Recipes please (Surplus cucumbers)

[Carol Dee]

O.K. we have more cucumbers than we can use. I made dill pickles a few years go. FLOP. 10 or more years ago I made sweet relish, it made a lot! And no one would eat it. I do not like sweet pickles. DH says make Dill Relish! Anyone have a sure fire recipe?

 

[flowerbug]

why were dill pickles a flop?

do you like dill seed?

for some reason i don't like dill seed that much in things but for relish i'd probably not mind it as much because the texture of the dill relish is kinda like that anyways.

we use dill pickles ground up in pickle and bologna sandwich spread and Mom likes them with some things, but not a lot of them all at once, not enough for us to make a lot of them any more since my brother can't eat them.

what she does with most of our extra cucumbers is cuts them up with onions, soaks those in brine for a few hours, rinses them off and then adds mayo. stirs them a few times and then we give them away with some extra fresh cucumbers along with those containers and people will usually take them and use them or give them to others.

my brother really likes cucumbers so we can give him a box of them and they will get eaten or passed along. last year we had way too many, this year is much less. we need to pick again but that's not happening until Monday. there's probably some real big torpedoes out there...

if anything set them out with a "FREE" sign.

next year we're not going to plant as many as this year. four plants is still too many. a big improvement over the year before when we planted 15 or so... ugh, that was way too many. a lot of work for Mom to deal with and a lot of work for me to make pickles which most we gave away.

 

[Carol Dee]

@flowerbug DH has a control problem, LOL. IF he has a packet of something he plants the whole thing! When 2 or 3 plants would be plenty! The dill pickles tasted great. Followed recipe but they where too SOFT , we like a bit of crunch. We do eat them sliced with onions, but you can only eat so many that way!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Crunchy pickles. If you water bath them for storing they get partially cooked and can lose some crunchiness but it doesn't have to be too bad. Just don't overcook them.

Use pickling cucumbers, not slicers. Makes a world of difference. Don't let them get too big, they ripen and get mushy.

You can buy something called "pickle crisp". It's a white powder. Use it as recommended.

The blossom end contains enzymes that can turn the pickles mushy. Cut off the blossom end and throw it away.

Add a grape leaf if you have grape vines. Plant a grape vine just for the leaves. I believe the grape leaves have something in them that negates the blossom end enzymes but I use them even if I cut the blossom end off.

I'm sure there are other ways to keep them crisp but these are all I can think of. I try to use fresh cukes, I don't know if it helps but it feels right.

 

[digitS']

You sound like me Carol Dee, I have never liked sweet or bread & butter pickles. (You know, the British are quite involved with chutneys and pickling. I wonder what @Marie2020 would do with cucumbers.)

I implied that I knew something about beer making in that question to @Zeedman . I suppose that it's true but as soon as Dad hit 80 and refused to wash bottles at his house any longer, I brought the equipment home so that I could continue. I mean, we had invested 10 years in brewing beer by then and done okay ... My first attempt was a disaster and I dumped all the bottles and the entire 5 gallons!

Wine making, I was more successful with but only the simplest of recipes. I finally realized that I didn't much care for such simple wines as Rice and Raisin and I didn't dare risk the effort again that I put in on the elderberry that came out, at least, okay.

So, after my sauerkraut was another disaster - I haven't been very inclined to try pickled cucumbers. A couple of years ago, and I related this on TEG, I did try a "refrigerator dill pickles" recipe. They were sorta okay but there was soooo much salt in them - another problem.

We eat lots of fresh cucumbers. No, I can't eat much sour food even tho I like dill pickles. I'd have to give them away and allow others to risk food poisoning!

Steve

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I've added them to stir fry's. They soften up and are good.

 

[Carol Dee]

Crunchy pickles. If you water bath them for storing they get partially cooked and can lose some crunchiness but it doesn't have to be too bad. Just don't overcook them.

Use pickling cucumbers, not slicers. Makes a world of difference. Don't let them get too big, they ripen and get mushy.

You can buy something called "pickle crisp". It's a white powder. Use it as recommended.

The blossom end contains enzymes that can turn the pickles mushy. Cut off the blossom end and throw it away.

Add a grape leaf if you have grape vines. Plant a grape vine just for the leaves. I believe the grape leaves have something in them that negates the blossom end enzymes but I use them even if I cut the blossom end off.

I'm sure there are other ways to keep them crisp but these are all I can think of. I try to use fresh cukes, I don't know if it helps but it feels right.

Thank You @Ridgerunner , I am sure They probably where over processed. As we did all the above recommendations. I just do not want to try again and possibly fail. So time consuming and with only 2 of us to eat them.... not worth it. At least with relish We can send some wit the kids, etc.... One batch to see if we even like it 1st. THANKS for the tips.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

I've heard that fermented pickles are really easy and good for you. Im going to try this recipe as soon as I have enough to pickle. So far we have been either eating or sharing all the cucs.

Fermented Pickles: Feed the gut, man! - Shaye Elliott

Oh fermented pickles, how I love thee. Not only do these fermented pickles feed the gut, they are a quick and easy refrigerated recipe, no canning needed.

theelliotthomestead.com

 

[flowerbug]

Crunchy pickles. If you water bath them for storing they get partially cooked and can lose some crunchiness but it doesn't have to be too bad. Just don't overcook them.

Use pickling cucumbers, not slicers. Makes a world of difference. Don't let them get too big, they ripen and get mushy.

You can buy something called "pickle crisp". It's a white powder. Use it as recommended.

The blossom end contains enzymes that can turn the pickles mushy. Cut off the blossom end and throw it away.

Add a grape leaf if you have grape vines. Plant a grape vine just for the leaves. I believe the grape leaves have something in them that negates the blossom end enzymes but I use them even if I cut the blossom end off.

I'm sure there are other ways to keep them crisp but these are all I can think of. I try to use fresh cukes, I don't know if it helps but it feels right.

yes to all of these! also since they are acidic enough you can cold pack the jars and then top them with the brine and then seal up and minimally process and they should be fine as long as the seals hold. pickle crisp i would have liked to have tried out but Mom vetoed me from using it so i've not had the chance yet. a good experiment would be to do some side by side comparisons with jars with and without packed at the same time and using the same brine and processing time vs. pickle crisp added and without pickle crisp.

 

[Marie2020]

I've heard that fermented pickles are really easy and good for you. Im going to try this recipe as soon as I have enough to pickle. So far we have been either eating or sharing all the cucs.

Fermented Pickles: Feed the gut, man! - Shaye Elliott

Oh fermented pickles, how I love thee. Not only do these fermented pickles feed the gut, they are a quick and easy refrigerated recipe, no canning needed.

theelliotthomestead.com

I've never heard or thought about fermented cucumber, how is this done?
Pickling would have been my thoughts along with carrots and other vegetables.