Bavaria harvests half of Germany's cucumbers. What do I mean by saying this? CUCUMBER SEASON IS HERE!!!
Summer is cucumber season in Germany. It starts around mid-June. This is the time to get the freshest, crunchiest and weirdest-looking cucumbers!! You can have varieties of choice when you choose them. Small ones, big ones, curly ones, bent ones, alien-looking ones, big head with a small body ones... Oh, I can't name them all!
A few tips for picking the freshest cucumbers:
- Put slight pressure on a cucumber between your fingers, if it feels a bit soft, they've lost water, which means they are not as fresh. Although harder ones doesn't necessarily mean it's fresh, but at least you can avoid those that have lost water.
- Weigh the cucumbers on your hand up and down to feel the density. A tasty cucumber is the ones that are young and dense, if it feels light, it means there are air in the center and the cucumber is a bit old.
Washed cucumbers waiting for me to pickle... "Pickle me first!! Pickle me first!!" they shouted excitedly
With all these cucumbers, you can make lots of pickles for the summer and even for the whole rest of the year till the next cucumber season!
Spreewald is one of the most infamous area in Germany where pickles are made. Don't get too excited, I don't have exclusive access to their local cucumber pickle secret recipes... BUT I can offer a cucumber pickle recipe that comes close.
The pickling spices in the jar, waiting for the cucumbers to be packed in
Cucumber Pickles
Preparation time: 20 - 25 minutes
Jarring time: 1 week in the jar before eating
Yield: 7 - 8 pickles (or 0.5-liter of pickles)
| U.S. Measurements | Ingredients | |
| 0.5 L | 17 fl. oz | air-tight glass jar |
| 7 - 8 medium, normal sized and well-washed pickling cucumbers (about 7 cm long and 2 cm in diameter) | ||
| 165 mL | ¾ cup | 5%-acidity apple cider vinegar (or wine vinegar) (Apfelessig oder Brantweinessig) |
| 165 mL | ¾ cup | water |
| 30 mL (or 25g) | 2 tbsps | brown sugar |
| 30 mL | 2 tbsps | mustard seeds (Senfkorn) |
| 25 mL | 1½ tbsp | caraway seeds (Kümmel) or parsley seeds |
| 3 - 4 bay leaves (Lorbeerblatt) | ||
| 15 mL | ½ tbsp | whole cloves seeds (Nelke) |
| 15 mL | ½ tbsp | peppercorns (Pfefferkorn) |
| 3 - 4 stems of fresh dill (dill with flowers has more flavor) |
Direction:
1. Prepare a 0.5-liter jar. Wash and dry the jar.
2. Put the pickling spices (mustard seeds, caraway seeds, 3 - 4 bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns and fresh dill) into the jar. You can just lay the dill into it with a bent or you can cut the dill in half. (Don't forget to wash the fresh dill before putting it in.)
3. Wash the cucumbers well! Cucumbers are grown touching the ground, so it has a lot of sand and dirt on it.
4. Gently pack the cucumbers into the jar. Make sure they are not pressured into the jar. Let them nicely touching each other without forced in. This way, the pickle would come out more crunchy and won't be soggy.
5. Boil water, vinegar and sugar together, this is the brine for the pickles. Once it starts to boil, pour it into the jar and cap it. Place the jar in a cool and dark area for a week. In a dark and cool area, it can store up to a year (so I heard), but please please put them in the fridge after opening the jar!
The cucumbers will look freshly green the first 3 to 4 hours, but it'll gradually turn cucumber-pickle green. The part of the cucumber that touches the wall of the jar will turn the color a bit later, but don't worry about it, after a week, all the cucumbers will look the same.
The pickles that comes out has a very nice dill taste, they are crunchy, a bit sour with a hint of sweetness. If you indulge a bit further, you'd taste the faint clove taste! They are really not what you can get commercially in the supermarket! They have much more flavors! Try making this, you'd be so delighted that you'd even be pickling in your dreams!
When I first made the cucumber pickles, there was too much brine. What to do? Hehehe... I had some organic carrots and an abundance of caraway seeds so I made CARROT PICKLES! :]
Pickled Carrots
Preparation time: 10 - 15 minutes
Jarring time: 1 week in the jar before eating
Yield: 3 - 4 small to medium pickled carrots (or 0.25-liter of pickles)
| U.S. Measurements | Ingredients | |
| 0.25 L | 8 - 10 fl. oz | air-tight glass jar |
| 3 - 4 small to medium sized and well-washed carrots (about 9 - 12 cm long and up to 2 cm in diameter) | ||
| 82.5 mL | ⅓ cup and a bit more | 5%-acidity apple cider vinegar (or wine vinegar) (Apfelessig oder Brantweinessig) |
| 82.5 mL | ⅓ cup and a bit more | water |
| 15 mL (or 13g) | 1 tbsps | brown sugar |
| 30 mL | 2 tbsps | caraway seeds (Kümmel) |
Direction:
1. Prepare a 0.25-liter jar. Wash and dry it.
2. Put the caraway seeds into the jar.
3. Wash the carrots well. You don't want to pickle the dirt on the carrots. Also, preferably using organic carrots, that way you know you are eating little to no pesticides.
4. Pack the washed carrots into the jar, if some of them are too long, just cut them so they can fit.
5. Boil the vinegar, water and sugar together to make the brine. Once it's boiled, pour it into the jar and cap it. Wait a week before opening the jar to eat.
The pickled carrots has slight caraway seeds, very crunchy and fresh tasting. Not at all soggy and soft! One of the greatest summer side dish and snacking delight in my opinion!
Pickled cucumbers and carrots after one day
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