In the Eastern Kitchen

In these days large quantities of very small cucumbers, the tail end of the season, are coming down to the market; and likewise we stand at the gates of the picking of the green olives and their preparation for the winter stores in the familiar traditional forms. I have noticed that the pickled green olives in most of our houses lose their fresh green color and turn toward darkness, and so does the cucumber pickle; therefore I have brought you, madam, the scientific method of preparing these two kinds of pickle.

Here, first, is how to make olive pickle:

1 - Select the firm green fruit and wash it well; then make in each olive a shallow lengthwise slit with the point of a knife.

2 - Soak the fruit in cold, unsalted water enough to cover it, for 24 hours.

3 - Replace the water with another clean, unsalted quantity, and soak the fruit in it for another 24 hours.

4 - Wash the olives and place them in the pickling jars prepared for the purpose, and cover them with a liquid made up of brine (two uqiyyas of salt to the liter) and lemon juice, the lemon juice used being not less than 1/4 of the quantity of liquid.

5 - Cover the jars and leave them for a week; then open them again and add a quantity of salt at the rate of one uqiyya for each liter of the liquid previously used to cover the olives.

6 - Lay a layer of oil, a qirat thick, on the surface of each jar; then close the lid tightly, and leave the olives in a warm place until their pickling is complete.

Pickled slender cucumbers:

Ingredients: very small cucumbers... vinegar enough to cover them; and to each liter of this vinegar add one level teaspoon of allspice (Mixed or Allspice) and one teaspoon of whole black pepper.

Method:

1 - Wash the cucumbers and cover them with brine (two uqiyyas to the liter), and leave them in it for 3 days.

2 - Lift the cucumbers out of the brine, drain them, and dry them well; then pack them tightly into a jar that will hold them.

3 - Boil enough vinegar to cover the cucumbers, together with the allspice and the whole pepper, for 10 minutes; then pour the boiling vinegar over the cucumbers.

4 - Cover the jar well and leave it in a warm place until the following day; then strain the vinegar off the cucumbers, boil it a second time, and pour it over the cucumbers while it is boiling; cover, and leave until the following day.

5 - Repeat this operation until the cucumbers take on the desired green color.

6 - Then pack them into a glass vessel, and cover them completely with clean, fresh vinegar.

7 - Finally, close the jar's lid tightly and keep it in a dry place.

Section: In the Eastern Kitchen