Excess veg? Pickle it!!!

Through the wonderful world of facebook, I have 'met' a lovely fellow mum and food-enthusiast named Aubrey, who blogs over at Homegrown & Healthy, a blog with a big focus on CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture, a scheme in which members receive a weekly fruit and veg box filled with locally-grown produce). I have spent quite some time devouring the contents of the blog, and would like to share some of their pickling ideas with you all!

Here is what Aubrey has to say about herself:
My name is Aubrey and my New Year's Resolutions this year was to focus on gardening and baking. With two little girls and a big hungry husband at home it seemed like the right time to combine the two and really make some lifestyle changes that revolved around us eating the right way. That meant eating fresh food, which subsequently meant shopping locally.

And here is what Aubrey has to say about change:
Start today by making the small changes that will inspire your family and friends to make their own changes.

I couldn't have said it better myself! :)


The one recipe I desperately want to feature is Aubrey's Sweet White Pickles. Why do I want to feature this recipe so badly? Because I want to try it myself, of course!!! It sounds absolutely delicious. And between bucketloads of jams, sweet chilli sauce, chutneys, preserved lemons and pickles of my own, you should all know by now that I do love preserving! And it is summer here. Aubrey is located in America, so unfortunately our seasons don't match up; there was a roasted pumpkin seed post that I almost shared instead, but decided it would be silly to post a winter recipe in the middle of summer!

So instead I present you with Aubrey's white cucumber experience:

Last week our CSA brought us something interesting: two small white cucumbers. As is usually my natural reaction to seeing a cuke, I decided to pickle it. I had to fight every natural instinct I have when I decided to go down a different route and try a sweet, not spicey, pickle. The results were VERY sweet, but atop a burger or sandwich I think that they offered a pleasant contrast. Please excuse their rather ugly appearance (after all, it's what's inside that counts).

Yummmmmm - I think they look scrumptious! Look at that bright yellow!

And here is Aubrey's recipe for:

Sweet Summertime Pickles

Ingredients

1 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons salt

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon mustard seed

500g cucumbers

1 sweet onion

Method

1) Slice enough cucumbers to loosely pack your jar.
2) In a small saucepan at medium-high heat, combine cider vinegar, salt, sugar, tumeric and mustard seed.
3) Bring to a boil and let cook for 5 more minutes.
4) Pour hot liquid over the vegetables in the container. Refrigerate for 24 hours and enjoy!


How easy is that? If you have a thermomix, it should be easy peasy to adapt this for the TM. In fact, just use the instructions in my dill pickles recipe as a guide for how to do the brine in the TM.


It took me a while to decide on this particular pickle recipe. There sure are some yummy-sounding pickles over there, including green tomato relish, pickled beetroot, and Danielle's kimchi. It all sounds so good! Thanks Aubrey, and everyone else over at Homegrown & Healthy! :)