Any of the pickling varieties work well. My personal favorite is Boston Pickling but there is also Miss Pickler, National Pickling, County Fair, Saladin, and many others.

Dave

I used Northern Pickling last year, and liked it.

Any of the pickling varieties work well.

Yes but there must be one that this better.

Johnny's sells all kinds of hybrids. But I want best pickle not best production. Hybrids to me are like tomatoes. high production tasteless.

I want the one that will win the Blue Ribbon.

All the people here on GW there must be someone who has won a Blue Ribbon for pickles or at least their friends rave about their pickles.

Or maybe I am barking up the wrong tree.

Are all pickling cucumbers the same ????

For the most part yes, all pickling cukes are the same when it comes to everything but production and disease resistance. Otherwise they are 99% water. ;)

It is your brine recipe and your methodology that makes them pickles of course, that gives them the flavor. So that is what would determine if they are award winning or not.

Since you plan to make fermented pickles you'll want to check first with the submission rules on them. Fermented ones have different criteria and safety considerations than do the processed pickle category submissions - at least at our state and county fairs they do.

Dave

There's a reason why everyone is saying the same thing.

I think Dave is absolutely right. Any pickling variety that grows well in your area has the potential to produce the results you are aiming for.

So assuming you have quality product (optimal growing conditions, not hollow or demonstrating some of the other issues common to cucumbers), picked and prepped at the peak of freshness, prize-winning pickles are possible.

There are a number of pitfalls in the fermentation process. All things being equal, if you have good cucumbers, bought or grown, I'd agree that it's far more likely the quality of the finished product will depend upon this stage, not the variety of cucumber.

Carol

I want to thank everyone for their gracious assistance.

I will now work on the recipe.

How about the tiny cornichons? I bought two varieties from Bakers Creek to try this fall. It was so hard to find cornichons! I want to try using them for a brined dill pickle. I get them from the store and love the texture!

How about making a French cornichon pickle? (Though you do have to like sour!)

Carol

I like sour. & I have thought of the french cornichon. However, it is kind of small and will take a ton of cucs to fill a jar. Have you grow the french cornichon? what is your esperience growing and pickling it. Oregon is very different from New England.

I have bad news to report. In my test grow of cucumbers they are doing terrible this year. They get too dry and turn bitter. This is terrible because now I see that watering the plants properly is going to be more important than the variety of cuc.

Next year I will have to trellis the cucs.

I am having a good time with this hobby. It is fun to tackle these problems and solve them. I figure I will need a truck load of manure for next year also. so the soil does not dry out so fast.