. . . in this town, is an adventure and a half. Twice this summer I managed to find the right (“Soviet”) type of cucumbers and hauled several pounds of them home. But then I couldn’t find any dill flowers, and I can’t pickle without them.
Yesterday, I finally bought two huge bunches of dill flowers. But guess what? There are no Soviet cucumbers anywhere.
So I put Klara in her pram and set on a cucumber-seeking adventure. I did an insane amount of work in the past 2 weeks, and now I don’t have to be anywhere and do anything until next Wednesday. The heat has subsided and I’m looking forward to long, happy walks with my little pupiki.
We have a painful anniversary coming up next week and I want to arm myself against it with good experiences.
Clarissa's Blog 
Is dried dill not satisfactory for pickling?
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I know nothing about pickling, but dried herbs are rarely as good as fresh.
What I would like to know is what a Soviet cucumber looks like.
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I need the yellow flowers and the thick stems. And the only dried dill on sale consists of the little green needles. It doesn’t work without the flowers and the stems.
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Hmm… these are serious issues. Our family likes to make dill pickles, too. From our experience, it’s almost always an issue of finding the right cucumbers, but we can usually get fresh dill nearby.
My suggestion: grow your own dill indoors, all year ’round. Then when the cucumbers are available, go wild with the pickling. Herbs are pretty easy to grow inside or outside. Great flavors are available all the time, and it’s fun (and educational*) for Klara, too.
You’d be amazed at how many USA kids and adults have absolutely no idea how food grows, what it looks like before coming to the grocery store, or what to do with a fresh piece of produce that is not a banana. Alas.
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Yes, I should have been growing the dill myself. It’s very easy. Back in Ukraine, dill is a weed. You can find it anywhere.
And gosh, it’s so sad to see young cashiers at the grocery store. They can’t identify any of the produce I buy. I have to name everything, even regular things like radishes or plums
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what is it with eastern europeans and homemade pickles? i think i have shared but my grandparents were from latvia and damn if they didn’t have homemade pickles all the time.
Do you also eat cucumbers just by themselves like crazy? My family almost demanded a paternity test because i didn’t and still don’t like cucumbers.. lol
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Because of the cold climate, people traditionally had to pickle everything to survive the winter. And the tradition remained long after nobody is hungry in winter.
Yes, I adore cucumbers. You must have very good blood pressure if you don’t like them. People with high BP are often drawn to cucumbers.
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Kurdistan has the best cucumbers in the world.
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A garden center should have dill, if you’re looking to grow it yourself. It’d be best to grow it indoors, though, since dill is an annual at your latitude.
What’s the difference between a “Soviet” cucumber and a regular one? It’s possible a local garden center might have some of those, too, though you’d have to go in around late April to early May to get some. They’re very easy to grow, too, though they’d have to be fenced in so the rabbits don’t eat them.
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Scratch that. Dill doesn’t grow very well indoors, and the indoor lighting systems can be expensive.
My dad suggests trying to look for the right kind of cucumbers at a seed-grower’s exchange. He says it’s a good way to find some otherwise difficult-to-find varieties. Another option is to go to looking at a garden center. If you find the kind of cucumbers you like, ask what variety of seed they use. Small dill plants are very common at garden centers, and farmer’s markets are more likely to have the stems and flowers. He also says it’s a little early for dill flowers.
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A soviet cucumber is typically shorter and wider, with small sharp protrusions along its thick skin – as opposed to the long cucumber with a thin skin.
The best thing about a pickled cucumber is the texture of its skin – it’s right there in the middle of soft and crunchy; whereas the soft part of a cucumber mostly turns into mush – it’s pleasingly sour and juicy, but you wouldn’t eat it on its own. To properly take advantage of the pickling process, you need the short, thick-skinned cucumbers.
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