The Wholefoodie

Susan Jane White’s pickle power

The very thought of penalising my taste buds has me balking like a duchess in a snake pit. Yet there still exists a perception that in order to look after your body, you have to deny yourself. I hope my recipes never feel like that. True nourishment can, and should, be delivered by kickass wholefoods.

Let me show you how.

With a little bit of mental parkour, you can pickle just about any boring vegetable and turn it into a winner by tea time. Home-pickled cucumber is irresistibly crunchy, sharp and juicy. It will upgrade any boring fish dish or over-familiar curry. Like flint to steel, expect sparks of electricity.

The cucumber’s biggest virtue is in its hydrating powers. A whopping 92pc of this vegetable is pure water. Good news for hairy hangovers and puckered eyes. I often nurse my tired peeps with slices of cucumber to resuscitate an eye-bright glow. It certainly slays expensive eye gels.

Aside from its hydrating prowess, I dig the potassium vibes. Potassium is discreetly enamoured with sodium in our system, so that something inside us cartwheels each time we crunch into a cucumber. The potassium-sodium dance is closer to a tango, and is of particular importance to readers suffering from high blood pressure. Cucumber is your friend! Athletes also like being on top of their sodium levels for proper hydration and muscle function.

I know what you’re thinking: what’s with all the salt in the recipe? It’s worth noting that the salt and sugar content in this recipe stays primarily in the pickle juice, which I don’t recommend chugging. You can simply reuse it for your next batch of cucumber pickle (within a reasonable time-frame). Or threaten your children with it when mutiny hits.