Cucumber pickling questions

[snewman]

I have never pickled cucumbers (or anything else for that matter). This is the first year my garden has really exploded in cucumbers and I'd love to pickle some. However, the recipes I see are mostly for small cucumbers that would be pickled whole. Mine are big, full-sized cukes. Can I slice them and use the same recipes? Any do's and don'ts for pickling that aren't mentioned in the recipes? I want dill pickles, so if anyone has a fabulous recipe I'd love to hear that too. Thanks!

 

[PotterWatch]

I made pickles this year with the small supply my plants gave me (I have never had good luck with cucumbers). I had fairly short but very fat cukes that made great sliced pickles. They were sweet refrigerator pickles though, not storage ones or dills. I too would love to get a good dill recipe for sliced pickles even though I will have to buy mine from the farmer's market.

 

[dipence71]

Yes you can cut them up and do them the same way. I use mrs wages dill and bread and butter ect and they are very good and much easier for first time pickler and an experience one to save time and like I said they are really good. I have my own recipe as well but not handy at the moment will look it up for you, I like some of mine to be really dilly and almost sour.
Just cut them up how ever you want slice or sticks or even chunks!!

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

I slice my cukes, fill some jars, & get a pot of water(about a gallon, I never measure) add 3 glurgs (about a cup) of apple cider vinegar, A couple of dashes(2 or 3 tablespoons, probably) of Mrs.Smiths cold dill pickle mix, A couple of dashes of salt(see other dash measurement), a couple of cayenne,& jalapeno peppers, boil hard, & pour into jars over sliced cukes. Lid them, wait for them to seal, wait 2 weeks(the hard part), then gobble "em up. DELICIOUS!

Before you add boiling liquid to the jar, fill them with hot water & let the glass & cukes heat up, then drain, add liquid. No pressure cooker required.

 

[BettyR]

Kosher Dill Pickle

Ingredients

· 1 gallon cucumbers
· 1/3 cup dehydrated minced onion
· 2 teaspoons dehydrated minced garlic or 6 garlic cloves, minced
· 1-1/2 teaspoons mustard seeds
· 4 teaspoons dill seed
· 1 1/2 quarts water
· 2 cups cider vinegar
· 1/2 cup canning salt…(I couldn’t find canning salt so I just used plain table salt with no iodine)

Slice cucumbers lengthwise into quarters add to jars.
Boil liquids and seasonings for 5 minutes to dissolve the salt and wake up the flavors, then cool. Pour over pickles and let sit on counter for three days turning them occasionally. Then refrigerate. They will keep for a year.
Please do not try to use the regular grocery store cucumbers, they have wax on them and they will not turn out. You can use grocery store pickling cucumbers, as they are not waxed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bread and Butter Pickles by Alton Brown

1/2 onion, thinly sliced
2 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced
1-cup water
1-cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
Pinch kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2-teaspoon turmeric
1/2-teaspoon celery seeds

Combine onion and cucumber slices in a clean spring-top jar.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 4 full minutes to wake up the flavors of the spices.

Slowly pour the hot pickling liquid over the onion and cucumber slice, completely filling the jar. Allow the pickles to cool to room temperature before topping off with any remaining pickling liquid. Refrigerate.

 

[AhBee01]

It is not safe to make pickles with out processing them. You water bath pickles. Mrs wages is a great place to start, easy and really good, but you have to water bath them in order not to have to refrigerate them. Please follow a tested recipe so you do not end up regretting your canning experience! You need exact measurements of water to vinegar or your recipe won't be safe.
It is not safe to heat jars up, then fill with pickles and then let them seal with out some kind of processing, just letting them seal that way isn't a strong enough seal and bad thing can start to grow.
Go to here for safe recipes, http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can4_vegetable.html or follow the instructions on the packet of Mrs wages!
There are some good recipes in the recipe forum just be sure you are following a safe recipe! You life could depend on it!

 

[snewman]

Thanks everybody!

 

[BettyR]

By that recipe is refrigerator pickles.

 

[WVchick71]

I pickled cukes from my garden last summer...until I was sick of looking at them. lol i also used Mrs. wages. The kids just raved about how they tasted just like store bought. I used regular sized also and just sliced them either long or into pickle slices.

 

[Bridget399]

Quote:
I used Mrs.Wages, too. Fat cukes are perfect for spears!