Raw Pickles
This week at the farmer’s market, cucumbers were everywhere! Big bushels, full to the brim with the refreshing little green cukes, beconing the market goers to take them home. I couldn’t resist the little beauties and have been having fun with them in the kitchen.
History
Belonging to the same family as watermelon, zucchini, pumpkin and other types of squash, Cucumbers originating in India over 3,000 years ago. They were listed among the foods of ancient UR and even got a mention in the legend of Gilgamesh.
Health Benefits
Cucumbers have a dark, green flesh that is high in vitamin C and also contains caffeic acid. Both help soothe skin irritations and reduce swelling. Cucumbers also contain the minerals potassium, magnesium and silica which is essential for healthy ligaments and healthy skin! Since they are also high in fiber and very hydrating. Most of the nutritional benefits are in the skin, so buy organic, wash them well and leave that skin on.
Types
Cucumbers come in 3 different types. Slicing, pickling and burpless. Slicers are the dark green ones that we are traditionally used to seeing. Pickling (pictured) cucumbers have more bumps on the skin, tend to be more uniform in length. They are usually shorter and thicker. Burpless…well the name pretty much tells it all.
Since I love bread and butter pickles, I decided to take a stab at a raw food recipe for them. Traditional recipes are based on vinegar and a lot of sugar. I substituted raw cider vinegar and agave. You can try this recipe with other sweeteners, too. Just add the sweetener to the vinegar a little at a time until it tastes balanced.
While pickles can be made from any cucumbers, I did use the pickling cucumbers for this recipe. It can be easily doubled.
Raw Pickles
- 4 cucumbers, sliced
- 1/2 sweet onion, sliced
- 2 tablespoon mustard seeds
- 2 cups cider vinegar (raw)
- 1/2 cup agave nectar or liquid sweetener of your choice (more or less to taste)
- Mix together mustard seeds, vinegar and agave.
- Put sliced cucumbers and onions in glass jar and pour liquid mixture over the top. Give it a stir and let sit in the fridge at least overnight.
These will keep for a couple of weeks, refrigerated.
Randy wrote on September 10, 2014
What happened to the comments? I was following the conversation, but this time I had to search to find the page and no comments are here anymore.
I made some raw pickles adapting a friend’s non-cook recipe which he claims last for at least 4 months. I changed his supermarket vinegar to Bragg raw, sugar to raw honey (half volume), table to Celtic salt, grape leaf where it called for alum, and used similar raw spice formula. I wonder if there’s any reason my substitute ingredients would be more perishable.
Susan wrote on September 10, 2014
I have no idea what happened to all the comments. Looking into it now.
Randy wrote on August 28, 2014
I’m not knowledgeable enough about pickling and fermentation to understand what you mean. My bottle of Bragg vinegar itself doesn’t go bad, so why won’t it preserve the cukes? Is there no way to use raw cider vinegar to produce a long lasting jar of pickles?
Susan wrote on August 30, 2014
Randy, yes, you can make cucumbers that will last longer. A bottle of Bragg vinegar is different than vinegar added to other food ingredients in a recipe. There are many recipes online for making fermented pickles that will last longer. This is a refrigerator pickle recipe and is made to store in the refrigerator for a shorter period of time. Cheers!
Randy wrote on August 28, 2014
Why does your recipe last only a coupe of weeks? Doesn’t vinegar preserve pickles a long time?
Susan wrote on August 28, 2014
Hi, Randy, You are not doing a traditional fermentation with this recipe. So, a shorter life is expected. Cheers!
Peace wrote on January 2, 2014
You could also make pickles the traditional way by lacto-fermenting – using a pro biotic starter culture or raw home-made whey – Then there is no vinegar or added sugar and they are a great source of pro biotic food.!
Anthony Dauer wrote on September 15, 2013
Just finished a batch. Didn’t have any mustard seeds or sweet onion. Used about half a red onion, added three stalks of celery, 3 Thai chilis, and used Persian cucumbers from Trade Joes.
janelle wrote on December 30, 2012
I do not like bread and butter pickles but I love dill. is there a recipe for that?
Bill wrote on June 28, 2012
Is there a raw pickle recipe that will last into the winter once prepared? My vines are starting to produce a lot of fruit and i would like to preserve them for use as raw pickles later in the year.
Mark G wrote on June 24, 2012
They look good but I’ve got news for you. If you’re using agave then they’re not raw. Agave, regardless of how it’s labeled, is a cooked syrup. Think of the process for turning maple sap into maple syrup. It is cooked and boiled down until it condenses into a thick syrup. Same thing with agave except they have to stop it at a point or it will be come…tequila. Yes, so agave is literally one step away from tequila. Now it really doesn’t sound raw, does it?
Susan wrote on June 24, 2012
Well, Mark, that would be correct if it was true for raw agave, which it isn’t. Raw agave is “thickened” by heating at a LOW temperature, under 118 degrees. Enzymes are also used. So, raw agave is raw. You just need to make sure you get raw agave, it will be labeled as such.