I didn't know that gherkins are hairy. But they are. And they taste terrible. But hey, if life gives you gherkins, make pickles. It took a while to get our augurk-plant going, but during the vacation it sprouted quite a few hearty gherks. We were surprised in the beginning with the plant, because it would start to sprout small fruits but they all began to rot away and nothing materialized. But by June the plant had taken over what seemed like the entire cucumber trellis and was creeping all over the place. It started to produce properly in the last few weeks, and this is the result of 3 weeks untended growth: Vacation gherkins.
We decided to pickle them and see how they turn out. Leonie diced them and we boiled our many left over jars to sanitize them. We bought some herbs (bay leaves, pepper, dill, etc.) and made a brine of vinegar and water and sugar.
After adding the brine to the pickle jars, we boiled the entire jar for about 15 minutes each and let cool. So now we just have to wait six weeks to see if they are any good. Or garbage.
We'll see. But at least we've got pickles.
To summarize:
-Boil your jars to sanitize them. Ensure that they can be properly sealed to create a vacuum later.
-Create a brine from half vinegar, half water, sugar, and herbs and bring this to a boil.
-Dice, slice, cube your gherkins or leave them whole. Put them in your clean pickling jars.
-Fill the jars with the brine and leave a little head-space. Put the lid on.
-Place the jars fully in a pot with boiling water and let them sit for 15-20 minutes.
-Take 'em out and let them cool.
-Wait 6 weeks.
I found this and was amused.
From: http://koolnews.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/pickles-will-kill-you/
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