Question for 9/6/2018... Cucumbers or pickles...

[daylilydude]

When and if you grow cucumbers, do you grow them mainly for the cucumbers or for making pickles?

[brownrexx]

I mainly use them in making cucumber and onion salad or dill pickles.

[janr]

I have usually grown cucumbers for eating fresh. I will sometimes make relish with them if I have too many.

[coppice]

For fresh when I grow them.

[paulf]

Fresh only. We have tried making pickles and they taste like Aunt Bee's on the Andy Griffith Show. (like kerosene if you don't remember the episode)

[mgulfcoastguy]

Fresh eating.

[spike]

Fresh eating mostly these days. Hubby won't touch a pickle and I can only eat so many.

[september]

60/40 Mostly for fresh eating, but I ferment dill pickles for myself, and make refrigerator bread and butter types for my hubs. Mirrors our dispositions, he's the sweet and I'm the sour!   I've always wanted to try a cold cucumber soup, but never got around to it.

[meandtk]

For dill pickles.

[ladymarmalade]

Fresh eating when I can get them to grow. I'm a terrible cucumber grower and can not get them to grow in pickle quantity.

That being said, I BUY pickling cukes to make homemade pickles. Love them so much and it makes us all very sad when we have a year where I don't get a couple dozen jars of dills put up.

[pepperhead212]

I use them mostly fresh, for salads, raitas, and using in things like gazpacho. Sometimes I'll make some quick pickles, usually when one or two get too large, and I missed it for a couple days out there. Then I cut them in half, scoop the seeds out, and cut them into sticks, to make into sweet and sour snacks. The first year that I grew cukes in the EB, I got so many all at once that I had to make a bunch of B&B pickles, but since then, I have planted in succession, so only only one was producing at a time, for the most part.

[september]

pepperhead212 ,

The first year that I grew cukes in the EB, I got so many all at once that I had to make a bunch of B&B pickles, but since then, I have planted in succession, so only only one was producing at a time, for the most part.

How many weeks apart do you start your successive plants? At some point in the season mine slow down, I figured it was due to leaf loss due to mildew etc, but maybe they just run out of steam as the vines get too long. I thought I would try either 2 or 3 successive plantings next year.  I missed my window of opportunity to start some late ones in a pot to move back into the greenhouse.  Too late now for them to mature, although I do have some throw away seed I could still do a test run with.

[pepperhead212]

september I start them 3 weeks apart, the first one indoors, around 4-20, in a jiffy pellet. The ones before seem to peter out while the next one is starting to produce. Next year, I plan to scatter the SIP buckets around the garden, so the diseases won't spread quickly to new plants - usually not a problem, but this year was exceptionally wet.

[guruofgardens]

I grow most of them for hot dill pickles, depending on the variety. My son likes the spears but husband likes the slices, so we grow 2 different kinds.

I like them with cottage cheese and bleu cheese and fresh tomatoes when they're very ripe.

[meandtk]

Sept 6, 2018 15:35:06 GMT -5 guruofgardens said:

I grow most of them for hot dill pickles, depending on the variety. My son likes the spears but husband likes the slices, so we grow 2 different kinds.

I like them with cottage cheese and bleu cheese and fresh tomatoes when they're very ripe.

Care to share your recipe for hot dills?

[bestofour]

paulf, I remember the kerosene cucumbers

I grow cucumbers for eating fresh and we eat 2 or 3 a day as long as we have them. My entire family loves fresh cucumbers. We eat lots of pickles too but I don't make them. My step daughter does and they're great.

[guruofgardens]

meandtk, it's a pretty simple recipe from Epicurious. I add a few things to the basic recipe. Makes 4 pints, though I make lots more than just 4 pints, so I will double or triple the easy recipe.

8-10 Small pickling cucumbers, about 3 lbs.
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons pickling Salt
4 heads fresh dill
4 cloves garlic

I add: 1/8 tsp. Fruit fresh to each jar plus 1/2 grape leaf on top
A couple of slices of whatever hot pepper is ripe and fresh, though you can add dried peppers
More dill

Combine vinegar, water, salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Slice cucumbers as spears or slices.
In each jar add a clove of garlic, dill, cucumbers, hot peppers. Add fruit fresh. Pour vinegar mixture over cucumbers to within 1/2 inch from top. Add grape leaf. Process for 10 minutes.

Note- “the proportion of water to vinegar necessary to inhibit growth of organisms produces a sour pickle. You may safely add 1 Tablespoon of sugar to the recipe if you want to slightly sweeten the pickles.”

[ahntjudy]

Fresh cucumbers for eating...

A couple years ago, I had a bumper crop of them...
I made batches of cucumber soup with many of them...

Onions and cucumbers sauted in butter...salt, pepper, cayenne...immersion blended some and added milk or cream to make it a cream soup...
I had so much that I froze the sauted onion and cucumbers by themselves, no milk, and had them to use for future soup...
The soup was really good...cold, warm or hot...

[brownrexx]

Sept 7, 2018 8:24:08 GMT -5 ahntjudy said:

Onions and cucumbers sauted in butter...salt, pepper, cayenne...immersion blended some and added milk or cream to make it a cream soup...

That sounds really good - and easy. Too bad my cucumbers are done for the season. I make a similar soup using asparagus but never thought of trying it with cucumbers. Great idea!

[paquebot]

Used to grow them mainly for canning. Took close look at the pantry stock this year and planted just enough for fresh eating. Still giving most of them to friends.

Martin





The truth is more important than the facts.

[Laura_in_FL]

Both. I like to have cucumbers for salads, snacking, and I love pickles, too.