Cucumber Pickles Recipe

This is the right time to make pickles since in summer we find vegetables at very low prices. In Lebanon we like to have pickles with nearly everything, we consume a lot of them.

The method I use to make pickles is inherited from my grandfather who used to own a shop in the old souks of Beirut, which is now the modern Downtown. In his shop he had all kinds of olives, the best extra virgin olive oil, cheeses and pickles. He made sure to teach his daughters a lot of tricks, for instance, he used to measure the quantity of salt in water to soak the olives with an egg: if the egg floats, it means then the quantity of salt is good enough.

Pickles generally take around two or three days to be ready, and this is how my grandfather taught me how to make them:

Ingredients:

2 cups of water
1 cup of red vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons salt
chili pepper, garlic (or you can use whatever for flavor)

Preparation:

1. Boil water with vinegar, salt and sugar
2. Place the cucumbers in tightly sealed jars, and cover them with the boiled water, add the garlic, chili pepper (or whatever you like)
3. When the water becomes warm, close the jars very tightly.
4. Wait for two days before eating, and enjoy!

Day 1:

I used double the stated ingredients, it was enough for about 700 grams of cucumber and I had some extra that I used for another jar, where I mixed cucumbers with carrots.

Day 2 – ready to be eaten