University of Minnesota Extension

Extension > Food > Food Safety > Preserving and preparing > Vegetables and herbs > Sweet gherkin pickles

Sweet gherkin pickles

By William Schafer, University of Minnesota Extension food technologist
Reviewed 2010

See making fermented pickles and sauerkraut for safety precautions and details on equipment needed.

Ingredients

  • 7 lbs. cucumbers (1½ inch or less)
  • ½ cup canning or pickling salt
  • 8 cups sugar
  • 6 cups vinegar (5%)
  • ¾ tsp. turmeric
  • 2 tsp. celery seeds
  • 2 tsp. whole mixed pickling spice
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • ½ tsp. fennel (optional)
  • 2 tsp. vanilla (optional)

Yield: 6 to 7 pints

Procedure

  1. Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch slice off blossom end and discard, but leave ¼ inch of stem attached.
  2. Place cucumbers in large container and cover with boiling water.
  3. 6 to 8 hours later—Drain; add 1/4 cup salt and cover with fresh boiling water, and on the second day—Drain; add 1/4 cup salt and cover with fresh boiling water.
  4. On the third day:
    • Drain and prick cucumbers with a table fork.
    • Combine and bring to boil 3 cups vinegar, 3 cups sugar, turmeric, and spices. Pour over cucumbers.
    • Six to 8 hours later, drain and save the pickling syrup. Add another 2 cups each of sugar and vinegar and reheat to boil. Pour over pickles.
  5. On the fourth day:
    • Drain and save syrup.
    • Add another 2 cups sugar and 1 cup vinegar. Heat to boil and pour over pickles.
    • 6 to 8 hours later, drain and save pickling syrup. Add 1 cup sugar and 2 tsp. vanilla and heat to boil.
    • Fill sterile pint jars* with pickles and cover with hot syrup, leaving a ½-inch headspace.
    • Adjust lids and process as below, or use the low-temperature pasteurization treatment.

*To sterilize empty jars, put them right side up on the rack in a boiling water canner. Fill the canner and jars with hot (not boiling) water to 1 inch above the tops of the jars. Boil 11 minutes. Remove and drain hot sterilized jars one at a time.

Recommended process for sweet gherkin pickles

  • Boiling water bath
  • Pints: 10 minutes

Reviewed by Deb Botzek-Linn, University of Minnesota Extension educator, 2010.

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