Every year, our cucumbers and zucchini look GREAT... until early to mid August, when cucurbit downy mildew blows in on moist, mid-summer winds. This powdery pest decimates our cucumbers, zucchini, melons, and other susceptible members of the Cucurbitaceae family.
So: if you've got some cucumbers lingering in your fridge from last week's share and you've always wanted to try your hand at making pickles, NOW is the time!
There are two types of pickles.
Fermented pickles are vegetables submerged in a salt-water brine. The fermentation process creates the sourness. (Think traditional full- or half-sours.) Fermented pickles have live probiotics.
Vinegar pickles are vegetables submerged in a salt-vinegar-water brine. The salt and vinegar permeate the vegetable and flavor them. These can be an easier way to dip your toe into the world of pickling.
Both of these kinds of pickles can be canned (using a hot water bath or pressure canner, making them shelf-stable) or refrigerated for weeks to months.
Vinegar Pickles
The basic idea here is that you wash and pack your cucumbers into jars. Heat some water to boiling and then mix in enough salt and vinegar that it tastes good to you. (You want it to be slightly saltier and more vinegary than you want your pickles to taste.) Either heat this brine with whatever seasonings you want (garlic, dill, peppercorns, coriander, mustard seed, and hot pepper are common flavorings) or stuff the seasonings into the bottom of your cucumber jars. Pour the hot brine on top, seal the lid, and refrigerate for 1-2 weeks before you sneak a taste. Or follow a canning recipe to make them shelf-stable
Try:
Bread and Butter (Refrigerator) Pickles
Easiest Dill (Refrigerator) Pickles
Preparing Dill Pickles for Canning
Fermented Pickles
There are many recipes out there, but many fermented pickles use a brine of 1 tbsp (non-iodized) salt to 2 cups (filtered/non-chlorinated) water plus seasonings. Follow a tried-and-true recipe, such as this one, or experiment.
The end of cucumber season doesn't mean the end of cucurbits! Their hardier, autumnal cousins, the winter squash, are ripening in the fields. Look forward to acorn, delicata, spaghetti, black futsu and butternut squash appearing in CSA shares starting late August into September and October.
(Read more about cucumbers in last month's blog post, Conversation on Cucumbers.)