{"id":15069,"date":"2013-09-04T09:16:02","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T07:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=15069"},"modified":"2014-05-29T18:46:48","modified_gmt":"2014-05-29T16:46:48","slug":"long-term-westernised-kyuuri-no-kyuuchan-cucumber-pickled-with-soy-sauce-and-ginger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=15069","title":{"rendered":"Long-term Westernised Kyuuri no Kyuuchan (Cucumber Pickled with Soy Sauce and Ginger)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cucgingerp\"I grew up accustomed to long-term storage pickles, i.e. lasting at least a year, so my biggest regret while discovering Japanese sunomono<\/em> (vinegared dishes) was their short life. Among these I particularly appreciate\u00a0Kyuuri no kyuuchan<\/a>\u00a0\u304d\u3085\u3046\u308a\u306e\u30ad\u30e5\u30fc\u3061\u3083\u3093 (sometimes written “Kyuri no kyuchan”) for the way the cucumber becomes infused with a mixture of soy sauce and ginger flavours. (Actually, pickled myoga is my number one but it is practically impossible to get here in any form, so I try to forget about it). Due to its brine, the original product is impossible to be processed and preserved the Western way. I have decided to experiment in order to obtain similarly flavoured pickles, but with a considerably extended storage time, concentrating on ginger and soy sauce.<\/p>\n

I will not bore you with details, but after several heavy defeats, I have finally come up with the biggest compromise I can accept between long-term storage and taste modifications. There is less soy sauce, less ginger and more vinegar, but the taste is definitely reminiscent of Kyuuri no kyuuchan.\u00a0This first successful batch was made a month ago and it has kept perfectly of course out of the fridge (tasted today for lunch), so I predict a long pantry life for this one. Needless to say, I have already planned a new pickling session!<\/p>\n

You might also like my other long- and short-term cucumber pickling recipes:<\/p>\n

\"Kyuuri<\/a>
Kyuuri no Kyuuchan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"pickledcp\"<\/a>
Pickled Dill Cucumbers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Moomins'<\/a>
Moomins’ Pickled Cucumber Salad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Easy<\/a>
Easy Cucumber Kimchi (Oi Kimchi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Preparation: 1 hour + processing<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients (the number of jars depends on their size and the size of cucumber slices\/pieces):<\/em><\/p>\n

1 kg\/about 2 lbs long cucumbers or short pickling cucumbers<\/em><\/p>\n

1 liter\/about 4 cups white wine (or cider) vinegar (4,5%; if your vinegar is stronger, use proportionally more water)<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

1.1 litre (about 4 cups and 3 oz) water<\/em><\/p>\n

400 g (1 3\/4 cups)\u00a0caster sugar<\/em><\/p>\n

3 tablespoons salt<\/em><\/p>\n

soy sauce (1 tablespoon per 300 ml\/about 10 fl oz jar)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

fresh ginger (2 slices per\u00a0300 ml\/about 10 fl oz jar)<\/em><\/p>\n

Cut up the cucumber into slices or half-slices, if the diameter seems too big for your jars (or for your preferences).<\/p>\n

Cut the ginger into thick slices.<\/p>\n

Fill empty, clean jars with cucumbers and fresh ginger (maximum two slices\u00a0per\u00a0300 ml\/about 10 fl oz jar) to maximum 2\/3 jars\u2019 height.\u00a0Pour one tablespoon soy sauce per\u00a0300 ml\/about 10 fl oz jar.<\/p>\n

Put the vinegar, the water, the sugar and the salt in a pan and let it boil a couple of minutes, stirring well until all the sugar is dissolved. Put aside.<\/p>\n

Fill the jars with hot (no longer boiling!) vinegar mixture, leaving 1,5 cm from the rim.<\/p>\n

Close the jars and let them cool down.<\/p>\n

Place the cool jars into a big pan, bottom lined with an old kitchen towel folded in two (this will prevent the jars from breaking),\u00a0cover up with hot \u2013 but not boiling- water to the level just below the lid. Bring to the boil and keep on a very low heat, in simmering water, for around 20 minutes.
\nStick on self-adhesive labels, write the name of the pickle and don\u2019t forget to mark the date.<\/p>\n

Wait at least a couple of weeks before opening the jars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up accustomed to long-term storage pickles, i.e. lasting at least a year, so my biggest regret while discovering Japanese sunomono (vinegared dishes) was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82,183,50,133,85,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15069"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15069"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16228,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15069\/revisions\/16228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}