Swedish Cucumbers (Easy Quick Pickle Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

How long do cucumbers have to soak to become pickles? ›

Begin sampling the cucumbers after 4 hours if you've quartered them, 8 hours if you've halved them. In either case, it will probably take from 12 to 24 or even 48 hours for them to taste pickled enough to suit your taste. When they are ready, transfer them to an airtight container and refrigerate them in the brine.

A pickled cucumber – commonly known as a pickle in the United States and Canada and a gherkin (/ɡərkɪn/) in Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand – is a usually small or miniature cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or other solution and left to ferment.

This salt treatment draws water out of the cucumbers and flavors them, so it's critically important. After layering or mixing in plenty of sea salt, I cover the salted cukes with ice cubes and a tea towel and forget about them for a few hours.

Quick pickles are made by adding hot brine to fresh veggies and letting them sit in the fridge. You can eat them almost immediately for a crunchy, lightly flavored snack, but they're best if you give them at least 24 hours. For true pickle flavor, wait a week.

For quick pickles, a basic brine is equal parts vinegar and water, but you can adjust the ratio to your preference. Any basic vinegar is game — white vinegar, apple cider, white wine, and rice vinegar all work well. You can use these vinegars alone or in combination.

Pour the all of the liquid over the cucumbers so they're fully submerged. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (for pickle rounds) or at least 3 hours (for pickle spears). The flavor will continue to develop over the next couple of days. These pickles will keep for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

While any cucumber can be pickled, pickling cucumbers, or Kirby cucumbers, work best. They have bumpy, spiny skins, are never waxed, and range in color from pale yellow to dark green. Burpless cucumbers are the sweetest type of cucumber. They have thin skins, are easier to digest, and are practically seedless.

Ferment the cucumbers for 4 days away from direct sunlight. On day 4, taste the cucumbers. If you want them to be tangier and sourer, replace the weight and lid and continue to ferment for a few more days. If you're happy with the taste, remove the weight, and fermentation lid.

How Do Cucumbers Become Pickles? The main process at work here is fermentation. Cucumbers are submerged in a saltwater brine or vinegar; with time (anywhere from several days to even months), those cucumbers will turn into pickles.

Toss the cucumber coins with salt, then let them sit in a colander — we set ours in the sink — for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, rinse the cucumbers with cold water. Rinsing removes any excess salt so the salad won't be too salty.

Should you refrigerate cucumbers before pickling? ›

For best quality, pickle fruits or vegetables within 24 hours of harvest, or refrigerate for no more than a few days. Remove all blossoms from cucumbers and cut a 1/16-inch slice from the blossom end. The blossoms contain enzymes that can cause softening of the final product.

English cucumbers, sometimes called hothouse cucumbers or European cucumbers, have a long, narrow shape and a thin, edible skin. Because their tender skin makes them prone to bruising easily, they are wrapped in plastic to protect the fruit in transit to grocers.

The technique—a version of vinegar pickling that doesn't require a full canning process—produces briny, crunchy pickled vegetables in just a couple hours. Heat the brine until sugar and salt dissolve, then pour it over the vegetables and let them cool in the jar—voila, pickles.

Quick-process pickles differ from fermented pickles because the pickling process uses acetic acid from vinegar rather than lactic acid from fermentation. Quick-process pickles are ideal for those who want to make pickles, start to finish, in a few days.

Pickle Brine vs.

Typical pickle brine is a solution of about 5 to 7% salt and anywhere from 1:1 to 1.5:1 vinegar to water. Quickles, on the other hand, typically have a higher salt and vinegar content. A quickle brine is an 8 to 10% salt solution with a 1.5:1 to 2:1 vinegar content.

Pour in the water and stir well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Keep the water refrigerated. Drink within 3 days.

Fill with the brine, ensuring one inch of headspace. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Remove from hot water bath and allow to cool overnight to ensure a good seal. Pickles are good for one year with a good seal, stored in a cool, dry place.