Tiny Pickling Cukes

I've always made cucumber pickles the short-cut way, by putting them in a brine of vinegar and water. The last three years I've had such good luck with homemade sauerkraut, next season I want to make some cucumber pickles the REAL way - with lacto-fermentation.

Seed catalogs are starting to arrive, and I'm trying to choose a cucumber variety just for this. I want to pick the cukes very small, only 2" or 3" long, and the skin should be very tender and the seeds almost nonexistent at that size. I'd like a variety that's very productive also, so I can pick three gallons or so off an 8' long fence in just a couple of days for the pickling bucket. Can anyone suggest a good cucumber variety for this?

BTW - my regular, large, slicing cucumber variety next year will be Japanese Long from Baker Creek Seeds here in MO. I grew those for the first time this year and that's the best cuke I've ever grown - crisp, tender, thin-skinned, burpless, small-seeded, great flavor, compact vines, and extremely productive, bearing heavily for weeks and weeks. I can't say enough good about Japanese Long for a big cucumber, but I also want some little-bitty ones to pickle whole next season. Thanks.

Ozark I do a lot of Pickling and I can't think of one that would grow to that size, are you trying to make Gherkin's..??? I would probably look into the asian market they seem to have the market on small vegetables, like corn, pak choi and such wish I could help...if you find anything about this please leave me a note...I love Gherkin's.

"are you trying to make Gherkin's?"
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In a way, I guess. I did some online reading and found that in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand "pickle" is understood to mean "pickled cucumber". However, in Great Britain "pickle" is a relish sauce and any type of pickled cucumber is called a "gherkin". So yes, gherkin is just a different term for what I've got in mind.

"Gherkin" is also a word for small cucumber varieties originating in the West Indies that have thick skins and lots of spikes. Those are often pickled, and they're probably the reason the Brits got to calling all cucumber pickles "gherkins". I think small cukes with thinner and smoother skins will be better for what I want to do. I've found several possibilities in the seed catalogs so far. Thanks.

Most of the pickling cucumbers should meet your requirements except perhaps for the compact vines. Pickle Bush may be your best fit. If you don't mind trellising vines, The National Pickling is a prolific yielder. Similar older varieties include Boston Pickling, Chicago Pickling. Among the newer varieties, Vlasstar ( type you find in the whole Vlassic pickles) , Carolina, Corentine, Calypso, Arabian etc. All of these are designed to pick very young (1-2 inch) for whole pack pickles. Arabian does have compact vines.

Ozark, I tried Paris Pickling cucumber two years ago. The vining was fairly vigorous, but the little cuques made up into very nice "refrigerator dill pickles". And there were allllot of little cucumbers from just one vine so your could probably get away with planting one or two vines in a large pot with a sturdy trellis if you didn't want to plant in the ground. I would not call them seedless, but not so many seeds and they really had a nice snap to them once pickled. I'm not sure about the skin as that sort of thing is in the eye of the beholder. Last year was a bust due to two months straight of never ending 100 degree plus temps. But even I was wilting in that heat and I love hot summers =D. Anyway, I will grow them again this year and hope for the best.

http://www.italianseedandtool.com/category/italian_seed_and_tool.vegetable_seed.cucumber/

Have fun with your new pickling project! Let us know how it turns out.

Hey Ozark, you might want to try these....

Rocky http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-6779-rocky-f1.aspx Love this one for pickling!

Harmonie http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8485-harmonie-f1.aspx Another good pickler.

I'm gonna try these this year, along with the usuals http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8484-adam-gherkin-f1-og.aspx

I do most of my Pickling of Cucumber's with Kirby's... small thin skinned, and excellent for Pickling, whether you cold , or Cook Press them, I made a lot this year gave many away and everyone loved them... I Hope this Help's...

When I was a kid, my mother would plant gerkins every couple of years to pickle whole. They would make a zillion of the little short cukes about as long as my finger. She would put up sweet and dill pickles out of them. They were delicious and so crunchy.

Jim 41
Do you have any of the seeds?Some one had posted showing a long cuke back during the late fall and I failed to inquire about them.Would love to have some of your seeds if you have them.
Thanks
louisiana

Hi louisiana,

I never save cucumber seed. The ones I plant are the long dark green burpless hy brid. I also plant a few hills of one of the asian cukes as well. Sorry.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1174823/

Ozark,

I'm late to this thread, but I thought I'd offer my thoughts anyway. I grew the OP Pickle Bush last year and I had great results, even with the drought in central Texas. I liked the bush growth habit and I had no complaints about the productivity. I canned several gallons of pickles, both whole, spears, and slices. I let most of mine grow to 4-5 inches, but it would have been easy enough to pick them smaller.

The bush plants made it easier to control weeds, too. I could easily move my wheel hoe through the area while the plants were small, and as they grow they kept the competing weeds more or less shaded out. The attached photo shows a half-gallon of whole pickles, a quart of dill spears, and a pint of bread-and-butter chips.

David

dreaves - VERY nice looking pickles! A question: I didn't ferment cucumber pickles last year, I just added vinegar, water, and seasonings as per many "easy" pickle recipes and gave the jars a short boil in a hot-water canner. The pickles turned out fine (we're still trying to eat up 23 quarts), but they're white, not green.

Now, I peeled and sliced mine so they were white inside and pretty much stayed white. I notice your pickles are green like supermarket pickles. Is that because you fermented them instead of just adding brine, or was green food coloring used, or is it because they're not peeled? I ask because I intend to ferment pickles next time and I'd like them to turn out green, not white.

Sam,

For most of the pickles the color must be from the skins. The pickling brine I used didn't have any coloring. The bread-and-butter pickles get some of their color from the turmeric in the spices. I pickle with hot brine, and a hot-water bath for the full time recommended. That probably pulls some of the color from the skins into the brine and the inside of the pickles.

David