Minted Cucumber Fresh Pickle

Minted Cucumber Fresh Pickle

Original
al-Baghdadi,
Modern version by Anahita bint 'abd al-Karim al-Fassi
Serves 50-75

5 lb. medium cucumbers
salt
water
white wine vinegar
1 very large bunch fresh mint
1. Wash and peel cucumbers. (peels are usually bitter)
2. Cut cucumbers in half and scoop out the seeds.
3. Cut cucumber halves into 1/4" thick "moons".
4. Put cucumbers in a food safe container.
5. Sprinkle cucumbers with salt and toss.
6. Tear up mint leaves.
7. Add mint leaves to cucumbers and stir.
8. Cover cucumbers with equal parts of water and vinegar, enough to
cover cucumbers, and stir well.
9. Let stand at least several hours.
10. Once pickled, must be kept in refrigerator. Will only keep a couple
days.
I think it would be good drained and tossed with shredded fresh mint
when it's time to serve.

I cut down the amounts since I wasn't serving a feast. These are the amounts I
used:
1 ½ cucumbers (1 lb 4.6 oz)
3 T kosher salt
1 cup vinegar (I only had ½ c white wine vinegar so I supplemented it with ½ cup
apple cider vinegar)
1 c water
leaves of 3 small sprigs of mint and leaves and stems of 1 small sprig (I used
orange mint)

I scooped out the seeds and sliced it following the directions (although the slices

were thinner than recommended). I have kept it in the refrigerator for 2 weeks now

and it still tastes great. I made it the night before the potluck so it had time to

marinate but since Zianna had made the same dish I didn't put mine out since there

was already so much food. Above is the picture of my dish and below is the picture

of Zianna's. She used both cucumbers and zucchini since she wasn't sure if she

would have enough cucumbers by them selves. It appears that she didn't scoop out

the seeds as I was tempted to skip and she used a different kind of vinegar, I'm

not sure if there were any other differences but I got to taste hers and they were

great!