Honey and mustard cucumber pickles

It's the end of summer and high time to start making some preserves (if you haven't started yet). Here in Poland we have mastered the art of pickling. We can pickle anything. I love pickled cucumbers. I don't know what it is about winter but it brings out craving for pickles in me. There are periods when I can eat a whole jar in one day. Before I started making my own pickles I would be a bit embarassed buying a jar of pickles every day on my way back from work. Pickles are a traditional companion for vodka in Poland. I imagined people would start thinking I had a drinking problem. So I would go to a different store every day to get them. That way I bought pickles only once every 3-4 days from the same store. I don't know if it's the cold, the lack of light or something else, but that only happens to me in winter.

The recipe for honey and mustard cucumber pickles was given to me by a friend of mine. It is by far the best recipe for pickled cucumbers I have tried. I always make plenty as they are always welcomed as small gifts for friends and family.

Ingredients:

3kg/about 7lb small green cucumbers
1250ml/5 cups water
250ml/1 cup vinegar (10%)
470ml/1 1/2 cup sugar
2Tbsp salt
5Tbsp mustard
2Tbsp honey
a packet of bay leaf
a packet of black pepper corns
a packet of all spice (in corns not ground)

Wash cucumbers and cut them lengthwise in quarters. Put them tightly in clean jars. In each jar put: 1 bay leaf, 2-3 pepper corns, 2-3 all spice corns.

Combine water, vinegar, sugar, and salt in a pot and bring to a boil (stir a bit to help the sugar disolve). Keep boiling for 5 minuts, then add mustard and honey and mix well.

Fill the jars with cucumbers with hot marinade (leave about a 1cm space from the top), put on the lid, and close.

Put jars in hot water bath and process for 10 minutes. Take out and let cool. Best store in a cool dark place. They should last at least a year.

The proportions of spices put in jars given here are for small jars (jam jars). If you want to  use larger jars just add more spices. 

You decide what kind of mustard you use. Just remember, the hotter the mustard the hotter the end result.

When you process the jars in hot water bath make sure you put a tea towel (or some other cloth) at the bottom of the pot. The jars cannot be touching the pot directly and neither should they be touching each other. If they do they will break and it's a pain to clean it up. Water should reach about half way up the jar. I bring the water to boil, put the heat on low, put the jars in (helping myself with a wooden spoon to smooth out the tea towel), bring the heat up a bit and let simmer.

If you use larger jars the processing time needs to be increased as well.