Bostongurka

Step 1: Wash the 3 ⅓ lb cucumbers, halve them lengthways and scrape out the seeds if large. Peel the 10 ½ oz onions. Seed the red 1 red pepper.

Step 2: Chop all the vegetables into 3–4 mm pieces by hand or by pulsing briefly in a processor.

Step 3: Mix the vegetables with the 2 ⅛ oz coarse salt in a glass bowl, cover and leave in the fridge overnight.

Step 4: Tip into a sieve, rinse quickly under cold water and squeeze out as much liquid as you can with your hands.

Step 5: Sterilise the jar and lid: wash in hot soapy water, rinse, then set the jar upside down in a 250°F oven for 10 minutes (or boil jar and lid for 10 minutes). Let it cool and dry completely; jar, lid and every spoon you use must be bone dry. Use five 300 ml jars and keep them warm in the oven.

Step 6: Bring the 1 ¾ cups white vinegar, 14 oz white sugar, 2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds and 1 tsp ground turmeric to the boil in a large non-reactive pan over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Step 7: Add the vegetables and simmer for 8–10 minutes, until the cucumber turns translucent but still has bite.

Step 8: Stir in the 1 tbsp potato starch and simmer 2 minutes, stirring, until the liquid thickens and coats the vegetables.

Step 9: Ladle into the hot jars, pressing so the liquid covers the vegetables. Water-bath for room-temperature storage: fill the hot jars to 1 cm from the top, wipe the rims, close, stand them on a rack in a deep pan of water that covers them by 3 cm, bring to a rolling boil and boil for 10 minutes (add 1 minute per 300 m above sea level). Lift out and cool undisturbed; the lids should be pulled down. Any jar that does not seal goes in the fridge.

Step 10: Sealed jars keep a year in a cool, dark place; once opened, keep in the fridge for 2 months and use a clean, dry spoon. Throw it away if it fizzes, smells off, grows mould or a lid bulges.