I'm just making refrigerator cornichons this year, so I'm not canning, but the recipe I'm using specifies leaving the jar in the fridge and adding cukes, herbs, vinegar and seasonings every day as the cukes grow to the proper size, and then sealing the jar for its marinating period when it is full. I imagine you could do the same with yours and just process the jars once they are full.

You can store them for around a week, maybe a little longer if you bring them inside and give them a 15 minute ice water bath and then transfer them into 1 gallon (or larger) sized freezer bags (zip lock). Seal up all but an inch and suck the air out best you can then seal the rest of the way an put in the veggie drawer of the fridge.

thanks for the info. i've got the bag of spices for pickles i picked up at wally world. it says it will do 7 quarts and i've got enough cukes for about 2 maybe 3.
lelia... i would be interested in your recipe.
Tanya

Take the bag for 7 quarts and divide it up into 7 portions and put that into 7 quart jars.

now fill the jar with cucs and add water and vinegar. all done. Put in the refrigerator for safe keeping. when you have enough jars you can deep water process them.

To divide up into 7 portions do it on a large flat surface and move the mix around until they all look equal. they will be very close. the eye will do more than a better job. then measure the amount using a tablespoon or teaspoon. mark it down. let us know. Remember and next time you can simply measure.

another way is to measure the entire bag of spices. If you get 21 tablespoons then you know it is 3 tablespoons per quart.

Another try is to mix up the spices with water and save in the refrigerator. then use in jars as needed.

If you want to immediately pickle them then leave them warm for 2 or 3 days then into the refrig and start eating.

Good Luck

i had thought about doing that but i didnt know if it messed up the process. i will definitly try that. thanks so much. and i will let you know.
Tanya

What kind of pickles are you making? As I understand it you can ferment the cucumbers in a big vat for 6 weeks or raw pack them, process in a water bath canner and let them mellow for 2-6 weeks. If you make the second kind, non-fermented pickles, the Ball Blue Book has a recipe for dills and kosher dills that calls for 4 lbs of cucumbers. I'm not sure whether there is a difference in quality/flavor. Perhaps someone else can speak to that?

Tanya, here's the recipe. It's from Thomas Keller's book Bouchon. He says

Gloria Pepin makes the best cornichons from her own organically grown tiny cucumbers. Growing your own cucumbers is easy, but catching them before they get too large is another story. They grow so quickly that you have to check their size each day. Every morning Gloria goes into her backyard and picks the ones that are just the right size, no longer than 1 1/2 to 2 inches. Pick early in the morning or after the sun goes down so as not to disturb the bees. Initially you'll find only a few cukes, but after three or four pickings, they'll start coming more often.

Homegrown cucumbers for pickling (picked while still tiny)
Kosher salt
Tarragon sprigs
Black peppercorns
Bottled pickled cocktail onions (in vinegar)
White vinegar

Rub the cucumbers with a clean damp cloth to remove any prickers and dirt. Place the cucumbers in a small stainless steel bowl and toss them with a light coating of salt. Refrigerate covered for a day.

The following day, remove the cucumbers from the bowl and wipe them with a dry cloth to remove any remaining dirt or prickers. Place a sprig of tarragon, several black peppercorns, and a few pickled onions in a lidded jar (Gloria uses half-pint jars so that she can give away a few jars while still having some left for herself). Add the cucumbers and enough vinegar to cover them.It is all right for the tarragon to be left exposed. Seal the jar and refrigerate.

The next day, repeat with newly picked and salted cucumbers, continuing to add enough vinegar to cover each batch. When the jar is half full, add another sprig of tarragon, a few more onions, and vinegar to cover.

When the jar is full, top with a final sprig of tarragon. Seal and write the date on the jar. Store in a cool cellar or in the refrigerator and continue filling more jars with your cucumber harvest. They will need to sit at least 6 weeks for optimum flavor and can be kept for up to a year.

thanks for all the info! i've got the cukes in the fridge. picked a few more yesterday. probably, wont have enough to do anything till friday. i am going to do the brine over them this afternoon after i get home from the doctor. i got another recipe last night at bunko. so i am going to try them all if i get enough cukes. there are a lot of little babies out there! my pumkins are getting big and the corn is getting taller, the cabbage is about done and the onions are about ready for storage. i've got way to many tomatoes so i am a happy gardener!!
thanks again!
Tanya

Tanya, there is an alternative to working with older cucumbers, or any produce for that matter. I run into this situation almost daily now where people are short in the supply of one thing or another from their garden. That is why I'm in the produce business and I'm obliged to complement their home harvest.

Local producers at farmers' markets in your area are good sources for fresh local produce. You might also pair-up with a friend, neighbor or relative who also grows cucumbers and agree to process on different days. These methods allow you to process better quality cucumbers at a time that is convenient for you.

My pickling cucumber sales have been a little slow this year so we've been making quarts of dill pickles and selling them as a value added product at farmers' markets. As simple as the canning process is many customers think that we perform some sort of magic to get the cucumbers in the jars. My point here is that you can still save a lot of money by processing yourself even if you need to supplement a few extra from outside your garden.

Been making (kosher) dills for about six years now, and I'm already thinking about next summer. This was my first year with a kitchen garden. I'm adding cukes next year and want to know the best varieties for picking when small (index finger size or smaller) and then making mini-pickles. Any suggestions? Seed sources?

I found this link because I searched for a phrase in Thomas Keller's book. His recipe does not include any processing. Just straight to a cool, dark shelf in the basement for up to a year. Any concerns about wee creepy things (eg. Clostridium botulinum)? or is there enough acid in the vinegar?

I've used my own variant of Alton Brown's recipe. It is about half water (not all vinegar), so I have always followed his advice and either stored in the fridge, or processed for the shelf. The processed pickles have never been as crunchy as I like them.

~Allen