How To Pickle Cucumbers
By Anne
Pickle season is here, and my favorite thing to pickle is cucumbers. This recipe is simple, it’s done in no time, and it’s very tasty. I don’t use any preservatives, and the pickles will last a couple of years. You can use the same recipe for pickling peppers.
This is how my grandma used to pickle cucumbers, so I can’t provide the exact quantities, plus everybody can adjust the sugar, salt, or vinegar anyway they like it.
Ingredients:
- Cucumbers
- Vinegar
- Sugar
- Salt
- Water
Optional:
- Hot Peppers
- Onions
- Carrots
- Tarragon
- Savory
- Dill
- Mustard seeds
- Wash the cucumbers.
- Cut the ends.
- If the cucumbers are small, I put them in whole. Otherwise, I cut them into fourths.
- I place them in the jar, trying to fit as many as possible.
- Sometimes I add onions and carrots too.
- For flavor, sometimes I add tarragon, savory, or dill.
- Afterwards, I add vinegar, about 0.8 inches a jar, but I actually put about one finger(width).
- Add a teaspoon spoon of salt.
- Add two teaspoons of sugar.
- Add mustard seeds; this helps preserve the pickles better. I also like their taste.
- My personal touch is a little bit of hot pepper. This will give the pickles a unique sweet and sour taste and a little bit of a spicy flavor.
- After mixing these ingredients, fill the jar with cold water. It’s important for the water to be cold; otherwise, the jars will break.
- After screwing the caps on the jars, turn them upside down to check if they leak.
- Put them in a pot, and add water until it covers them.
- After the water starts boiling, keep them boiling for another 20 minutes more.
- Take them out of the pot and put a towel on them. Itis better for them to cool as slowly as possible.
- The pickles can be eaten the next day.
We recently opened one jar from three years ago, and they are still delicious.
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23 Comments
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Are your pickles crisp like when you use alum or soft?
Thank you for asking.
The pickles are crispy. If you use good quality ingredients and follow this method firming agents like alum are not needed.
What type of vinegar do you use?
I use either apple vinegar or white vinegar.
If you put the sugar in these, does it make them like bread, & butter pickles?
No. They have a different taste.
I’m no canning expert, so forgive my ignorance, but if you boil the jars for twenty minutes with the lids screwed on tight, isn’t there a danger that the jars will break? It has been at least half a century since I watched my mother preserve food in jars and my recollection is hazy, but I seem to remember that the lids went on after boiling but before cooling as the cooling then drew the lids down tight onto the jars.
I notice in the pictures that the author seems to be using ordinary jars and not special canning jars and lids. Is that the difference?
For me, this is an important point because it would allow preserving cucumbers without a pressure cooker, so an informed response would really be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Fill the jars with cold water. Is very important for the jars to be cold otherwise they will break. Screw on the lids, turn the jars upside down so they won’t leak. The water in the pot has to be cold. When you see the water boiling leave them for 20 minutes more and afterwards cover them and wait for them to cool down as slowly as possible.
This is a tested method. This recipe is in my family for over 40 years. My grandmother used to make them when I was a kid. I don’t think she ever bought a new jar. We never used special jars. We use jars three of four times until the lid doesn’t screw properly.
I was wondering about the jars and lids also. They appear to be used. Will used lids seal properly? All of my jar lids have dents in them from where I hit them on the counter edge to help open them the first time.
They are all used jars. I check the lids, they have to seal hermetically otherwise they won’t be any good.
I use a spoon to open the lids so I don’t mess them up.
Anne,
Will those jars reseal using those lids? Would it not be safer to use regular canning jars & lids?
Usually they do reseal, I use them about 3 or 4 times before throwing them away.
I don’t buy new jars, not empty ones at least :).
But if you feel more comfortable use new ones. The pickles would be just as good :).
Thanks for your answers, Anne.
Thank you for all the insight you bring to this website. Your comments are very much appreciated.
I followed your instructions to a “T”, however, the next day when I opened the jar to try them, they are not crispy…actually kinda mushy?? What do you think that I did wrong? Did I not cook them enough or too long? What, if anything, can I do to correct this? Please advise. Thanks.
Hi Jules,
Thank you for trying my recipe. The cucumbers get mushy when you over cooked them. Maybe you left them too much to boil. Were the cucumbers fresh? Sometimes this happens if the cucumbers have been harvested for a long time.
Unfortunately you cannot make them crunchy again but you could use them in salad. If you have some leftover chicken add some boiled vegetables and mayonnaise. Or just a simple potato salad. The pickles give it a fresh taste.
Please don’t let this stop you from trying this recipe again.
How much mustard seed?
Half a teaspoon.
Anne, I have much respect for your many years of experience, but there is a reason that most canners leave the lids loose until the contents of the jars have been boiling for a few minutes. If you seal them tight when cold there will still be some air in the jars. The air remaining in the jars will be sterilized with the food, but it still contains some oxygen which can cause food inside to become discolored over time if any part is not fully submerged. This can cause people to discard the canned food thinking it is unsafe. If you simmer the food inside the jars for a few minutes with the lids loose, the steam from inside the jar drives out any remaining air. Then when you tighten the lids fully, no air can get back in. Some foods can soak up more water over time, leaving the the top exposed if the level of liquid was low. If you ever saw the tips of exposed food turn dark inside a jar, it’s not usually because the seal failed, it’s just trapped air.
One of my questions are: do you kosher salt (my Aunt told be to buy premix, when I failed 40 yrs ago) still turned out mushy and no flavor, quit trying. I think she pressure cook them, but a hot bath will work just as good as I read your post. I want to learn how to teach my children and grand children so the store isn’t their first choice
Thank you very much for your recipe Anne! I hope you continue to inspire people to follow the recipes that have been in your family for years. I appreciate your ability to respond to all the comments too! This recipe seems extremely simple and easy to follow. I’ll have to come back and share my end product once I’ve done it myself! Thank you again!
Hey.. H r u?
I love ur recipe
Can i ask somthing??
If i dnt have jar which are shown in picture. Can i use jam bottle ??