Pickling cucumbers - the fresh punch on your plate in 5 steps

It's always a wonderful moment, a home-grown pickled sweet and sour pickle that gives your dish a kick in the ass. I love it. Also the faces of daughters Ella and Sam when they nibble on a pickle with their sandwich. For my darlings I make them a little sweeter, but for me it can be as if your salivary glands at the back of your jaws are being torn loose :) Pickling pickles is also a wonderful activity that the children love to help with.

Cucumbers are easy to grow. If you have a wire or mesh in your garden, they will climb beautifully. Choose multiple plants and pick regularly. I like to choose the National - Small green variety. They produce small, juicy and tasty cucumbers that do not grow into those whoppers that you can hardly get in your preserving jars . How do you go about it?

Step 1 Pickling Pickles: Prepare Your Vegetables

The first step is of course to harvest our cucumbers. Harvest them regularly, so the plant continues to produce fruit. Use a sharp and clean harvesting shears. My Japanese harvest monster the Okatsune 306 is the perfect tool for this.

Tip: I remove the first 1 to 3 cucumbers on the plant, this way the plant gets more energy for the development of its root system and structure. Harvest the cucumbers between 3 to 5 cm, those are the best. Too large cucumbers only give you the taste of sweet, sour and aromatics, not of the vegetable itself.

Before pickling, wash the pickles thoroughly and pat them dry on a paper towel or towel. If you like your pickles crispy, sprinkle them with salt and let them sweat overnight. Make sure your pets - if you have them - can't get to them.

Step 2: Make your canning mixture

The type of vinegar you use doesn't really matter. You can use regular kitchen vinegar, cider vinegar, apple vinegar, wine vinegar, alcohol vinegar, ... whatever you like and have available.

My basic canning recipe consists of:

• 3 parts water
• 2 parts vinegar
• 1 part sugar

If you don't like sweet canning recipes, you can leave out or reduce the sugar. Then you use 50% water and 50% vinegar. It's best to experiment with the proportions yourself.

Other aromatics in my pickle preserving recipe per quart of preserving mixture:

• 4 tablespoons
  • white peppercorns or
  • black peppercorns or
  • mustard seeds
• 4 bay leaves
• 4 cloves of garlic
• a few sprigs of dill , parsley, tarragon , rosemary, thyme, ... you will find something in your vegetable garden.
• There is already enough salt by letting your pickles sweat overnight

Make your brew by pouring the vinegar into a jar. Place your herbs of choice in a hop bag and dip it in your pickling mixture (water, vinegar with or without sugar). Bring the mixture to a boil and stir occasionally. After 10 minutes, remove the hop bag with aromatics and set your jar aside. You can reuse the aromatics for your jars , but the boiling process has made the flavor and texture a bit weak. When filling, I prefer to finish with some fresh, crisp aromatics.

WARNING! This step will add a pungent odor to your home. Consider brewing outside or under the hood :)

Step 3 Pickling Pickles: Prepare Your Canning Jars

During or before cooking your canning mixture, you can sterilize your jars . They really need to be free of bacteria or other organisms. Otherwise, you risk making a messy mixture that you don't want to eat. First clean your jars , new canning jars can be rinsed thoroughly. You can sterilize your jars :

• In the oven: 20 minutes at 120 degrees
• In boiling water: for 10 minutes
• In the dishwasher on the highest setting

Step 4 Pickling Pickles: Filling the Jars

So far, no complicated things with preserving pickles and fortunately that will remain so. You can now fill your clean and sterile jars with your pickles. Also make sure that your hands and nails are spotless. If you want, you can now add all sorts of things. In each jar something: mustard seeds, peppercorns , a sprig of green celery, fresh herbs, silver onions, finely chopped pieces of paprika , a pepper , ... Make your own creation, your own recipe and exchange tastes and experiences with others. But don't overdo it, a cacophony of tastes is sometimes too overwhelming.

Once your pickles and aromatics are in the jar, pour hot pickling mixture over your pickles until your jar is completely full. The mixture and your jars are best when you close them with the lid. As the closed, filled jars cool, a vacuum is created which gives your pickles a very long shelf life.

Step 5 Making Pickles: Waiting :)

Our pickles that originally went raw in our jars are ready after a few months. After 3 months I would open the first one. You will be amazed at the satisfaction you get when you taste the delicious pickles. So much better than those you can buy in the store. And on top of that, something you made yourself makes you so much happier.

Tasty !

If you find the information on this site valuable, then definitely consider buying your canning supplies from us. Our motto is, what you make or create yourself makes you fundamentally happy.

Kind regards,

Tom