Late summer - Canning: Mustard cucumbers with fennel
Due to the many rains this year and the lack of sun we did not have so much success in the garden. But what grew really well, were the cucumbers. Last year we had tons of azia (stew) cucumbers. This year, we planted peeling cucumbers in the greenhouse. They can be used as cucumbers at a young age, later, when they get bigger, they are great for canning. The only drawback: They must always be peeled, because the shell is inedible bitter.
Here is my list of ingredients:
about 2 kg of yellow cucumbers (the one in the photo had 780 g, so 3 pieces peeled)
40 g of salt
125 g fennel tuber
2 dill branches
3/4 L of herbal vinegar
1/2 L of water
125 g of sugar
3 tablespoons of mustard seeds
1 cm ginger, peeled, more depending on the taste
2 bay leaves
10 allspice grains
10 peppercorns
Carefully peel the cucumbers, quarter them in quarters, corer them and cut into bite-sized pieces. Put in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and mix and leave to cool overnight. Drain the cucumbers the next day in a sieve well and pat dry with kitchen paper. Clean the fennel, cut into strips. Then layer the pieces of cucumber, fennel and dill twigs into a former gherkin jar with a twist-off lid. Bring the vinegar, the water, sugar and the spices together briefly and pour over the cucumbers, as full as possible, so that there is little air in the glass. Close with the lid (use potholder or towel because of the heat) and turn the glass, so put it on the lid. Allow to cool. Before opening and enjoying the cucumbers should pull about four weeks, closed glass is at least 6 months preserved.
