Pickle juice

Makes 1 litre

This is a really good basic pickle juice – a great place to start. Once you’ve mastered this recipe, you can play around with different herbs and spices.

— 1 tbsp white mustard seeds

— 1 tsp coriander seeds

— 1 tsp celery seeds

— 1 cucumber, sliced lengthways into 2.5cm sticks or 2cm thick circles

For the pickling juice

— 500ml apple-cider vinegar

— 1 tsp ground turmeric

— 2 tbsp salt

— 5 tbsp unrefined caster sugar Place the mustard seeds, coriander seeds and celery seeds in a sterilised jar (or divide between two jars, depending on their size). Pack as tightly as you can with the cucumber.

Combine all the ingredients for the pickling juice in a large saucepan with 500ml water and heat slowly until everything has dissolved.

Using a funnel, pour the hot pickling juice into the jar (or jars). Make sure the juice covers the cucumber, but leave about 1cm of room between the lid and the vinegar. Seal the jar(s), then leave to cool for a couple of hours. Once cooled, refrigerate.

The pickles will be ready to eat the next day, but they’re best left for two weeks to mellow out the acidity of the vinegar, making the pickle juice smoother to drink.

If you want something really special, don’t touch them for up to six months.

THEN MAKE THIS