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–+ servings

Pickled gherkins with dill and sweet & sour vinegar recipe

Magdalena Marsden
This cold pickling method is easy to use and produces crunchy sweet & sour dill gherkins
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Soaking Time 1 day
Course condiments, preserves
Cuisine European
Servings 4 jars (depends on size)
Calories 221 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

Overnight pickling

  • 500 g small gherkins washed & cleaned
  • 1 garlic bulb cloves separated, peeled and halved
  • 200 g salt
  • 1 ltr cold water more or less, but just enough to cover the gherkins

Pickling liquid

  • 800 ml white vinegar
  • 1/2 white onion, sliced coarsely
  • 6 twigs of fresh dill few springs into each jar (keep them whole)
  • 2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 150 g white sugar or more/less to taste
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp new spice whole
  • 50 ml boiling water to dissolve the sugar
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns whole

Instructions
 

Preparing your gherkins

  • Wash and clean all gherkins first. Cut of any blemishes, stalks or flowers.
  • Layer into a large bowl and add salt to each layer.
  • Cover with cold water and leave for 12 or max 24 hrs.
  • Rinse the salt away.

Preparing the pickling liquid

  • Boil water and pour about 50 ml on the sugar, just enough to dissolve it. Stir before adding the rest of the ingredients.
  • Add all the other ingredients (apart from dill if using whole) and mix everything together.
  • If you are using dill as the whole herb, place it into the sterilised jars as you are layering your gherkings. Pack everything tightely in. If you are chopping the dill into smaller pieces, just add it to the main vinegar pickle.
  • Once you have all gherkins packed in to the jars, pour the pickling vinegar over it, making sure that you distribute evenly all the ingredients between the jars.
  • If you run out of the liquid, make up extra with just the vinegar, water.
  • Make sure that all the gherkins are submerged in the water and that there is a about 1 cm gap between the water level and the top of the jar.
  • Seal the jars and keep them somewhere in cold and dark place for a minimum of 2-3 weeks before you open them. This helps to develop the flavour (the longer - the better more intensive flavour).

Notes

The nutritional value is calculated per jar, with the recipe making 4 medium sized jars.

Nutrition

Calories: 221kcalCarbohydrates: 45gProtein: 2gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0.1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.2gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.4gSodium: 19970mgPotassium: 256mgFiber: 1gSugar: 40gVitamin A: 257IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 66mgIron: 1mg
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