1,567 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...

Pickled gherkins

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

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.

801 K 7× 3.5/5 (261 reviews)

4 hours 40 min. difficulté

Easy

3.40 €

500 g

5 Ingredients

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

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 40 min.

Resting: 4 hours

All in all: 4 hours 40 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

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.

Keeping: Several months.

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

Nutritional information

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	5 RDI=2 %	10 RDI=1 %	0	70 RDI=3 %	290 RDI: 3 %
Per 100 g	0	1 RDI=0 %	0	6 RDI=0 %	30 RDI: 0 %

Possible allergens in this recipe: Sulfites

How much will it cost?

For 500 g : 3.40 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

This recipe uses (among others)

Other recipes you may also like

Sandwich bread

Soft and moist, almost like brioche, it can be made in a tin or mould or as a classic long French-style loaf.

October 24^th 2017371 K3.9 3 hours 30 min.

Leeks in vinaigrette

A classic dish of French family and bistro cooking. It's both simple and good. The secret lies in cooking the leeks until they are only just tender, so that they keep their lovely green colour. The special vinaigrette includes herbs and hard-boiled eggs.

September 29^th 2012199 K4.3 45 min.

Royal icing

Royal icing is a mixture of egg white and icing sugar. From its pasty consistency when fresh, it dries to give a lovely white crust.

February 12^th 2012216 K4.7 15 min.

Chorba

Chorba is a spicy meat and vegetable soup, typical of the Maghreb. This is my own personal version.

May 4^th 2012164 K5 2 hours 8 min.

Franche-Comté sticks

Thin baguettes made with Morteau sausage and cancoillotte cheese. The cancoillotte is added in the form of crumbled metton curds (normally melted in milk to make the creamy cancoillotte). Sliced thinly, these sticks make an ideal aperitif snack for sharing with friends.

October 24^th 2017128 K4 5 hours 30 min.

News list of cooking-ez.com

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.

The 7 comments already posted on this recipe

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.
jh august 4^th 201718:28 7
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?
Julie august 4^th 201716:50 6
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!
Frederick july 3^rd 201518:48 5
Sorry, I don't know how to.
My skill in garden work is close to zero :-(
jh january 14^th 201509:19 4
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!
Fumiko from Japan january 14^th 201508:37 3
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.
jh october 20^th 201410:25 2
Can the gherkins be sliced before putting them into the jar or would you recommend leaving them whole?
Kirstie-G october 19^th 201412:48 1

Follow this recipe (as 40 people already do)

If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.