If you have a glut of small cucumbers, below is a recepie from a Dr August Oetker Schulkochbuch given to my mum by her mum to make Pickled Gurkens in a Russian style. Experiment with the amount of sugar you add - less if you dont want sweet and sour gurkens. The amount of time that you soak the cucumbers will control how salty they are. Guten Appetit

10 lb Small Cucumbers
1 lb Shallots (very small)
100 gr Fresh Horseradish
15 gr Peppercorns
Some Cloves, Bayleaves, Fresh Dill and Tarragon
2 lt White Wine Vinegar
2 lt Water
Sugar to taste
20 gr Yellow Mustard Seeds
1-2 Garlic Cloves - roughly chopped
5 Black Currant leaves
1 vine leaf

Stone Pot or Glass Jam Jar





Wash small cucumbers and cover with salt water (1lb salt to 5 litres of water) for 12-24 hours - probably 12 hours is enough (NB - This is not the water mentioned in the ingrediants)

Then rinse the cucumbers well, dry with a cloth and pack carefully into a stone jar or jam jar

Add herbs and spices and sprinkle mustard seeds over them

Boil together the vinegar, water and sugar

Pour the hot mixture over the cucumbers, herbs and spices

Place currant and vine leaves on the very top and seal the pot with greaseproof paper or lid and leave for about 4 weeks in your fridge.

1. Modify ingredients depending on how many cucumbers you have
2. If your cucumbers have got little too big, slice them using a wavy slicer to look nice
3. Black currant leaves contain large amounts of Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
   and cherry leaves or vine leaves add crispness
4. Stone pot is best as it keeps out light

1 teaspoon olive oil
4 shallots - thinly sliced
0.5 kgs fresh spinnach - cooked, drained and finely chopped
200 kgs feta cheese, crumbled
4 eggs - beaten (thou i use 2)
Handfull of chopped parsley
2 tablespoons freshly chopped dill
Black pepper
Up to 12 sheets freshly defrosted filo pastry
75 g melted butter

Heat the oil in a frying pan/wok with shallots until soft and golden
Preheat oven to 180 degrees
Mix the shallots with feta cheese and herbs and add pepper
Use 6 sheets of filo pastry to line a rectangular oiled shallow tray

Let the pastry overhang the sides, brushing each sheet with melted butter
(cover remaining filo with damp teatowel)

Spoon on the spinnach mixture and smooth evenly

Place remaining filo pastry sheets on top of the pie, brushing
each sheet with melted butter as before.

Lightly score the top of the pie with a diamond pattern
Using a sharp knife, cut away the overhanging pastry
Sprinkle with water to prevent edges burning
Bake in a preheated oven for ~40 minutes or until golden brown
Adjust for fan oven

2         Eggs
2.5 dl   Sugar
75 gr    Melted Butter
2.5 dl   Flour
Sprinkle of cinnamon/mixed spice
Redcurrants - couple handfuls

Mix all ingredients together and then add berries.
Place in a prepared small flat tray (similar to brownies)
Cook for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees C - please adjust for fan oven
Sprinkle with sugar

(to make a bigger cake just double ingredients)

You can replace redcurrants with other fruit.
Currants are a good source of vitamin B2

We hope a friendly and reliable service, we will make sure your order will be in the post to you within 24 hours and we will wrap delicate items as carefully as we can to make sure they arrive to you safely.

And talking to us. If you have something in mind, a different color or quantity, please just phone 01273 843320 or email us info@honeybeeswax.com - we will get back to you by the next day.

We also try to use recycled packaging wherever possible.

Most of all, we love the things we are selling and hope you will love them too.

Thailand is an agricultural country. In the country, men are farmers and women do not have jobs. Their children are either farmers or work in factories in Bangkok. This has been changed when handicrafts become more popular in domestic and foreign markets. Many housewives make handicrafts from materials available in their local areas; for example mulberry paper from Northern Thailand, candles and flowers from Central Thailand, and rubber leaf flowers from Southern Thailand.
 
Many people rely on making candles as their main source of income. Most of the crafters (95%) are women. They can work from homes or gather at group leaders' homes where they chat while they are making candles. Skillful crafters who are also group leaders usually train their members to make difficult flowers. Handicrafts are labor intensive jobs. The woman do not use machine, so handicrafts create many jobs for the local people. Candle making is taught in some vocational schools, too.

In the crafters' homes, candles are made like making biscuits. Special cutters are used, similar to biscuit cutters but the shapes are petal-shaped. Each petal is cut and assembled into a flower skillfully by hand. Plumerias are made in a few seconds while lotus and sunflower are more difficult to make because they have many petals. And of course, each crafter has her own special technique :)

In our opinion, the candles are 'fair trade' products even though the crafting groups do not have a 'fairtrade' certificate which are mainly for agricultural products.

We believe the candles are 'fair trade' because they are made by local crafters who are many groups of housewives and the handmade candle business is expanding and creating many jobs for the local people. Most housewives in the province of Nakornayok, in central Thailand make the candles! Many unskilled and unemployed people are eager to learn how to make the candles.