Cucumber and Apple Banchan (Salad)

05 April 2026

I reverse engineered this recipe from a Korean Barbeque place my family frequents.  It is a brined salad; salty, sweet, crisp, and cold - and it is always refreshing.  It does need to flavor-meld in the fridge for about an hour before eating, and it is even better the next day.  If kept in a tightly sealed container, it will hold for over a week - but it will be gone before you can find out!  This salad is on my weekly rotation because it truly makes me mellow-happy when I eat it and I'm thrilled to share it with you!  I hope you enjoy it!

Just a quick note:  The focus is on the brine - which is 2 cups.  You will have a lot of brine to salad ratio in this recipe so you can literally use half the brine in the salad and store the rest for future use - it has more of a half life than a shelf life, but you will probably use it again next week! Or, you can thinly slice ginger and store it in the remaining brine for pickled ginger - also delicious, refreshing, and perfect in just about everything!

Serves 6

CKD: K+ 122mg, Pho 19mg, Less than 1g PRO per serving

DASH:  1 FR, 1V

Brine:

• 1 cup boiling water

• ¾ cup rice vinegar

• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar

• 1 tablespoon grated ginger or a good thumb of fresh, peeled and sliced thinly (preferred)

• 1 ½ - 2 tablespoons of sugar

• ½ to 1 tablespoon of coarse kosher salt

• 10 cloves

Pour the boiling water and vinegar in a bowl and then add in all of the other ingredients. Mix to dissolve the sugar and salt then set aside to cool and flavor-meld while you make your salad.

Salad:

• 2 cups of peeled cucumber, sliced in half lengthwise and then cut into ⅜ to ¼ inch slices (this is 2 American Cucumbers or 1 large or 1 ½ medium hothouse (English) cucumbers,

• 2 cups of your favorite firm apples, sliced to about the same size as the cucumbers - this is 2 medium apples or 1 large one.  Honey Crisp, Pink Ladies, Envy…anything firm that will bake well will work.  I like sweeter apples.  Feel free to go tart if that's your groove!

• 1 cup onion sliced to about the same size as the apples and cucumbers.  This is 1 small onion or half of a large one.  I usually use white onions, but sweet onions work just as well.

• Optional:  a few finely chopped mint leaves, rosemary leaves, or parsley leaves add a soft little kiss to this salad.

Simply place the chopped veggies and optional herbs into the brine, taste the brine to adjust seasonings (sweet, salt, cloves, ginger),  cover and let chill for about an hour. Store in a lidded container!

Thank you for the read and keep on bein’ groovy!

-Sparks