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Name: Pickled gherkins
Prep time: 4 h 36 min
Total time: 4 h 36 min
Yield: 500 g
Cuisine: french
Ingredients: 500 g fresh gherkins; 300 g coarse salt; 1 sprig tarragon; pepper; 300 ml white (spirit) vinegar

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Pickled gherkins

Preparing your own gherkins in vinegar is quite straightforward, if you know how to avoid a few pitfalls. Here's a recipe which works every time.

536,400 73.7/5

Last modified on: August 21^th 2013

For 500 g, you will need:

1 500 g fresh gherkins
2 300 g coarse salt
3 1 sprig tarragon
4 pepper
5 300 ml white (spirit) vinegar
Total weight: 1,100 grams

Change for: 250 g 500 g 1 kg 1 kg 500 g

Measures: Metric USA British Metric weight Metric volumes

How long does it take?

Preparation	Resting	Start to finish
36 min.	4 hours	4 hours 36 min.

Preservation: Several months

At what time?

When will I finish if I start the recipe at a certain time?
When should I start for the recipe to be ready at a certain time?
Work this out...

Step by step recipe

Stage 1

5 min.

Wash the 500 g fresh gherkins thoroughly.

Stage 2

10 min.

Brush each gherkin under running water to remove all the little "bristles" and give it a smooth surface.

Stage 3

If you don't have a suitable brush, or if you prefer, you can use my grandmother Jeanne's method: rub them with the corner of a tea-towel.

Stage 4

5 min.

Cut off any remaining stalks from the gherkins.

Stage 5

5 min.

Rinse again, then dry with a tea-towel.

Stage 6

3 hours

Put the gherkins in a bowl with 300 g coarse salt for 3 hours to draw off some of the juice.

Note: contarary to popular belief, there is no need to soak them any longer than this, as they will start to dry out.

Stage 7

5 min.

After this time, discard the salty water and rinse the gherkins...

Stage 8

1 hour

...and soak them for 1 hour in a bowl of cold water. We do this so that the gherkins will not be too salty.

After one hour, drain the gherkins and dry them on a tea-towel.

Stage 9

1 min.

Pour 1 sprig tarragon and a few peppercorns into the bottom of the jar you are going to use.

Stage 10

5 min.

Fill the jar with gherkins and cover with cold white vinegar (there's no need to boil or even heat it).

Seal the lid and leave to mature for a month before eating.

Remarks

You can use a different vinegar if you prefer, but if you do not use white vinegar, your gherkins may take on an unusual colour.

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Calories	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
69	6 gr	12 gr	0 gr
3 %	2 %	1 %	0 %

Per 100 g
Calories	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
6	1 gr	1 gr	0 gr
<1 %	<1 %	<1 %	0 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories by day for a woman (change to a man).

How much will it cost?

For 500 g : 3.36 €

Note : These prices are only approximate.

Change currency:

Source: According to the lady on the market who sold me gherkins.

More recipes?

This recipe use (among others)

	White (spirit) vinegar: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Poached eggs, Fish petals, vegetables julienne, and beurre blanc, Sautéed chicken with leeks, Mackerel Fillets in White Wine, How to prepare cabbage, ... All
	Coarse salt: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: How to prepare broccoli, Burger buns, Fish in a salt crust, Stock-pot fish , Salmon marinated like herring, ... All
	Tarragon: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Béarnaise sauce, Little vegetable omelettes, Spinach fritters, Rillettes stuffed mushrooms, Chicken breasts with tarragon, ... All

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Your 7 comments or questions on this recipe

Can the gherkins be sliced before putting them into the jar or would you recommend leaving them whole?
Posted by Kirstie-G october 19^th 2014 at 12:48 (n° 1)
I always leave them whole, because they are small and don't need to be cut.
But if you use big one, I think (but not totally sure) that you can cut them in pieces.
Posted by jh october 20^th 2014 at 10:25 (n° 2)
Thank you for the instructions. I have just bought gherkin seeds for this year's summer, but did not know how to pickle them.
I am looking forward to harvesting and pickling my own gherkins!
Posted by Fumiko from Japan january 14^th 2015 at 08:37 (n° 3)
Sorry, I don't know how to.
My skill in garden work is close to zero :-(
Posted by jh january 14^th 2015 at 09:19 (n° 4)
I had been looking for an uncomplicated recipe for pickled gherkins. Great thing here is that it seems the most sensible and gets straight to the point without having to read lots of twaddle!
Posted by Frederick july 3^rd 2015 at 18:48 (n° 5)
Your instructions specifically say to use white vinegar, but then right below it u say you can use a different vinegar if we'd like, but don't use white vinegar because it leaves and unusual color....? Which one is it?? White or not white?
Posted by Julie august 4^th 2017 at 16:50 (n° 6)
As you read it in the recipe: At your choice, white vinegar => classical gherkins, other vinegars (red wine vinegar for example) gherkins with unusual colour, but still goods.
Posted by jh august 4^th 2017 at 18:28 (n° 7)

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