People who grow their own vegetables and want to make their own pickles, relishes, and other pickled foods love pickling cucumbers. For the best texture and flavor in your pickles, you need to know when to pick the cucumbers when they are at their biggest. We’ll talk about the best size for pickling cucumbers, how to make sure they grow properly, and how to pick them at just the right time in this guide.
Typical Size Range for Pickling Cucumbers
Most pickling cucumber varieties are bred to fall within a target size range when mature This ensures they are the perfect size and texture for the pickling and preservation process
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Pickling cucumbers with small fruits usually grow to be 3 to 5 inches long when they are fully grown and ready to be picked. Calypso, Little Leaf H-19, and Bush Pickle are all popular small-fruited types.
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When they are fully grown, standard pickling cucumbers are usually 4 to 6 inches long. Kirbys, National Picklers, and Boston Pickling are all types of pickling cucumbers that are a standard size.
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Most pickling types are no more than 6 to 8 inches long, even the big ones. When they are small, they can be pickled, but when they get bigger, big fruited picklers like Harvester and Regal can be eaten fresh.
So in most cases, 3 to 6 inches is the ideal target length for peak flavor and texture in pickling cucumbers.
Factors Affecting Pickling Cucumber Size
Several key factors influence the ultimate size your pickling cucumbers will reach, including:
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Variety – Be sure to select an appropriate pickling cucumber variety suited to your desired finished size.
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Growing conditions – Picklers need consistent moisture and good nutrition to reach their full potential size. Hot, dry conditions can cause slower growth.
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Plant spacing – Allow enough space between plants to reduce competition for light and nutrients. Crowding causes smaller fruits.
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Time to maturity – Don’t allow cucumbers to stay on the vine past their days to maturity or they can become oversized.
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Pruning and training – Trellising and pruning optimize plant energy going into fruit production rather than vegetation.
When to Harvest Pickling Cucumbers
Timing your harvests is one of the most important factors for getting pickling cucumbers at their prime.
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For highest quality pickles, harvest cucumbers early in the morning when they are most crisp.
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Check plants daily as fruits are nearing maturity and harvest promptly when they reach the target size range.
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Smaller is generally better than larger for pickling. Don’t allow cucumbers to over-mature as they will become seedy and lose texture.
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Harvest fruits by snipping or cutting them from the vine, retaining a short stem attached to each cucumber.
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Handle harvested cucumbers gently to avoid bruising that can lead to soft pickles.
Using Harvested Pickling Cucumbers
Once you’ve harvested your pickling cucumbers at their peak, proper handling is critical for maintaining quality until you’re ready to pickle them.
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Keep just-picked cucumbers in the shade or refrigerated at 45 to 50°F.
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Wash cucumbers just before pickling, not at harvest time.
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Pickle cucumbers within a day of harvesting for optimal freshness and firmness.
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Sort cucumbers by size when pickling batches, ensuring uniformity in the brining and fermenting process.
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Trim off any oversized ends or damaged portions before pickling.
Pickling Prep for Proper Texture
Proper preparation steps when pickling will also help maintain that crisp crunch:
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Cut 1/16 inch off the blossom end of each cucumber before pickling to expose the interior flesh to brine.
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Be sure cucumbers are fully submerged in brine during fermentation. Use weights if needed.
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For canned pickles, cut into spears or slices rather than pickling whole for the best texture.
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Set aside and pickle separately any overly mature cucumbers, which will soften more quickly.
Key Takeaways on Pickling Cucumber Size
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Look for fruits 3 to 6 inches long at maturity depending on variety.
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Harvest daily as cucumbers reach ideal size to prevent over-ripening.
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Handle with care and refrigerate promptly after picking.
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Pickle as soon as possible, within 1 day of harvest.
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Prepare cucumbers properly before brining to maximize crisp texture.
Using these guidelines for monitoring and harvesting pickling cucumbers at their peak will help you achieve the signature crunch that makes homemade pickles so satisfying. With the right techniques, you’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of your planting labors with delicious firm pickles all season long.
Common Crunchy Pickle Tips
If you’ve looked into how to can pickles and keep them crunchy, you’ve probably heard of these tips:
- Use the freshest cucumbers possible.
- Add tannins such as grape leaves or horseradish leaves.
- Cut off the blossom end of the cucumber before pickling.
- Before you can your pickles, keep them cold or soak them in ice water.
But even though I’ve used all of these tips, my pickles are still not crunchy after I can them, even months after I did it.
Last year I tried five different methods for canning pickles to find the very best method that would leave me with delicious and crispy pickles a year later.
I tried five different methods for canning dill pickles so I could do a side-by-side comparison, one year later, to see which method truly left me with the crunchiest, most flavorful, and most delicious homemade pickles.
- Canned Kosher Dill Pickles: These are a quick pickle that is put in brine and canned. They’re very dilly and flavorful, but not very crisp.
- Long Fermented and Canned Pickles—I fermented and then canned these pickles. I don’t like this method, and I didn’t even want to eat them after they were canned!
- Fermented or Soaked Canned Pickle: These pickles were a little better, but they still didn’t taste good and weren’t very crunchy.
- Long Brine Pickles—After a year, these pickles were still nice and crisp. Though the flavor was pretty tasty, it wasn’t my favorite of the five.
- In the low-temperature pasteurization method, the pickles are still tasty, crunchy, and full of flavor even a year after being canned! This method surprised me with how easy it is, especially when using an electric canner.
How to grow and Harvest Pickling Cucumbers
FAQ
How to know when pickling cucumbers are ready to pick?
When gherkins and other pickling cucumbers are only 1½ inches long, they’re usually nice and crunchy. It’s best to pick them before they get to be 4 inches long. Slicing cucumbers and burpless varieties are best when harvested between 6 and 8 inches long. English cucumbers are ripe when they’re between 10 and 18 inches long. May 15, 2024.
How big should I let pickling cucumbers get?
Start harvesting pickler cucumbers when they are 2 to 3 inches long, and don’t let the fruit grow to more than 4 or 5 inches long. Picklers tend to flabbiness in the middle when allowed to get too big. None is particularly long-lived in the fridge.
Can you eat overgrown pickling cucumbers?
The overgrown cucumbers have a nice thick boarder of flesh. A regular sized cucumber has a thinner boarder & is much smaller in size. If you want the slices to stay together during the process, you should make sure they are thick and big. The bigger the better!.
How big do pickled cucumbers get?
National Pickling Cucumbers can be picked when they are 2 to 3 inches long for gherkin-style pickles or when they are 4 to 5 inches long for fresh eating.
How big does a pickling cucumber grow?
Calypso, Royal, and H-19 Little Leaf are picklers that grow to just around 4 to 6 feet (1-2 m.) in length. If this seems too large, train the vine to grow back in on itself to conserve space. Also, consider growing pickling cucumbers vertically if space is at a premium. Pickalot and National Pickling are revered pickling cukes.
How do you know if a cucumber is pickling?
That and their small size which means there is little prep work involved. Pickling cucumbers are short with graduating hues of dark green at the stem to light green at the blossom end. Cucumbers have tenacious tendrils that grasp onto fences or trellises easily.
How long does it take to grow a pickling cucumber?
Cucumbers, pickling or otherwise, are prodigious producers. Pickling cucumbers should be ready to harvest between 50 and 65 days from planting and can be picked over the course of a several weeks. Growing pickling cucumber plants is just like growing other types of cucumber. They prefer a soil pH of 5.5, well-drained soil, and lots of nitrogen.
What are the best pickling cucumber varieties?
When I’m looking to plant pickling cucumbers, I gravitate towards dependable varieties such as Calypso, H-19 Little Leaf, National Pickling, Boston Pickling, and the ever-popular Kirby cucumbers. For more compact gardens, dwarf varieties like Bush Pickle hybrid or Pickalot offer bountiful harvests without taking up much space.
How big should a cucumber be when slicing?
When harvested, slicing cucumbers are normally 5 to 8 inches long. They can be one inch or more in diameter and are the bigger of the two cucumber types. They grow long and lean, but some people harvest them when small to use for pickling. (Source: Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension)
What are cucumbers for pickling?
Cucumbers for pickling refer to cucumbers that are used for processing or making pickles. This doesn’t mean they can’t be eaten fresh, but their thinner skins, crunchy texture, and smaller seeds make them ideal for pickling. That and their small size which means there is little prep work involved.