Late Summer Harvesting

Sweetcorn and Cucumbers

I am watching and listening to ads on television and radio for ‘back to school’, with some dismay. It seems like only a couple of weeks since the holidays started, yet next week the children and the teachers will be back in the classroom. It still stirs painful memories for me.

This week I have been helping my daughter make Hot Sweet Cucumber Relish from a recipe I developed last year, and with little dumpy pickling cucumbers we have grown ourselves, as well as the peppers, apples, chillies. It has been described as ‘robust’. We like our pickles to have a bit of bite. I am not a big fan of cucumbers. However, with this pickle, I have been persuaded to put more effort into growing them. Last year I grew 1 plant in my poly tunnel which produced more than I could cope with. This year I put more plants outside and have had only a few fruits so far (Paris Pickling from the Real Seed catalogue). But, it has been a particularly cool summer. They might be more productive in a hotter year though, maybe next year I will dedicate an area in my poly tunnel for a cucumber plant or two. The fruit I’ve had have been excellent, just slow.

Hot Sweet Cucumber Relish

Ingredients

1 kg cucumbers ( 2 lb) – don’t let them get too big or they will be full of seeds

1 kg onions ( 2 lb)

1 cooking apple

600ml white vinegar (1 pint) – malt vinegar is fine and is cheaper and will give the ‘warm’colour.

3–4 red chillies(I have used Joe’s Long, use a medium hot chilli, but take care if for children)

500gm sugar ( 1 lb) – I used white sugar, but soft brown sugar will ‘warm’ the colour of the relish

2 tsp salt                                                          1 tsp allspice

½ tsp ground cloves                                        1 tsp turmeric

¼ tsp mustard powder                                                ¼ tsp ground mixed peppers (peppercorns, black, green, red)

Method

1.      Top and tail the cucumbers and remove the skin – cut into small cubes - ¼ cm- ish. If necessary, remove the seeds – if the seeds are still soft, you can leave them in.

2.      Peel the onions and chop finely – similar size to the cucumber.

3.      Peel and core the cooking apple and cut into fine slices.

4.      Cut the red chillies into small pieces – if you don’t want the relish to be too hot, leave the seeds out, or leave some of the seeds out. For a hotter relish add more chillies.

5.      Put the chopped cucumbers, onions, apples and chillies into a large pan or preserving pan with the vinegar and gently simmer until all the vegetables are cooked through(transparent) – approx. 30 mins.

6.      Prepare the jars/ bottles – wash well and sterilise – put in a warm oven - 100ºC for 15mins.

7.      Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

8.      Add the spices and salt to taste, add more salt if necessary.

9.      Simmer gently until the relish thickens – remember, when cool it will be thicker. Stir occasionally.

10.  Pour into the hot sterilised jars and seal immediately. Label.

My daughter thought she would make some changes to improve/enhance/give variety to the flavour. She added a red pepper(finely chopped), a chopped mango and szechuan spices. It looked and tasted brilliant but to her disappointment, it tasted much like the original. Although the flavour of cucumbers seems to be quite submissive it is, in fact quite dominant.

Being an ardent fan of pickles, chutneys and relishes I thought I would try pickling gherkins. I tried West Indian Gherkins from The real Seed Catalogue. These have produced very strong plants outdoors. They don’t need to have a climbing frame – are quite happy on the ground, though, I don’t think they have been happy with the very cool summer. They have produced fruit which are small and prickly and I’m really not sure how to go about pickling them. The ones I have harvested so far, have been about 2½ - 3cm long and full of seeds, with very little flesh. If anyone out there knows more about this fruit – how and when to harvest – how to grow to give the best pickling crop and how to pickle them – I would be grateful if you would get back to me.

This year I have grown two varieties of sweetcorn – Sweetie Pie from Dobies and Bloody Butcher from Premier Seeds – well, we always have to try out new(or very old) varieties to find out what works best in our, sometimes, challenging conditions, AND gives us the crops we can use productively. I am always guilty of growing stuff which I don’t want to eat and can’t give away, just because I want to try something new. But then again, we must try these crops out for their potential.

The Sweetie Pie sweetcorn is now ready and being harvested. Unlike some of my neighbours, my crop has not been attacked by birds, rats or mice which have caused havoc. But, the crop, although sweet and delicious is meagre – only one or maybe 2 cobs to each plant. Is this the cool year or poor growing conditions I could have improved?

I am freezing most of my crop for winter use – this is easy:

Freezing sweetcorn

Remove the outer leaves. Using a sharp knife, cut the kernels from the cob into a bowl. There is no need to blanche. Put into small, lidded, freezer-proof containers. Label and freeze. Keep the containers small as it is difficult to separate the vegetables, when frozen, into useable portions. Use and enjoy!

Sweetcorn Relish

6 corncobs – remove the kernels                 1 sweet red pepper – finely chopped

1 large onion – finely chopped                      3 large garlic cloves – finely chopped

1 – 2 fresh hot chilli peppers(keep the seeds in if you like it very hot)

500ml (1pint)white vinegar

250g (9oz) white sugar                                     1 –2 tsp salt ( to taste)

1 dsp. yellow mustard seed                             1 tsp mustard powder

½ tsp ground black pepper                              ½ tsp turmeric

1 Tblsp cornflour – blended with a little water

Method

·         Put the sugar and vinegar into a large pan over a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

·         Add the onion, sweetcorn kernels, red pepper, chopped chilli and garlic and simmer gently until the vegetables are ‘transparent’ and cooked – 4 – 5 minutes.

·         Add the mustard seed and powder, turmeric, pepper and salt and cook for 10 -15mins.

·         Add the blended cornflour and stir in well.

·         Bring to the boil and boil for 4 – 5 minutes until the mixture stares to thicken.

·         Pot up in hot, sterilised jars. Cover and label.

Really, if you don’t grow all of the ingredients (peppers, etc) just buy them and make this relish, it is so worth it.

As I have said earlier in this blog, I have also grown, a newcomer for me – Bloody Butcher, so called because of the colour of the kernels – I believe they will be blood red. They are much taller and stronger than Sweetie Pie and are also several weeks later. The male flowers are, just now, maturing and the female cobs as well. I will have to wait for several more weeks to see how they pan out. I will let you know.