Beginners Guide To Pickling Cucumbers!
By Alex C
Senior Food Writer at Pro Home Cooks
The garden is pumping out cucumbers. We are picking pounds and pounds of them every day so naturally my mind immediately went to preservation. We have been playing with different methods and different flavors because good pickles can be added to so many dishes but to get high quality pickles can be expensive. Luckily for us, they are very easy to make so I’m going to breakdown three different methods of preservation with varying degrees of difficulty and flavor!
- Quick Pickles: Also known as a refrigerator pickle because they are not made for long term storage. They must be refrigerated but they are arguably the easiest kind of pickles to make. All you need to do is make a base brine of water and vinegar. Season it with salt, sugar and any other additives/spices you’d like. Heat it up and pour the brine over the cucumbers. Here are two of my favorite types of quick pickles.
Garlic Dill Pickles:
I have made these countless times so I can reassure you that these are pretty much impossible to mess up. They have that classic pickle flavor of punchy fresh garlic and a brightness from the fresh dill that we all know and love. These refrigerator style pickles are done in a less than 15 minutes and are the easiest kind of pickles to make. For any beginners out there trying to get into the pickle game, give this recipe a try. It requires the least amount of effort but is packed full with flavor.
Bread & Butter Pickles:
You would never think it but the amount of sugar that is in one jar of bread and butter pickles is insane. The brine is basically a 1:1 sugar to water syrup. Which explains why these pickles are so addictive. They're sweet and punchy and perfect chopped into a mac salad or topped on a burger or hot dog. You can even chop them into a relish but if you're like me I can eat they straight out of the jar.
- Lacto-Fermented: Lacto-fermentation relies on the bacteria Lactobacillus which is naturally present on the surface of the cucumbers. This bacteria converts sugars in the vegetables into lactic acid. Which creates this sour flavor profile. Here are the recipes for two of my favorite lacto-fermented pickles.
1/2 Sour Pickles:
Just as the name reveals, these 1/2 sour pickles are only partially fermented. This is due to a shorter ferment time (usually 2-3 days) and a lower salt content resulting in a mild and crisp cucumber with a fresh taste. 1/2 sours are great for snacking as they will give you the closest taste, look, and feel to a fresh cucumber than any of the other preserving methods out there.
1/2 sours are your classic deli pickles so I would recommend having them as a snack or a side dish to a sandwich. You can even make a deli platter and have a huge bowl of these guys off to the side!
Full Sour Pickles:
Full sour pickles are fully fermented in a salty brine (about 5%) for several days sometimes weeks. The brine becomes milkier than the 1/2 sours and they tend to have a dull green color due to the extra salt and longer fermentation time. Check out the difference here! They have a saltier, tangy and acidic flavor in comparison to their 1/2 sour sibling.
Personally, to me the 1/2 sours are good but the full sours are great! They have more flavor, they're saltier and more acidic than the 1/2 sours. Give them both a try and let me know how you like them!
5 Day Kimchi Pickle:
These guys were a fun little experiment that turned out amazing. They have a lot of the same ingredients and flavor profile as a cucumber kimchi but it was not traditional. A paste made up of ginger, onion, pear, garlic, gochugaru flakes, and soy sauce get combined with sliced cucumbers. Then packed into a jar with a fermentation weight so that the cucumbers stay below the water line and left to ferment for 5 days.
These guys were the crunchiest pickles out of all the ones we made because we didn't add any extra water to the jars. We just let the salt pull moisture from the cucumbers which resulted in a very flavorful and very crunchy "kimchi" pickle!
Jarred Pickles:
Out of the three methods we spoke about in this blog post, this is the only method of preservation that makes pickles shelf stable. You don't need to refrigerate them and they're best eaten within a year of canning. This method is great for when you have over 8 pounds of cucumbers because it's easier to jar 4 large cans rather than just 1. I like to save all the pickles that I jar in the summer for the winter because nothing beats opening up a fresh can of homemade pickles in the dead of winter!
For this recipe, I kept it pretty simple and similar in flavor to the quick pickle garlic dill pickles. These guys won't have the same crunch because they get boiled in order for them to be shelf stable but they are super delicious! So if you're looking for a simple yet classic shelf stable pickle recipes, keep scrolling! If want to see my full taste test and which pickle I ranked the highest click here!
** Please note: You can use any variety of cucumber you want. You can also cut them or keep them whole so long as they fit into the jar! The variety of cucumbers I grew ranged from gherkins, kirby, persian style, and few different varieties of long Japanese cucumbers. So get creative and use whichever cucumber you want! **
Pickle Recipes
Ingredients:
Garlic Dill Pickles Ingredients:
- 1-2 pound of cucumbers, washed
- 4 - 5 coves of garlic, peeled
- 1/4 cup of sliced onions
- Handful of dill or dill flowers
- White Distilled Vinegar* See instructions
- Water* see instructions
- 4 teaspoons sea salt
- 4 teaspoons sugar
Bread & Butter Pickle Ingredients:
- 1-2 pound of cucumbers, washed
- 1/4 cup of sliced onion
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 cup of white distilled vinegar
- 1/2 cup of water
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 tablespoon of whole black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon of coriander
1/2 Sour Pickles Ingredients:
- 1-2 pound of cucumbers, washed
- Water * See instructions
- Salt * See instructions
Full Sour Pickle Ingredients:
- 1 pound of cucumbers, washed
- Water * See instructions
- Salt * See instructions
5 Day Kimchi Pickle Ingredients:
- 1-2 pound of pickles, washed
- 1 small knob of ginger
- 1/4 piece of onion
- 2 - 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 slice of asian pear
- 1/4 cup of gochugaru flakes
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 tablespoon of water
Jarred Pickle Ingredients:
- 8 pounds of cucumbers, any variety
- 12 cloves of garlic
- 1 onion
- 3 cups of distilled white vinegar
- 3 cups of water
- 1/4 cup of salt
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- Handful of Coriander
- Handful of Black peppercorns
Instructions:
Garlic Dill Pickles Instructions:
- Cut the washed cucumber how you want. I choose to keep them whole for this recipe.
- To a clean 32 ounce mason jar, pack in the pickles, garlic, sliced onions, and dill flowers.
- Next, fill up the jar halfway with vinegar. Then fill up the jar the rest of the way with water.
- Pour out only the liquid into a pot. Add sugar and salt to the pot and bring to a light simmer to dissolve the salt and sugar.
- Pour the hot brine over the cucumbers, seal and label the jar. Once cooled, place it in the fridge.
- Let it brine for at least one day to really bring out the flavors!
Bread & Butter Pickle Instructions:
- Cut the washed cucumber how you want. I choose to cut them into coins for this recipe.
- To a clean 32 ounce mason jar, pack in the sliced cucumbers sliced onions.
- Then to a pot add in the sugar, vinegar, water, salt, black peppercorns and whole coriander. Let this mixture come to a boil.
- Shut the flame off and let cool for a minute.
- Pour the hot brine over the cucumbers, seal and label the jar. Once cooled, place it in the fridge.
- Let it brine for at least one day to really bring out the flavors!
1/2 Sour Pickles Instruction:
- Cut the washed cucumber how you want. I choose to keep them whole for this recipe.
- To a clean mason jar, pack in the cucumbers.
- Get an electronic kitchen scale, place the jar filled with cucumbers on, and tare the scale so that it weights zero.
- Pour water all the way to the top. Get the weight of the water in grams.
- Take that number and multiply it by .04. This will tell you the correct amount of salt you need in grams.
- Tare the scale so it reads zero and pour the predetermined amount of salt into the jar. Seal the jar and shake so the salt will dissolve and disburse through out the jar.
- Label the jar and let ferment for 1-2 days at room temperature. After they are done fermenting, place in the fridge and enjoy!
Full Sour Pickles Instruction:
- Cut the washed cucumber how you want. I choose to cut them in half for this recipe.
- To a clean mason jar, pack in the cucumbers.
- Get an electronic kitchen scale, place the jar filled with the cucumbers on, and tare the scale so that it weights zero.
- Pour water all the way to the top and get the weight of the water in grams.
- Take that number and multiply it by .05. This will tell you the correct amount of salt you need in grams.
- Tare the scale so it reads zero again and pour the predetermined amount of salt into the jar. Seal the jar and shake so the salt will dissolve and disburse through out the jar.
- Label the jar and let ferment for 3-5 days at room temperature. The fermented flavor preference is really up to you. The more fermented flavor, leave for 5 days. The less fermented flavor, leave for 3 days.
- After they are done fermenting, place in the fridge and enjoy!
- Cut the washed cucumber how you want. I choose to cut them into coins for this recipe.
- Add them into a clean 32 ounce mason jar and set aside.
- To a mini food processor, add the ginger, onion, garlic, pear, gochugaru flakes, soy sauce, salt, and water. Blend until you have a paste.
- Dump your sliced cucumbers into a bowl and pour over the paste. Toss to combine and make sure all the cucumbers are coated.
- Pack the kimchi cucumbers back into the mason jar, place a fermentation weight on top to make sure the cucumber is under the water line. Within the first few hours the cucumbers will release liquid so you can further push the weight down.
- Label the jar and seal it. Let it ferment for 3-4 days. Once fermented, place in the fridge and enjoy!
Jarred Pickle Instructions:
- Start by washing and drying four 32 ounces jars and their lids very well.
- Next, slice the cucumbers into quarters lengthwise then pack in the pickles into a clean mason jar. Topped each jar with 3 cloves of garlic and 1/4 cup of slice onions to each jar.
- To a pot add the vinegar, water, salt, sugar, coriander, and black peppercorns. Give it a good whisk until everything dissolves. Evenly distribute the liquid among the four jars.
- Seal the jar then using a canning tong, gently place the jars into a water bath at 185F for 30-40 minutes.
- Once the 30-40 minutes is up, use the canning tongs to pull them out of the water bath. Allow them to cool on a towel and you should hear the cans pop as they cool which means that they are ready to be kept in a cool dark place for long term storage.
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By Alex C
Senior Food Writer at Pro Home Cooks
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