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To Pickle Gherkins

A method for pickling small cucumbers or gherkins using vinegar, water, salt, alum, and cabbage leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and cabbage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 722 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Pickle Gherkins

six to eight dozen gherkins

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Gather small cucumbers or gherkins on a dry day.

  2. Soak the cucumbers in cold salt-and-water for four days. Place a cabbage leaf on top to keep them submerged.

  3. Drain the cucumbers.

Make the pickling liquor

  1. Place them in a clean brass pan lined with vinegar or cabbage leaves. Cover the cucumbers with equal parts vinegar and water. Add a little pounded alum and more leaves on top.

  2. Heat the mixture until scalding hot. Remove the mixture from heat.

  3. When nearly cool, reheat the mixture several times throughout the day.

  4. At night, place the cucumbers in a basin with fresh leaves and the same liquid to soak overnight.

  5. The next morning, heat the cucumbers twice with fresh leaves and the same liquid.

  6. Drain the cucumbers.

Finish and jar

  1. For six to eight dozen gherkins, add half a pint of vinegar and enough water to cover them, along with some coarse sea salt. Scald the gherkins as before.

  2. Drain the gherkins. Pour boiling water over the gherkins. Let the gherkins sit briefly.

  3. Transfer the gherkins to wide-mouthed bottles or stone jars.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cucumber + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together722 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Cold salt-and-water
Draws water out of the cucumbers and begins firming them before pickling.
Pounded alum
Helps the cucumbers stay firm and crisp through repeated heating.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the pickle and helps draw out moisture from the gherkins.

The step that matters

Repeated reheating of the liquid. Heating the mixture several times, rather than once, is what keeps the gherkins firm and green while the brine works. Letting the liquid boil too hard or skipping reheats can leave them soft.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, vinegar):

  1. Radishfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cauliflowerfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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