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Drink

Cucumber Ketchup

A fermented cucumber condiment made by salting, peppering, and simmering cucumber juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Cucumber Ketchup

Ingredients

Directions

Salt the cucumbers

  1. Pare the cucumbers and slice them as thinly as possible into a basin.

  2. Sprinkle the cucumbers liberally with coarse sea salt and cover them tightly.

  3. Let them sit overnight.

Make the ketchup

  1. Strain the liquid from the cucumbers into a saucepan.

  2. Add 1 teaspoon of peppercorns for each pint of liquid.

  3. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes.

  4. When cold, strain into bottles, cork tightly, and store in a cool, dry place.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Provide the bulk of the liquid and the fresh, vegetal flavour of the ketchup.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the sliced cucumbers, concentrating their liquid for the ketchup.
Peppercorns
Infuse the liquid with a sharp, aromatic spice during the gentle simmer.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for about 30 minutes. A gentle simmer flavours the liquid with the peppercorns without boiling away its delicate aroma or making it bitter. Vigorous boiling can drive off volatile aromatics and over-extract harsh pepper notes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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