Brine for Cucumber Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Combine soft water, coarse sea salt, saltpetre, and alum in a large container.
Pickle and finish
Pour the mixture over the cucumbers while it is boiling hot.
After a few days, pour off the brine, then scald and skim it.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Coarse sea salt
- Preserves the cucumbers and draws out moisture, helping the brine season and firm them.
- Saltpetre
- Helps keep the pickles firm and maintains their green colour during curing.
- Alum
- Hardens the cucumber tissue, helping the pickles stay crisp.
The step that matters
Pouring the brine boiling hot. Hot brine dissolves the salt and other ingredients fully and penetrates the cucumbers more quickly than cooler liquid. Pour carefully, since boiling liquid causes serious burns.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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