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Pickle and preserve now, enjoy later!
Summer is the perfect season for pickling and preserving excess fruits and vegetables to be enjoyed later in the year. Helena, a professional cook, creates her own preserves using fruits and vegetables gathered from the land and forest around her home. ‘From blueberries and blackberries to cucumbers and redcurrants, there’s something new to be made nearly every month with the ingredients in season,’ she says. When we visited, she shared two simple homemade recipes with us.
Helena’s pickled cucumbers
Ingredients
A few small cucumbers
Fresh horseradish
250ml distilled malt vinegar
500ml distilled water
90g salt
Sugar to taste
A few sprigs of crown dill
Mustard seeds
1. Rinse and finely slice the cucumbers.
2. Peel and finely slice some horseradish, to your taste.
3. Combine all the other ingredients in a container and shake to make a brine.
4. Put the cucumbers and horseradish into a sterilised jar and pour the brine over, ensuring the ingredients are completely covered. Tap the jar to release any air bubbles in the liquid before sealing.
5. Store in the fridge. After 24 hours, enjoy in sandwiches or with cured meats.
Pickling cucumbers is an easy and fun thing to do with children. My son Viggo and I often pick and pickle together
Helena’s redcurrant cordial
Ingredients
500g redcurrants
120ml water
180g caster sugar
1. Rinse the redcurrants and remove any tough stalks and leaves.
2. Put them in a saucepan, add the water, bring to the boil and let them simmer until they’ve burst (about 10 minutes).
3. Strain them through a sieve lined with a muslin cloth.
4. Pour the juice back in the saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for three minutes, removing any scum from the surface with a spoon.
5. Pour the cordial into a sterilised bottle and, once opened, store in the
fridge. Enjoy as a drink by diluting with water, add it to salad dressing,
or drizzle some over ice cream.
I label my pickles and preserves with the date of when I made them – it’s like bottling memories of summer
We love to see our customers get creative with our products. Go for it! But please note that altering or modifying IKEA products so they can no longer be re-sold or used for their original purpose, means the IKEA commercial guarantees and your right to return the products will be lost.
Made by
Photography: Dan Duchars
Styling: Carl Braganza
Follow Helena at hoshelenah.com
