Bread and butter pickles (gluten-free + vegan)

Things are looking a bit sad in the garden at this time of the year. We’ve just picked the last of our cucumbers, our courgette (zucchini) are nearing their last legs, I’ve pulled out all my flowers (sob), bar a few sunflowers which I’m waiting to save seeds from. Our Maori potatoes are nearly dying off, which signals time to eat, while the kumara (sweet potato) have basically taken over an entire corner of our garden. We’ve nearly picked 50kg of tomatoes (there’s been a LOT of passata, relish, kasundi, pasta sauce making going on around here!) and while some of the plants have given up and need to be pulled, most are still producing and will be for at least another 2-4 weeks I reckon.

With most of our garden space still taken up by tomatoes, our winter veggies are awhile off going in the ground. I’ve just pricked out baby seedlings of; kale, broccoli, kohlrabi, cauliflower, broccolini and onion and I’m hoping I’ve timed it perfectly to be planted out in about 6-8 weeks time, when we once again have free space in the garden, but also for when the white butterflies disappear for another year, leaving our veggies alone 🙂

As mentioned, I’ve been preserving like a crazy woman over the last month and have preserved close to 100 jars Not only our tomatoes, but courgette (zucchini) and plums too. And while most of the cucumbers we grew this year were eaten straight from the plants, I managed to get one batch of these Bread and Butter Pickles made to enjoy in sandwiches and burgers over winter. Even if you don’t have homegrown cucumbers at hand, now is a great time to make the most of reasonably priced cucumbers from the shop before they go back to $5 a piece out-of-season prices! These are one of my all time favorite pickles- crunchy, sour and a little bit sweet.