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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.

658,658 73.5/5 for 211 ratings

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Last modified on: August 21^th 2013

For 500 g, you will need:

0 500 ml fresh gherkins
1 300 ml coarse salt
2 1 sprig tarragon
3 pepper
4 300 ml white (spirit) vinegar

Change these quantities to make: 250 g 500 g 1 kg 1 kg 500 g

Change measures: Metric

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How long does it take?

Time required for this recipe:

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

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Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 5 min.

Wash the 500 ml 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 ml 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.

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
69 Kcal or 289 Kj	6 gr	12 gr	0 gr
3 %	2 %	1 %	0 %

Per 100 g
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
6 Kcal or 25 Kj	1 gr	1 gr	0 gr
0 %	<1 %	<1 %	0 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

How much will it cost?

For 500 g : 3.36 €

Change currency:

Note : These prices are only approximate.

Source

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

More recipes?

This recipe uses (among others)

	White (spirit) vinegar: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: How to prepare sorrel, Artichoke hearts forestier , How to prepare broccoli, How to prepare romanesco, How to prepare cabbage, ... All
	Coarse salt: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Preserved lemons, Stock-pot fish , How to prepare broccoli, French bean salad with vinaigrette , Foie gras cured in salt, ... All
	Tarragon: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Rillettes stuffed mushrooms, Chicken breasts with tarragon, Spinach fritters, Broad bean salad with Parmesan, Béarnaise sauce, ... All

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Your 7 comments or questions 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.
Posted by jh august 4^th 2017 at 18:28 (n° 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?
Posted by Julie august 4^th 2017 at 16:50 (n° 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!
Posted by Frederick july 3^rd 2015 at 18:48 (n° 5)
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)
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)
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)
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)

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