Cucumbers Galore! and Making Lacto-fermented Pickles

Our cucumber plants are now in full production and we can barely keep up with eating them. We pick about two to three cucumbers a day. We have a large cucumber salad every night made by tossing together peeled, deseeded and diced cucumbers, sauerkraut, tomatoes, olive oil, and salt. We are also adding cucumbers to our morning vegetable juice. Even then, we just can't keep up.

Last week, I went outside after skipping just one day of cucumber picking and noticed several large green cucumbers on the vines. I also picked two of the heirloom cucumbers. There were several more on the vines that looked like they would be ready in the next couple of days, so I decided to make pickles.

Since I haven't made pickles before, I looked on the web for some recipes. However, I couldn't find any recipes for real lacto-fermented pickles, so I adapted the recipes I found for dill pickles that are normally pickled in vinegar. I ended up with 4 quarts of cucumber spears packed into two quart sized and one half gallon sized jars. Here's what I added per quart:

• Enough cucumber spears to fully pack the jar
• 2 cloves garlic, cut in half
• 1 large sprig dried dill
• 1 tbsp kefir whey
• 1 tbsp yogurt whey
• couple tsps of sauerkraut juice
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• Spring water to fill the jar

I shook up the jars really good, and then making sure all the cucumber was submerged, let them sit at room temperature for 3 days. I was really proud of myself because everything that went into the pickles except for the water and salt was sourced locally. Even the dill, which I got from the CSA a few weeks back and air dried to preserve it.

By the third day, the brine was cloudy and the jars were fizzing and bubbly with probiotic goodness. I put them in the fridge for two days before we tasted them. My husband and I each tried just a bite, since we are still introducing the fermented foods slowly and didn't want to cause too much die off. My husband's reaction was: "MMMMMM! Tastes like a pickle!" (He loves pickles.) I thought it tasted just like a pickle, but much milder. I haven't ever tasted a real lacto-fermented pickle before and this was sour but not with that harsh edgy sourness of the vinegar pickles. I missed the bold taste of conventional pickles a little bit, and I think next time I will try to add more garlic, salt, and dill to make it a bit more strong tasting.

Update: These pickles got better as they matured in the fridge. After the initial ferment, I would keep them in the fridge for three to four weeks before eating them. I no longer think I need extra salt or dill, although I'll probably add extra garlic.

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Lemon Cucumbers

In mid-May, I planted eight cucumber plants, eventually thinning them to four plants -- two heirloom lemon cucumber plants and two of the "normal" looking straight eight cucumber plants. I've never tasted a lemon cucumber before and was excited to grow something so I can taste it for the first time.

All four cucumber plants grew into giant monstrosities, but the hybrid straight eights had much larger leaves and set fruit a lot earlier. So I was harvesting the straight eights almost a whole week before the lemon cucumbers were ready.

The first thing I noticed about the lemon cucumbers were that they are pale greenish white and stay that way until they grow to full size, at which time they start to turn a beautiful golden yellow. About three weeks ago, I picked my first lemon cucumber, and it was a true beauty. I could not believe that something this perfect and beautiful was created by nature and planted by me, and furthermore, could not understand why by just the looks alone, this was not a more popular cucumber. Perhaps it lacks in taste?

That night, we cut up the lemon cucumber and had our first taste. It was absolutely delicious! It had all the flavor of a really good, fresh cucumber, but the best feature of all was its texture. It has the crispness of a really good apple.

Weeks later, I can now give a better comparison of the heirloom lemon cucumbers versus the straight eight cucumbers. While the straight eights are prone to becoming bitter when not watered regularly or with temperature fluxes, the lemon cucumbers have stayed flavorful and deliciously consistent despite dry soil conditions. The lemon cucumbers win hands down over the straight eights in crispness. The straight eights do produce a lot more cucumbers and the cucumbers are larger in volume so if volume is what you're looking for and you're not too picky about consistency, I guess you may pick the straight eight variety. But in my opinion, the lemon cucumbers are well worth it and I long for more land so I can put in several of these lovely heirlooms next year. It may catch up in production anyways, since after I picked two lemon cucumbers today, I noticed another 12 or so on the vines that look like they will be ready very soon!

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