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Gherkins

FlinsterFlinster Posts: 883
in Fruit & veg
Hi All
ibhave a few gherkins coming through now but not enough to do a hatful yet. Can I store them in a jar of vinegar until ready to pickle or can I store them some other way so I can wait for a full batch? Thanks 😃
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Posts

  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    Pick them early in the day wrap in a plastic bag and store in the fridge and they will keep for around a week while you wait for more to come ready. If you have enough for one jar you can make up a larger amount of vinegar than you need and store the extra vinegar for the next jar etc.
  • FlinsterFlinster Posts: 883
    Thanks @Skandi, that’s great, will pick tomorrow morning! 😃
  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    You can mix in some other veg.. cauliflower, green beans, carrots, etc.  They are all lovely pickled.  
    Utah, USA.
  • herbaceousherbaceous Posts: 2,318
    I salt mine before pickling so pop them in a fridge container with salt until the container is full then drain off the liquid, rinse and pickle.
    "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."  Sir Terry Pratchett
  • FlinsterFlinster Posts: 883
    Great ideas thank you!
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Blue Onion said:
    You can mix in some other veg.. cauliflower, green beans, carrots, etc.  They are all lovely pickled.  
    Add some honey and mustard and make a picalilli.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    We let ours grow bigger so we always have enough to do pickle - say about third of the size of a cucumber or courgette sized. They taste just as good. Some varieties are also good to eat raw in salads, depending on the variety you may want to peel them as the skin is tougher than a cucumbers. I’ve had a large bowl full sat on the kitchen counter as I was waiting for some new kilner jars, probably for a week and they are still firm and good to eat raw or pickle ( today’s job)
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • FlinsterFlinster Posts: 883
    Thanks so much! I might grow more plants next year so I get a steadier supply. Variety is Paris pickling. They’ve been really slow to establish- the cooler weather we had knocked them back at just the wrong time I think, but they are suddenly taking off now... better late than never I guess!
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    @Flinster If it's any consolation, I've had a lot of trouble with cucumber plants in the GH this year and all were doing well until planted out, after which most of them succumbed to stem rot over the course of a few weeks.  I've been growing them for years and take precautions against this disease such as growing them in bottomless pots so the bottom of the stem is 6" above the soil etc., so I think you're right about the weather patterns this year not helping.  Luckily, I sowed a few spare seeds a few weeks after the first batch and one of those survived but I've only been harvesting them for about 3 weeks due to the late germination.  The first batch of 4 cuc's were ready all at once of course, then 2 weeks wait for the babies to size-up and another batch of 4 ripened at once.  They do keep well in the bottom drawer of the fridge, but I prefer having more plants so there's always a perfect, fresh one ready for picking with the excess picked when ideal and given away. :)
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • FlinsterFlinster Posts: 883
    glad it glad it’s not just my plants! I have one in the little blowaway which is just producing fruit now, 3 plants outside just gave up, wind gIt then and just got cold and then powdery mildew see in. So I am down to one inside (La Diva) and the Paris Pickling... Although this wind is really not doing me any favours! It’s shredded my french beans and climbing squash leaves and the courgette took a battering, raspberry leaves were snapped and a few broken Florence fennel fronds and dahlia stems. Worse time for winds! Hey ho... there’s always next year! 😃
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