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Every year we make our own homemade dill pickles, but what I really crave is those tiny baby gherkin. The French call them cornichons, but it all amounts to the same thing. Miniature sour flavor bombs popped into your mouth to offset the richness of the rest of a charcuterie plate.
I can never find any cucumbers small enough to make those itsy bitsy charcuterie board gherkins, so I decided to plant a big patch of cucumbers and grow my own. Now it’s time to reap the reward with homemade gherkins!
Besides the size of the pickle, tiny gherkins are made a bit differently than a traditional kosher dill. First off, they’re not flavored with dill. Second, they’re made with a much higher vinegar ratio than a standard pickle.
Most pickle brines mix 1 part water with 1 part vinegar (5% acidity) to make a moderate brine that’s just acidic enough to preserve the cucumbers. The tiny baby cucumbers used to make cornichons aren’t meant to be eaten in the same way as a gigantic pickle, and those little beauties can be tiny little sour flavor bombs.
All that extra vinegar means they’re much sourer than the average pickle, but it also means that they preserve well and that they make wonderful quick refrigerator pickles.
I’ve written this gherkin recipe for canning, but feel free to pop that jar into the refrigerator instead of water bath canning. With the high vinegar ratio, these cornichons should last in the back of the refrigerator for 6 months.
Start by picking the tiniest cucumbers you can find in the garden. Some recipes say aim for cucumbers about the size of your little finger, but those are the ones I use to make my regular crips dill pickles. Anything larger just gets soggy in the jar. These are special, chose barely formed baby cucumbers about 1 to 1.5 inches long.
I have a dozen cucumber plants in the garden, and in peak season I can harvest about 1 cup of gherkin sized cucumbers few days. It’s hard to harvest enough baby pickles all at once to make a full canner batch of gherkins, but it’s worth making them in tiny batches and simply water bath canning them in a small saucepan.
Soak the baby cucumbers in a saltwater brine made with 1 part salt and 8 parts water (by volume). That works out to 1 tablespoon of salt to 1/2 cup of water. Make enough to fully submerge the baby gherkins.
Let them soak for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight. This helps draw moisture out of the cucumbers and keeps them crisp during pickling.
Drain the brined gherkins, and pack them into canning jars. I’m using quarter pint jars, and more than a dozen of these tiny pickles still fit in each one. A very basic seasoning uses peppercorns, allspice and a bit of onion in each jar. I added 5 peppercorns and 2 allspice berries to each quarter pint jar. Feel free to try a bit of tarragon, bay leaves, cloves, garlic or whatever else excites you.
Make a brine with 1 tablespoon of canning salt (non-iodized) to 1 cup of vinegar. White vinegar works well, and is neutral, but I prefer the extra flavor of cider vinegar. Bring it to a boil on the stove and pour it over the gherkins and spices in canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
Save the extra brine for pickles the next batch of baby cucumbers you’ll bring in from the garden in a few days. It’ll last on the counter indefinitely given that it’s just vinegar and salt.
Cap the pickle jars and store in the refrigerator or process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.
They’ll be reasonably tasty after 24 hours, but it’s best to wait at least 2 weeks for the flavors to fully penetrate the gherkins.
Sour Gherkins (Cornichons)
Ingredients
Saltwater Soak
- 2 tbsp canning salt
- 1 cup water
- baby cucumbers
Canning Spices and Brine
- peppercorns, 3-5 per quarter pint jar
- allspice berries, 1-2 per quarter pint jar
- 1 cup vinegar, white or cider
- 1 tbsp canning salt
Instructions
- Make a brine with 1 part salt and 8 parts water, or 2 tablespoons of salt to each cup of water. Soak the tiny cucumbers for a few hours or overnight.
- Drain the baby cucumbers and pack them into canning jars with spices. I've used 5 peppercorns and 2 allspice berries to each quarter pint canning jar.
- Make a brine with 1 tbsp of canning salt to every cup of vinegar and bring to a boil. Each quarter pint jar only needs a few tablespoons of brine, but extra brine can be saved for the next batch.
- Pour the brine over the pickles, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Seal with 2 part canning lids and store in the refrigerator or process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just made these for a quick pickle recipe. I am experimenting trying to find one I love to can the pickles at the end of the growing season. I am confused about the brine poured over the cornichons. It says a couple of tablespoons but I definitely used more than that. Is that brine vinegar salt only?
This recipe is actually for a quarter pint jar which is a very small jar. By the time you get the pickles in there, there isn’t room for a lot of liquid. The brine is salt and vinegar and additional spices listed in the recipe.
I have never made these, or pickles before. Does the brining liquid need to be rinsed off before packing them into jars?
No, there is not need to rinse them.
In all the “normal” pickling recipes we are admonished to cut off the blossom ends of the cucumbers – – some sort of enzymatic thing Should this be done for cornichons also.
Yes, I would.
I cleared out a raised bed with carrots and radishes that were finished. there where lots of tiny ones that never made it to full size. Could I throw those in there too? All the recipes I find for pickled carrots don’t have a salting phase and I don’t have enough mini gherkins or tiny carrots radishes to make separate batches! Thank you for another great recipe!
I don’t see why not. If you plan to can them once you’re finished just be sure to follow safe canning practices.
I love your recipe! I have one question – can I sweeten them just a little? And if so what do you recommend using?
I love your recipe! I have one question – can I sweeten them just a little? And if so what do you recommend using?
Yes, you can certainly sweeten them if you wish. Just add a little bit of sugar to your brine recipe.
This seems like a silly question, but this is my first time canning anything. Should the jars be cooled completely before putting in the fridge? Or warm to the touch. I would think if you put them in hot they might crack.
If you’re wanting to put them in the fridge as opposed to processing them in a water bath canner, I would let them cool to room temperature before putting them in the fridge.
I only had a small crop of gherkins last year, which meant only one jar. However I used this recipe & they were HEAVEN! Hopefully I will have a much bigger crop this year, but I won’t be able to store them all in the fridge. Would they be ok being stored in a pantry after the 24 hours in the fridge?
I only had a small crop of gherkins last year, which meant only one jar. However I used this recipe & they were HEAVEN! Hopefully I will have a much bigger crop this year, but I won’t be able to store them all in the fridge. Would they be ok being stored in a pantry after the 24 hours in the fridge?
This recipe was actually written for canning. If you are not storing them in the refrigerator, they will need to be processed in a water bath canner. Once they have been canned, they can be stored in your pantry until you’re ready to open them. Once opened they need to be stored in the refrigerator.
May I ask what gherkins you grow for this? Getting 2022 seed order in 👍🏻
The variety of the pickle is not super important as long as it is a variety that is grown for pickling. The key here is the size of the pickle when it’s harvested.
I grow Mexican Sour Gherkins. They are about the size of a grape. They would be perfect for this.
When first soaking the pickles overnight should you use water and canning salt or iodized salt?
You don’t necessarily need to use canning salt but you don’t want to use iodized salt either. You should use a pure salt with no additives like a good quality sea salt or mineral salt.
Is there any way to pickle without salt?
Yes, of course! Pickles can be made without salt, no problem. In modern pickle canning recipes, the salt is just there for flavor, not preservation. The vinegar is what’s making them keep, the salt is just for flavor.
Reduce (or eliminate) the salt if you like, or you can also use salt substitutes.
There’s a good guide on the topic here: https://www.healthycanning.com/the-role-of-salt-in-home-canning/
Somewhat new to preserving food. Does the brine for the gherkins have any water or is in 100% vinegar?
It’s all vinegar.
What is your favorite variety of cucumbers for this?
The size of the cucumber is much more important than the specific variety. Any standard pickling cucumber will do.
When you say a quarter point canning jar are you referring to 1/2 cup jars?
Yup, you’ve got it right. Quarter pint (not point) jars are those tiny half cup jars.
Thank you very much, I love pickles
Thank you very much, I love pickles