A new twist on cucumbers: Discovering the sweet touch of Vatican pickles

Every year, we enjoy pickled, preserved, and lightly salted cucumbers. However, if we want to try something new and unusual, let's add a sweet ingredient to the cucumbers. It will enhance their taste.

We are famous for creating delicious preserves. Cucumbers are some of the most popular and have won people's hearts. Although the best-known types are pickled, gherkins, and lightly salted, there are also other ways to process cucumbers. By adding a mysterious, sweet ingredient, we will create Vatican cucumbers.

Cucumbers are an absolute culinary hit. We crunch them on their own but also add them to salads, meats, and other dinner dishes. If we are tired of the most popular ones, we can diversify our meals with Vatican cucumbers with a sweet-sour taste.

Vatican cucumbers differ slightly from classic lightly salted or pickled cucumbers. Their mysterious ingredients are raisins, combined with garlic, which at first may seem quite extreme. However, there is nothing to fear!

How to make them? Here are the ingredients:        

• 1.5 kilograms of cucumbers,
• 1.2 litres of water,
• 250 millilitres of 10% spirit vinegar,
• 220 grams of sugar,
• a tablespoon of salt.

Additions per jar:        

• a bay leaf,
• 15 raisins,
• a clove of garlic,
• 8 black peppercorns,
• 2 allspice berries.

Preparing Vatican cucumbers is very simple, and indeed everyone can manage it. Thoroughly washed cucumbers are soaked in cold water for an hour, making them firmer. After this time, we put them in sterilised jars. According to preference, the cucumbers can be whole or sliced. We add a bay leaf, raisins, garlic, allspice, and peppercorns to each jar. In a pot, we boil water with sugar, vinegar, and salt. We pour it into the jars, then seal them and pasteurise.

Important! Vatican cucumbers should sit for about three weeks before opening.