Cooking It Up: Frozen Cucumbers and Best Ever Picallili

Over the weekend I got a couple recipes from my aunt for what she referred to as "Frozen Cucumbers" and "Best Ever Piccalilli".

The frozen cucumbers were easy to make and really came out tasty, though I cut the sugar in about half. I just couldn't let myself add a whole cup of sugar, it seemed wrong. It was interesting watching the cucumbers mixed with salt "sweat" for a couple hours and there's just something about salt and cucumbers that is oh so tasty. I used to always sprinkle some seasoned salt on them and thinking of that now brings back memories of the way the Elote dealers prepare them (same for mangos) with some salt, lime and a sprinkle of chili powder. If you've never had cucumbers or mangos this way get them sometime from your friendly neighborhood Elote dealer.

Frozen Cucumbers

2 quarts sliced cucumbers.  Just clean them. Do not pare.
1 onion , sliced (I used a sweet onion)
2 tablespoons salt

Mix and let stand 2 hrs. After you sprinkle the cucumbers with salt and then let them sit, they will weep a little because of the salt.  Do not rinse but DO drain them.

Add:
1 cup sugar (I  cut this to half a cup)
1/2 cup vinegar

Mix well.  Put into  freezer containers and freeze trying to cover all the cucumbers in the container with liquid. They store well for a while in the freezer.


As for the piccalilli I didn't cut the sugar in that one and halved the recipe which seems in it's original form could really feed an army. As it was cutting the recipe in half still gave me a lot of piccalilli. It came out a bit sweeter than I would prefer so next time I'll cut the sugar, but it is still is a tasty spread for sandwiches and according to my aunt can also be used in tuna, chicken salad and Sloppy Joe's. I gathered most of the green tomatoes from the community garden next door where I was given permission to take as many as I'd like (thanks Rob, if you read this).

Best Ever Piccalilli

22 medium green tomatoes, quartered
1 pint  (2 cup ) small onions
6 green peppers, quartered lengthwise
6 sweet red peppers, quartered lengthwise
1 1/2 quarts vinegar
3 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup salt
1 1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 teaspoon celery seed (This took a while to track down at Whole Foods. It's not by the normal spices and instead over by the lotions and other body products.)
1/2 c mustard seed

Wash veggies. Put through the food chopper  and chop till diced very fine.
Drain
Put veggies in large kettle with 1 quart of vinegar
Boil 30 minutes , stirring often
Drain, discard liquid
Return veggies to the kettle and add remaining vinegar , sugar, spices etc.
Simmer 3 minutes

Let it all cool down and put in freezer containers to freeze.


I am just about to finish the portion of both of these I put in the fridge so it's about time to see how they both thaw out.