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp turmeric
Instructions
[Note: since I was using extra large cucumbers, that had been allowed to grow too large, I first cut them lengthwise and removed the seedy center. I did NOT use a food processor, as it would be too easy to over process the cucumbers and end up with soup. The cucumbers are quite easily chopped with a good chef’s knife.]
Place the chopped vegetables in a large nonreactive bowl and sprinkle with the 1/4 cup of Kosher salt. Stir well and allow to stand for one hour.
Drain the cucumber mixture and rinse with cold water. Drain off any excess water and set aside.
In a large pan, bring vinegar, sugar, garlic, dill seed, mustard seed, celery seed and turmeric to a boil over medium high heat. Add the drained cucumber and onion mixture and return to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.
Pack into sterilized jars, leaving a 1/2 inch head space. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes, or store in the refrigerator.
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Serving suggestion: I made a dozen 1/2-pint jars of relish (plus an extra jar for eating-right-away that I put in the refrigerator) out of 4 of my larger cucumbers. Who says that a home garden doesn’t save you money? This relish is delicious as it is, and is a favorite for hot dogs, but it also makes a great addition to tuna or chicken salad.