Pickled cucumber

10th Annual New York City International Pickle Day festival in 2010.

Brined pickles are prepared using the traditional process of natural fermentation in a brine which makes them grow sour. The brine concentration can vary between 20 and more than 40 grams of salt per litre of water (3.2–6.4 oz/imp gal or 2.7–5.3 oz/US gal). There is no vinegar used in the brine of naturally fermented pickled cucumbers.

The fermentation process is dependent on the Lactobacillus bacteria that naturally occur on the skin of a growing cucumber. These may be removed during commercial harvesting and packing processes. Bacteria cultures can be reintroduced to the vegetables by adding already fermented foods such as yogurt or other fermented milk products, pieces of sourdough bread, or pickled vegetables such as sauerkraut.

Typically, small cucumbers are placed in a glass or ceramic vessel or a wooden barrel, together with a variety of spices. Among those traditionally used in many recipes are garlic, horseradish, whole dill stems with umbels and green seeds, white mustard seeds, grape, oak, cherry, blackcurrant and bay laurel leaves, dried allspice fruits, and—most importantly—salt. The container is then filled with cooled, boiled water and kept under a non-airtight cover (often cloth tied on with string or a rubber band) for several weeks, depending on taste and external temperature. Traditionally stones, also sterilized by boiling, are placed on top of the cucumbers to keep them under the water. The more salt added, the more sour the cucumbers become.

Since they are produced without vinegar, a film of bacteria forms on the top, but this does not indicate they have spoiled, and the film is simply removed. They do not, however, keep as long as cucumbers pickled with vinegar, and usually must be refrigerated. Some commercial manufacturers add vinegar as a preservative.

A jar of bread-and-butter pickles

Bread-and-butter pickles are a marinated pickle produced with sliced cucumbers in a solution of vinegar, sugar, and spices which may be processed either by canning or simply chilled as refrigerator pickles. The origin of the name and the spread of their popularity in the United States is attributed to Omar and Cora Fanning, a pair of Illinois cucumber farmers who started selling sweet and sour pickles in the 1920s and filed for the trademark "Fanning's Bread and Butter Pickles" in 1923 (though the recipe and similar ones are probably much older).[3] The story to the name is that the Fannings survived rough years by making the pickles with their surplus of undersized cucumbers and bartering them with their grocer for staples such as bread and butter.[4] Their taste is often much sweeter than other types of pickle, due to the sweeter brine they are marinated in, but they differ from sweet pickles in that they are spiced with corriander and other spices.

Gherkins, or baby pickles, are small cucumbers, typically those 1 inch (2.5 cm) to 5 inches (13 cm) in length, often with bumpy skin, which are typically used for pickling.[5][6][7] The word gherkin comes from early modern Dutch, gurken or augurken for "small pickled cucumber".[8]

Cornichons are tart French pickles made from gherkins pickled in vinegar and tarragon. They traditionally accompany pâtés and cold cuts.[9][10] Sweet gherkins, which contain sugar in the pickling brine, are also a popular variety.

The term "gherkin" is also used in the name West Indian gherkin for Cucumis anguria, a closely related species.[11][12][13] West Indian gherkins are also sometimes used as pickles.[14]

Half sour (left) vs "full sour" kosher dill (right)

A "kosher" dill pickle is not necessarily kosher in the sense that it has been prepared in accordance with Jewish dietary law. Rather, it is a pickle made in the traditional manner of Jewish New York City pickle makers, with generous addition of garlic and dill to a natural salt brine.[15][16][17]

In New York terminology, a "full-sour" kosher dill is one that has fully fermented, while a "half-sour", given a shorter stay in the brine, is still crisp and bright green.[18] Elsewhere, these pickles may sometimes be termed "old" and "new" dills.

Dill pickles (not necessarily described as "kosher") have been served in New York City since at least 1899.[19]

In Hungary, while regular vinegar-pickled cucumbers (Hungarian: savanyú uborka) are made during most of the year, during the summer kovászos uborka ("leavened pickles") are made without the use of vinegar. Cucumbers are placed in a glass vessel along with spices (usually dill and garlic), water and salt. Additionally, a slice or two of bread are placed at the top and bottom of the solution, and the container is left to sit in the sun for a few days so the yeast in the bread can help cause a fermentation process.[20]

The Polish- or German-style pickled cucumber (Polish: ogórek kiszony/kwaszony; German: Salzgurken), was developed in the northern parts of central and eastern Europe. It has been exported worldwide and is found in the cuisines of many countries, including the United States, where it was introduced by immigrants. It is sour, similar to the kosher dill, but tends to be seasoned differently.

Traditionally, pickles were preserved in wooden barrels, but are now sold in glass jars. A cucumber only pickled for a few days is different in taste (less sour) than one pickled for a longer time and is called ogórek małosolny, which literally means "low-salt cucumber." This distinction is similar to the one between half- and full-sour types of kosher dills (see above).

Another kind of pickled cucumber popular in Poland is ogórek konserwowy ("preserved cucumber") which is rather sweet and vinegary in taste, due to different composition of the preserving solution.

Lime pickles are soaked in pickling lime (not to be confused with the citrus fruit) rather than in a salt brine.[21] This is done more to enhance texture (by making them crisper) rather than as a preservative. The lime is then rinsed off the pickles. Vinegar and sugar are often added after the 24-hour soak in lime, along with pickling spices.

Kool-Aid pickles or "koolickles", enjoyed by children in parts of the Southern United States,[22] are created by soaking dill pickles in a mixture of Kool-Aid and pickle brine.