First 2024 Batch of Cucumber Relish !

This Sweet & Sour Cucumber Relish has got to be our most popular jar!  Several times this summer we have been asked "Have you got some of your lovely Cucumber Relish?"  It seems that its fame has spread.  

No credit to us for the recipe; we found it in a book years ago, when we were trying out lots of different cucumber varieties and found ourselves with a glut!  We made some relish and liked it, so made some more and found that other folk liked it too.  Now we need to grow LOTS of cucumbers every year to try to keep up with the demand for the relish – as well as selling the really tasty little cucumbers themselves!

After a good start (see our previous post), our cucumbers seemed to go on strike.  Quite a lot of flowers, a few embryo cukes, but then many of them dropped off and only very few became proper cucumbers.  It seems that the pollinating insects were probably on strike, so they had not been visiting our polytunnel very much.

But now, in the last few weeks, there has been a steady buzz of bees in the tunnel, as they have definitely discovered the cucumbers now – and the cucamelons, which are also in good production.  Hopefully lots more cucumbers (and relish) now on the way.

In theory – and according to the recipe – you should leave this relish for 'at least a month' to mature in the jar.  But we know quite a few people (ourselves included) who are not very likely to want to wait that long!