Pickle

Last night’s rain has caused the cucurbits to grow overnight I think:

and we had some more rain this morning:

Stotting off the patio is the only way to describe it. The sun’s out again now and we had a garden lunch:

Whole cucumbers, along with yesterday’s courgette pickle and pea guacamole.  The pickle was surprisingly successful – recipe here

Courgette pickle

• 1kg courgettes
• 4 tblsp salt
• 2 onions
• 1 ltr vinegar
• 240g sugar
• spices – I used a handful of home grown coriander seeds, peppercorns, mustard seeds and radish seed pods

1. Cut the courgettes into cubes or slices  and chop the onions
2. Place in a bowl with the salt
3. Cover with cold water and leave for at least an hour
4. Then rinse the vegetables in cold water several times and leave to dry in a colander or similar
5. Boil the vinegar with the sugar and spices for at least 5 minutes
6. Add the vegetables to the mixture and cook for a few minutes
7. Pack the vegetables into sterilised jars and cover with vinegar
8. Cover with waxed paper and seal – makes about 5 jars

I found this on the internet somewhere and it used far too much vinegar so some has been put in the fridge for use on salads. The pickle is a bit like pickled gherkins and not a bad thing for that. I don’t know how long it will keep but we may eat it rather quickly anyway. So a use will be found for those courgettes, busy growing as I type.