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Pickled Cucumbers

PostPosted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 9:01 am
by johnfb
Simply make the brine and pour the boiled brine over the sliced cucumbers and seal in sterile jars.

Brine recipe:


6 TBS salt
3 cups vinegar
3 cups water
1 TBS pickling spice
10 Black peppercorns
6 tsp sugar
1 Cinnamon stick
2 Bay leaves


Place in the bottom of the sterile jars:
half teaspoon of mustard seeds, coriander seeds, a few peppercorns and some dried chillie flaks if you wish.
Some fresh dill sprigs ( I used dried as I had no fresh)


Make up the brine by boiling the ingredients above.
Slice up your cucumbers and fill sterile jars to about 1 inch from the top.
Remove the cinnamon stick from the brine
Pour the brine over the cucs up to about a half inch from the top of the jar and put the lids on the jars
Leave for 24 hours until the lids seal.



For the sweet pickled gherkins I simply doubled the sugar.



Image

PostPosted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:15 am
by onewheeler
Is that hot brine poured over the cuc's, or let it cool first?

Martin/

PostPosted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 3:18 pm
by johnfb
Hi Martin

I pour it over hot, it cools fairly quickly before the jars equalise and seal.

PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:44 pm
by NCPaul
Using hot brine sterilizes the cucumbers so they can't ferment (and blow up the jars). :D

PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 10:24 pm
by grisell
On the other hand, fermented cucumbers are a delicacy.

PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:46 am
by solaryellow
Fermented sour dills are perfection.

PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 2:18 am
by Vindii
So then do you just let them sit? About how long? Room temp or fridge Id like to try this but Ive never canned anything before. Most of what Ive read seem much more involved than this.

PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 6:22 am
by grisell
Those look great, johnfb. Personally, though, I don't like any pickles with sugar in it. If you think that's sweet, you should take a look at some Swedish pickled cucumber recipes. The usual recipe calls for 30% sugar ( :shock: ) in a distilled vinegar gravy. Tastes like candy, disgusting if you ask me. I can post the recipe if someone is interested.

PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:28 am
by johnfb
grisell wrote:Those look great, johnfb. Personally, though, I don't like any pickles with sugar in it. If you think that's sweet, you should take a look at some Swedish pickled cucumber recipes. The usual recipe calls for 30% sugar ( :shock: ) in a distilled vinegar gravy. Tastes like candy, disgusting if you ask me. I can post the recipe if someone is interested.



Hi Andre,

Yeah, I would love to see the recipes please.
I prefer a bit of sugar, these aren't "too" sweet but just right for my taste.
I do have aa sweet tooth though :wink:

Pickled Onions and Gherkins / Peppers

PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:31 am
by johnfb
Pickled Sliced red and White Onions and Gherkins / Peppers

Same brine as before:

Picture is not too good as it was taken using my phone.


Image

PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:50 am
by grisell
Well, you asked for it. :wink: Remember that it's very sweet. It's actually very tasty with liver paté, but that's about the only combination where I like it.


Swedish sweet pickled cucumbers (Smörgåsgurka)

1 kg gherkins
Water, salt (see below)
4-6 crowns of dill (the top part of the dill plant with seeds)
50 g horseradish, in cubes
1 onion, sliced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp white peppercorns
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp allspice, whole
300 ml white sugar
800 ml distilled white vinegar, 6% acid
400 ml water

Clean and rinse the gherkins. Make enough 10% brine (900 ml water + 100 ml salt) to cover the gherkins. Let stand for 12 hours. Drain and discard the brine. Layer the gherkins in jars together with the horseradish, onion, bay leaves and dill. Make a gravy of the water, vinegar, sugar, pepper and allspice. Bring to a boil and pour over the gherkins. Store cool. The next day, pour off the gravy and bring it to a boil again. Pour over the gherkins. Seal the jars. Let stand for 1-2 weeks, then serve.

PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:18 pm
by RodinBangkok
Just a word of caution about "sealing" jars with no processing time. This can give you a false sense of security. As the jars will form a slight vacuum during cooling, but the contents have not been processed sufficiently to call it canning. It may not be a problem depending on the ph, but I'd recommend putting these in the fridge rather than shelf storage. We do pickles this way and call them cold pack. It gives you a nice crunchy product without the process time, but we always keep them in the fridge, and label that way also.

PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:01 pm
by grisell
Good point!

PostPosted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:37 am
by johnfb
All good advice, thanks guys...we live and learn