At-Home Pickling


Got some cukes on hand? Well today is their lucky day, they have the honor of being pickled! Here some pickling recipes for the at-home pickler, courtesy of the Pickle Preservation Society.

We will gladly accept any and all contibutions. Send your recipes, as well as reviews of recipes you tried from our page, to recipes@pickleking.com and we'll post 'em.

Here's our current list of recipes we got in the barrel:

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-- Bread and Butter Pickles
 From Ethel Wyckoff

Do not peel cucumbers, slice thin. Add onions, peppers, and whole garlic cloves. Add salt. Cover with cracked ice and mix thoroughly. Let stand 3 hours. Drain well. Combine remaining ingredients in separate bowl. Pour over cucumber mixture. Heat just to boil. Seal in hot, sterilized jars. Process for 10 minutes.

Yield: 8 pints


-- Cucumber Pickles
 From Mrs. A. (Marguerite) Miltner

Combine cucumbers and onions, add salt. Let stand 2 hours and drain. Separately, heat together remaining ingredients. Add cucumbers and onions. Boil slowly 5-7 minutes until tender and crisp. Pack whil ehot in hot sterilized jars.



-- Curry Pickles
 Family recipe from Steve Hougland

36 med. pickling cukes-thinly sliced

pour boiling water over slices and let stand 3 hours
mix together in large kettle:

Let come to a boil & add pickle slices - simmer until they turn translucent - do not boil.

Pack into pint jars and seal and process in waterbath canner for time recommended in your area.

Makes 14 pints.


-- End of the Garden Pickles
 From Becky Hopper

Soak cucumbers, peppers, cabbage, onions and tomatoes in salt water overnight(1/2 cup salt to 2 cups water). Drain. Cook the carrots and string beans in boiling water until tender; drain well. Mix soaked and cooked vegetables with remaining ingredients and boil 10 minutes. Pack into sterilized KERR Jars; seal at once.

-- Grandpop's Garlic Dills
 From Raymond K. Tilden

  1. Mix up 6 ounces of salt in 1 gallon water to make brine.
  2. For each quart of pickles place a handful of fresh, snipped dill in a quart jar. Use enough dill to cover the bottom of the jar.
  3. Pack in pickling cucumbers
  4. Add 1 teaspoon of pickling spice, 2-3 cloves garlic, and 1 hot red pepper (optional)
  5. Cover with brine
  6. Let stand a room temperature for 7-10 days depending on taste
  7. Keep refrigerated


-- Icicle Pickles
 From Trish - SOURCE: "An Herb and Spice Cook Book", by Craig Claiborne, copyright 1963

Wash cucumbers, cut lengthwise into eighths. Soak in ice water 3 hours. Drain, pack into clean jars. Add 1 onion, 1 piece celery and 1/2 teaspoon mustard seed to each jar. Combine vinegar and remaining ingredients, heat to boiling. Pour vinegar solution over cucumbers to within 1/2 inch of top, making sure vinegar solution covers cucumbers. Cap each jar at once. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

Makes 6 to 7 pints.


-- Kosher Pickles: The Right Way
 From Mark Bittman, New York Times

1. In a large bowl, combine the salt and boiling water; stir to dissolve the salt. Add a handful of ice cubes to cool down the mixture, then add all remaining ingredients.

2. Add cold water to cover. Use a plate slightly smaller than the diameter of the bowl and a small weight to hold the cucumbers under the water. Keep at room temperature.

3. Begin sampling the cucumbers after 2 hours if they are quartered, 4 hours if they are halved. In either case, it will probably take from 12 to 24 hours, or even 48 hours, for them to taste "pickly" enough to suit your taste. When they are, refrigerate them, still in the brine. The pickles will continue to forment as they sit, more quickly at room temperature, more slowly in the refrigerator.

Yield: About 30 pickle quarters.


-- Lime Pickles
 From Louise Wasilevitch

1. Soak prepared cukes in water and lime for 24 hours.

2. Next day, drain and wash cukes. Cover with cold water. Soak 3 hours.

3. Drain cukes. Cover again with cold water. Soak 3 hours.

4. Drain cukes and tap dry on a large towel.

5. Make syrup with following: 6. Put cukes in this uncooked syrup for 12 hours or overnight.

7. Drain off syrup. Add 1/2 cup sugar to it and bring to boil in large saucepan.

8. Add cukes. Simmer 45 minutes.

9. Fill hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Seal immediately.

Yield: 7-8 pints


-- Mustard Pickles
 From Greenlawn Pickle Works

1. Cut tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and cauliflower in medium pieces. Add onions.

2. Make brine of salt and water and pour over vegetables, let stand 24 hours. Heat just to scalding point, then drain.

3. Mix flour, mustard, sugar, celery seed, and turmeric with enough cold vinnegar to make 2 quarts in all. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

4. Add pickles. Heat thoroughly and pour into sterilized, hot jars and seal. Process 10 minutes.

Yield: 4 pints


-- Refrigerator Pickles (No canning necessary)
 From Mrs. A. (Mary) Lutz

Mildly sweet; stay crunchy up to about 3 weeks in the refigerator.
Chop pepper and onion, and place along with sliced cucumbers into a 1 1/2 quart size jar or bowl. Add salt and celery seed. Stir gently and let stand one hour. Combine sugar and vinnegar in separate bowl, stir to dissolve. Pour over vegetables and stir to blend. Cover and refrigerate, pickles are ready to eat in one day. Store covered in refrigerator.

Yield: 5 cups

-- Relish
 From USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning

Yield: About 9 pints

Procedure: Add cucumbers, peppers, onions, salt, and ice to water and let stand 4 hours. Drain and re-cover vegetables with fresh ice water for another hour. Drain again. Combine spices in a spice or cheesecloth bag. Add spices to sugar and vinegar. Heat to boiling and pour mixture over vegetables. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Heat mixture to boiling and fill hot into clean jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.

Adjust lids and process according to the recommendations:

Recommended process time for Pickle Relish in a boiling-water canner.
Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack Jar Size 0 - 1,000 ft 1,001 - 6,000 ft Above 6,000 ft
Hot Half-pints or Pints 10 min 15 20

-- Russian Brine Pickles
 From T. Collins

This recepie is from my father-in-law in Finland. He got it from afriend that spent some time in Russia. Natural fermentation cures the cucumbers much the same way sauerkraut is made.
Select only the freshest cucumbers. Avoid old and damaged cucumbers. I grow my own or buy them at roadside farm stands as the store-bought are not fresh enough to avoid mushy pickles. Trim off the stems and scrub them under water. Dissolve the salt in the water. It's easier if you heat the water. Let the brine cool to room temperature.

Place the ingredients in a clean painters-type plastic bucket in four layers. Add the brine to cover the ingredients. It is important that all the ingredients are totally submerged to avoid spoilage. Place a heavy plate over the ingredients to weigh them down. A heavy stone is handy for adding a little extra weight. Cover the bucket with a loose lid.

Allow the pickles to cure for a few days in a warm room. You will notice bubbles forming. This is the normal fermentation process at work. If a scum or film forms on the surface, skim it away. It is normal. After a few days to a week and you are certain the fermentation is working, move the bucket to a cooler place such as a basement. In about 2 or 3 weeks, the process will be finished.

As always with preserving food, be carefull of spoilage. Slimy pickles or a bad odor a sign of spoilage. Some shriveling is normal especially if your cucumbers were not very fresh. Don't eat them if you suspect they have gone bad.

The cooler the place you store the bucket, the longer they will last. I kept mine for about 5 months. Every now and then I had to skim off a mold from the surface that was similar to bread mold. The pickles were not at all harmed by this. I picked a few pickles at a time and kept them handy in the fridge in some of the brine and these will keep indefinitly. The original recepie called for a piece of sour hardtack bread to give the bacteria some extra food and that contributed to the mold and extra cloudiness in my brine. The bread is entirely unnecssary in warmer climes but can be useful near the arctic.

Any questions, write to me and I'll try to help. I would love to hear from anyone that tries them. This is probably the original way to make pickles. Vinegar in store bought pickles is used to simulate the taste of the fermentation process.

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