The only way I have seen these tiny cukes (commercial product) pickled is with a very sweet vinegar brine. I suppose you could pickle them in any seasoned vinegar based brine, so it wouldn't matter. Processing time would be quite short. Gee, Bread & Butter pickles are not strong, its only a sweetened vinegar brine, with celery seed and mustard seeds. If you don't like that, you may not want to even pickle them in any kind of a vinegar based brine.

The only cornichon recipes I have are for sweet pickles. If you don't want sweet, then I would stick with using them as baby dills.

I posted these before on a previous thread but knowing this search engine, it's easier just to re-post.

I'm assuming you're looking for something in the sour French style. It won't be quite the same if you can't get access to real Cornichons but you can come quite close.

Here's one version from "The Joy of Pickling" by Linda Ziedrich. She points out that the thin skins of these tiny cucumbers make them very perishable, so they should be processed the same day you pick them.

Recipes for these vary a lot. It's common to add garlic, cloves and/or thyme. Red wine vinegar is often used by the French, even though it's less attractive, because the flavor is excellent. Cider vinegar can also be used - basically any 5% acidity vinegar.

About 1 1/4 pounds 1 1/2-2-inch cornichons or 1 to 1 1/2-inch American-type pickling cucumbers
3 tablespoons pickling salt
4 shallots, peeled
1 bay leaf
2 tarragon sprigs
10 black peppercorns
2 small dried chile peppers
About 2 cups white wine vinegar

1. Wash cucumbers gently, rub off the tiny spines if you're using cornichons, and remove the blossom ends. In a bowl, mix the cucumbers with salt. Let stand 24 hours.

2. Drain the cucumbers. Rinse in cold water and pat each one dry. Pack the cucumbers into a sterile 1-quart jar, interspersing among them the shallots, bay leaf, tarragon, peppercorns and chile peppers. Leave at least 1 inch headspace. Fill the jar to the brim with vinegar. Cover the jar tightly with a nonreactive cap, preferably one that is all plastic. Store the jar in a cool, dry, dark place.

3. The cornichons will be ready to eat in 1 month and will keep well, unopened, for about 1 year.

Here's a slightly different version from Helen Witty's "The Good Stuff Cookbook."

2 to 2 1/2 quarts (about 3 pounds) freshly picked tiny cucumbers or gherkins, as small as possible
3/4 cups coarse kosher salt or a generous 1/2 cup pickling salt
3 tablespoons white distilled vinegar
About 10 bushy sprigs (4-6 inches long) fresh tarragon
3 large or 5 medium shallots, peeled and sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard seed
1 1/2 teaspoons whole peppercorns, black or white
1/2 teaspoon whole allspice, optional
3 whole cloves, optional
4 cups white wine vinegar or more if needed

1. Cover cucumbers with cold water and wash, being careful to remove any remnants of blossoms; do not scrub them roughly. Rinse and drain. Mix gently with the salt in a ceramic, glass or stainless-steel bowl. Cover with a cloth and leave them for 24 hours at room temperature, turning them occasionally in the brine that forms.

2. Drain the cucumbers, then swish them through 2 quarts of cold water mixed with the distilled white vinegar. Drain the cucumbers again, then wipe each dry gently with a soft cloth.

3. Scald and drain 2 hot, clean quart jars or a half-gallon jar or crock. Dividing the ingredients equally, layer the cucumbers and seasonings in the containers, starting with a few tarragon sprigs in the bottom. Pour in enough white vinegar to cover the pickles by at least and inch - two inches if possible. Cover the containers with their caps or with two layers of plastic wrap, held in place with rubber bands.

4. Leave the pickles in a cool, dark spot for a month. They are then ready to use. At that point they may be packed into smaller jars, together with the seasonings. Sealing isn't necessary, but the jars should be covered snugly and stored in a cool, dark cupboard. With care and luck, cornichons will keep for a year; if assaulted by light and/or heat, they will tend to soften after a shorter time.

These are the traditional pickles. Some American tastes find them too sharp. Here's a slightly
milder "Americanized" version from Joy of Cooking's "All About Canning and Preserving." It's also processed.

5 1/2 pounds cucumbers, 1 1/4- 1 1/2-inch long
8 cups water
1/2 cup salt

Prepare cucumbers; clean, cut off blossom end but leave 1/4-inch of stem. Make a brine of water and salt. Pour over the cucumbers. Place a plate on them to submerge and let stand at room temperature 12 hours. Drain, rinse and drain again. Dry in a towel. Tightly pack in hot jars, adding to each pint:
A few sprigs fresh tarragon
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (optional)
5 white peppercorns

Combine in a saucepan and bring just to a boil, stirring until salt is dissolved:
5 1/4 cups cider vinegar
4 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup canning salt
Pour the hot vinegar solution over the cucumbers in the jars. Leave 1/2-inch headspace. Process pints for 10 minutes, quarts for 15 minutes.

Another recipe can be found on the site I've linked to below.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: L'Atelier Vert - Everything French Gardening

Oh I envy you those baby cukes Stacie. I made cornichons oer 40 yrs ago when I had access to these cuties in England. I suspect I used Helen Witty thinking her book came out about that time. Otherwise, it was a local recipe long gone. And yes, they should be quite sharp.

I use the Joy of Pickling recipe but make a garlic dill version (subbing garlic for the shallots and dill for the tarragon and bay) and we love the results. They are VERY sour, but we love sour.

Leigh

It's been a long time since I've made them, but they are a wonderful sour pickle. If you have the fresh tarragon, it's unbeatable.

I think originally they were meant as a piquant contrast to rich meats, like pate, so they really shine with bacon-based appetizers, that sort of thing.

Carol

Well I didn't get to the market early enough to get some baby cukes, but Dale said that he would pick some in the morning for me, and I can pick them up after I substitute teach:)

I think that I am going to go with the joy of pickling recipe, I am nervous about the others with not processing.

Stacie

Well, I got 12 jars of cornichon pickles made today. I used the joy of pickling recipe and did some of the tweeking that was suggested. I was able to find fresh tarragon in our small town grocery store ( they have also started carrying 10 other fresh herbs:)), So half the jars have tarragon and garlic and a couple peppercorns and the other half I used thyme, garlic and a couple peppercorns. I also used a half and half ratio of red wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar. They look really pretty and I can't wait to try them when they get done:)

Stacie

Hope you had tasted the brine prior to canning. There is nothing more dissapointing than following a recipe only to find that its way too salty or way too sweet. Tasting the brine prior to canning is the only way you can know whether they will be flavorful or dissapointing. Give them several weeks of curing before you open a jar.

Ken,
The cornichons are an all-vinegar pickle, so it's not so much a matter of tasting the brine. At first, especially, it's an overwhelming vinegar taste, but it mellows nicely even after a few days and quite a bit after several weeks.

Stacie--cornichons are not typically processed, but stored in a cool pantry or refrigerator. The Joy of Pickling recipe doesn't call for processing. Did you use the Joy of Cooking one instead?

Leigh

Ken,

Like Leigh said the recipe calls for straight vinegar that I used so didn't worry about the brine. But thanks to your advice in the past, I always check the taste of the brine for my dill pickles befor pickling:)

Leigh,

I used the Joy of pickling recipe. I did decide to use the NCHP recommended pasturization method for pickling since they were in a total vinegar brine.

Stacie

I always use traight vinegar for the brines, but do process, unless its a half sour salt brine type that just gets refrigerated. My cukes are now dieing out, so I picked a bunch of very small ones and plan to do a sweet gerkin type pickle with them. Just enough for maybe 2-3 pints and thats it. In the other hand, I picked nearly a bushel of various string beans, which will be blanched and frozen, as well as some pickled in a garlic and dill kosher pickle brine (more sweetness than regular dills). Wish I still had tarragon, but those plants never sprouted this year.