It has been a bit of a rough summer for gardening here this year. The good news is that I haven't had to water much. The peppers, winter squash and cucumbers have done well. However the heavy rains we have had were rough on the tomatoes and potatoes.I wanted to grow a mild flavored, prolific cucumber that wouldn't need peeling. White Wonder really fit the bill. We have had plenty to eat and give away with some left over for preserving. I didn't think I had time to make pickles but then a friend told me about freezer pickles. I had never heard of them but I found quite a few recipes on-line. I have about 10 servings in the freezer with more to come. They were easy to make and I have high hopes for them. Have you heard of freezer pickles? Here is the recipe I tried but there are a lot of variations too. The addition of hot peppers and or garlic sounds worth a try next time around. I may go from having too many cucumbers to running to the markets to buy more so I can enjoy these through the winter.
3 1/2 cups finely sliced cucumbers
2 small onions sliced
1 T salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
Mix sugar and vinegar until dissolved. Add remaining ingredients. Place in refrigerator for 48 hours stirring once or twice a day. Freeze in zip lock bags. Thaw in refrigerator to serve. Serve as is or drain well and mix with sour cream.
3 comments:
I have never heard of these! I always imagined a cucumber, frozen, would be a mushy, unappealing thing.
Another good white heirloom cucumber is Boothby's Blonde, seed sold by Pinetree Garden Seeds in Maine.
White Wonder sounds very interesting. I'll have to consider that for next summer's garden.
Soaking these in brine before freezing really does the trick. I like the texture. Not mushy at all. We have thawed and drained them and mixed in a bit of sour cream. Delicious. The only thing I will do differently next year is to peel the cucumbers. In the summer when we ate them fresh, the thin peel was fine left on. Now that they are a little softer coming out of the freezer, I'd like them better without the peel (although other family membrs liked them just fine).
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