Pickled cucumbers with dill & oak

Summer

If you like pickles and ferments, then you have to make these – they are amazing! Try to find fresh little cucumbers that smell sweet and are firm to the touch, as these will give you pickles with the best flavour. I like to spike the salty brine with dill, mustard seeds, sliced red onions and a touch of garlic. And I find adding a few oak leaves to the jar really helps the cucumbers retain that all-important crunch, thanks to the tannins in the leaves. If you can’t find an oak tree in leaf, you can use blackcurrant leaves instead. These cucumbers are insane with grilled steak, shellfish, good cheese, fatty charcuterie, or anything smoked or straight out of the fire.

Fills a 2-litre (70fl oz) Kilner jar

Ingredients

10–12 small, firm, exceptionally fresh cucumbers
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 bunch of dill, with flowering tops, if possible
6–8 oak leaves, or blackcurrant leaves if you can’t find oak
2 garlic cloves, bashed, skin on
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
40g (1½oz) fine salt

Method

Cut the flowering tops from the cucumbers if they have them, then give them a gentle wash in iced water. Leave them to sit in the water for 15–20 minutes.

Drain the cucumbers and pack them into a clean 2-litre (70fl oz) Kilner jar (seal removed), along with the onion, dill, oak or blackcurrant leaves, garlic cloves and mustard seeds.

Put 1 litre (35fl oz) of water in a large jug and add the salt. Whisk thoroughly to dissolve and create a brine.

Pour the brine into the jar. Fill a small plastic food bag with water and sit this on top of the cucumbers and other ingredients. This will keep everything submerged below the salty brine.

Close the lid. Leave the jar in a cool place for 4–5 days to allow the cucumbers to ferment. Lift the lid and remove a cucumber. Have a taste; it should have a real tang and funk to its flavour. If you’re happy with the taste, you can pop the jar in the fridge. Consume the pickles within a year.

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