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Learn how to make simple cucumber pickles at home with this easy recipe. Preserve your summer cucumber harvest and enjoy these tasty pickles throughout the year. You don’t need any special equipment and you can store these for up to 18 months. These are similar to bread and butter pickles and are delicious in sandwiches and burgers. You can also add them to a cheese board or eat them straight from the jar!
What are cucumber pickles?
Cucumber pickles are cucumbers that are sliced and pickled in a liquid that flavours and preserves them. This process makes them shelf stable. Cucumber pickles have a distinctly balanced sweet and sour taste that are delicious when added to meals (or enjoyed on their own). They go particularly well with meats or in burgers.
The preservation process uses a method called ‘canning’, also known as ‘bottling’ to make it safe to consume.
What are the best type of cucumbers for pickling?
You can use pretty much any kind of cucumbers, but for best results, firm cucumbers with thin skin work well. I really like to use these small, bumpy gerkin style cucumbers.
What ingredients do you need for this cucumber pickle recipe?
It only takes a few simple ingredients to make your own homemade cucumber pickles.
- Cucumbers
- Raw or white sugar
- White vinegar
- Water
- Salt (I prefer sea salt over table salt)
- Flavour additions (see below recommendations)
What is canning?
Canning, also known as bottling, is a method of preserving fresh produces. Once your produce has been canned, it becomes shelf stable so that you can continue to enjoy summer produce for the months ahead. Canning has been widely used as a preservation method since the late 1700’s. Canning is not limited to preserving vegetables. When done correctly, canning can also be used to preserve many things including fruit, meat and even dairy.
Is it safe to can cucumber pickles at home?
Canning pasteurises the food within the jars to reduce any bad bacteria to levels that don’t harm us. The pasteurisation process involves heating the food within the jars to 72-80oC. The food is then held in a vacuum seal to prevent any airborne bacteria from entering the jar and contaminating the contents.
Because some bacteria survive the pasteurisation process, we either need to add acid, such as vinegar, or sugar to the jar to prevent these bacteria from multiplying and contaminating the food.
- Acid such as vinegar or citric acid preserves food by reducing the pH to a low enough level that bad bacteria are not able to live or reproduce. This is the case in cucumber pickles.
- Sugar preserves food in a similar manner to salt and involves osmosis. Sugar and salt help to draw moisture out of the food, preventing bacteria from entering. Sugar and salt also act to dehydrate and kill bacteria. A good example of this is my recipe for how to can plums (and other stone fruit) at home.
Please use your senses and intuition when canning and consuming foods canned at home. If in doubt, do some more research and make an informed choice.
What equipment do you need to make homemade cucumber pickles?
- Mandoline – this is not essential but makes the slicing process so quick!
- Large bowl
- Canning jars
- Large pot for water bath canning
- Thermometer
- Small saucepan for heating pickling liquid
- Canning tongs
What flavours can you add to your cucumber pickles?
There are many flavour combinations you can add to this simple recipe for homemade pickles. I like to add a variety of spices, some great options are:
- Mustard seeds
- White onion
- Fresh dill or dill seeds
- Black peppercorns
- Turmeric
- Garlic clove
- Ginger
- Chilli
- Citrus
- Juniper
- Fresh chilli or chilli flakes for spicy pickles
How to make simple cucumber pickles
Gather your equipment and prep your cucumbers
In just a few easy steps, you’ll be on your way to enjoying these tasty, crunchy pickles. Wash your fresh cucumbers and slice into thin slices using a knife or a mandoline. You can also do thick slices if you prefer. Weigh your sliced cucumbers in a large bowl and take a note of the weight.
Cure the sliced cucumber
Add salt to your cucumber slices (5% of the weight of the cucumbers) and mix together well. Set aside to cure at room temperature for 6-8 hours. Rinse sliced cucumbers well, it may take a couple of rinses to remove most of the salt.
Blanch the cucumbers, add to jars and cover with pickling liquid.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add cucumbers, blanch for 2 minutes. Remove and drain cucumbers and divide amongst your jars. Add your flavourings.
To make the vinegar brine, bring the white vinegar, water, sugar, sliced onions, mustard seeds and turmeric to the boil over high heat.
Pour the vinegar brine over cucumbers in the jars. Fill to 1-2cm below the top of the jar. Clean around the rim of the jars with wet paper towel. This is important for getting a good seal.
Water bath can your cucumber pickles
Place your lids and rings on. Tighten slightly but not too tight. Add jars to a large pot and cover to just above the level of the lids with water.
Bring the temperature to 72-80oC and hold for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and carefully remove your hot jars with canning tongs. You can let the water cool slightly first if you prefer.
Cool and store your cucumber pickles
Allow to cool overnight. Lids should suck down and seal very tightly, you may hear them popping, which is a good sign. If the lid doesn’t seal, repeat water bath step with a new lid.
The next day, if using lids with rings as shown, remove the rings and ensure that the seal is tight. Always store this type of jar without the rings and never stack them as this may compromise the seal.
Best eaten after 2-3 months. Store your jars of pickles in a cool, dark place for up to 18 months. Although these last a long time when stored correctly, I’m sure they’ll disappear before too long!
How to make simple cucumber pickles
Ingredients
- 1 kg cucumbers, sliced
- 50 g sea salt (5% of weight of cucumber)
- 1 cup vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 3 tbsp raw sugar
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp tumeric
- 1/2 brown onion finely sliced
Instructions
- Wash, slice and weigh your cucumbers in a large bowl.
- Add salt and mix together well.
- Set aside at room temperature, covered, to cure for 6-8 hours or overnight.
- Thoroughly rinse and drain your sliced cucumbers.
- Thoroughly wash your jars and lids in hot, soapy water.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil and add sliced cucumbers. Blanch for 2 minutes, drain and add to your clean jars.
- Bring water, vinegar, sugar, onions and turmeric to boil, pour this hot liquid over cucumbers in the jars.
- Clean around the rims of the jars with wet paper towel. Add lids and close firmly but not too tight.
- Place jars into a large pot and cover with water to just above the lids surface.
- Bring the temperature to 72-80oC and hold for 20 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and carefully remove your hot jars with jar lifter. You can let the water cool slightly first if you prefer.
- Allow to cool for several hours. Lids should suck down and seal very tightly. If lid doesn't seal, repeat water bath step with a new lid.
- If using lids and rings, remove the rings and ensure that the seal is tight. Always store these jars without the rings.
- Best eaten after 2-3 months. Store in a cool, dark place for up to 18 months.
Notes
My frugal tips
- Grow your own cucumbers – if you have the means, growing your own cucumbers is a great way to save money. Cucumbers are prolific plants that produce a large amount in a short space of time. I grow a whole row of cucumbers for the sole purpose of making these yummy pickles. Pickling is a great way to use that large cucumber that may have gotten away from you!
- Check out your local farmers market – if you head to the market in mid-late summer, you’re bound to find some good value cucumbers that are in season and perfect for pickling.
- Make sure cucumbers are in season – as always, produce that’s in season will be better value than out of season produce. If you need to buy store-bought cucumbers, try and choose organic where possible.
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