I always use special pickling varieties when I want to pickle cucumbers. I have tried pickling regular cucumbers too but I just don't like the texture and the overall results are nowhere near as good. This is one of my favorite recipes for pickled cucumbers though. It's quite low in sugar and the cucumbers get a nice salty flavour.

Instructions:

Wash and brush the cucumbers.
Put them in a bowl with 1/2 cup (almost 1 dl) salt over night. The salt will draw out some of the water in the cucumbers, making them nice and crispy.
Let the brine boil for a while before you take care of the cucumbers, let the brine cool down.
Rinse and slice the cucumbers (if you don't want to put them in whole, that is.)
Put the blackcurrant leaves in the bottom of a jar and add cucumbers.
Add some dill and horseradish on top.
Cover the cucumbers with brine.

I store my jars somewhere cool and dark until it's time to eat the pickled cucumbers. These pickles are a great side dish. You can put them on your sandwich too if you want!

Recipe: Sara Bäckmo
Photo: Maria Strömberg Bååth