How to Make Mustard Pickles
With a crisp exterior and a semi-sweet interior, these mustard pickles are incredibly delicious! They're an 8-day pickle that hardly requires any work at all!
Servings: 5 quarts
Ingredients
- 5 lb small cucumbers (1" to 3" in length) cleaned
- 1 gal water
- 1 cup canning salt
- 4 cups granulated sugar separated
For the brine
- ½ gal distilled white vinegar (5%)
- 4 tbsp ground mustard
- 4 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp canning salt
- 2 tbsp pickling spices
Instructions
- Mix together the water and salt until the salt is dissolved. Pour the water mixture over the cucumbers. Weigh down with a plate to ensure all cucumbers are covered. Soak for 24 hours.5 lb small cucumbers (1" to 3" in length), 1 gal water, 1 cup canning salt
- After 24 hours, remove cucumbers from soaking liquid and rinse.
- Place in a large 3- to 4-gallon crock or glass container.
- Prepare the brine.
For the brine
- Combine the vinegar, ground mustard, sugar, salt, and pickling spices. Stir to combine and dissolve sugar and salt.½ gal distilled white vinegar (5%), 4 tbsp ground mustard, 4 tbsp granulated sugar, 1 tbsp canning salt, 2 tbsp pickling spices
- Pour over the prepared cucumbers.
- Weigh down the cucumbers with a plate and jar of water to ensure all cucumbers are covered with liquid.
For next 8 days
- Daily, remove the pickles and add ½ cup of sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved in the liquid. Return the pickles to the liquid and weigh them down.4 cups granulated sugar
- After the 8th day, leave the pickles in the crock for 1 week.
- Put the pickles in quart jars. Strain the brine and pour over pickles in jars, covering pickles. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 year.
Video
Notes
Choose cucumbers that are the correct size. They should be bite-sized and easy to fit in a quart jar. Ones that are 1-3 inches in length are ideal. See the chart earlier for sizing.
Weigh down the pickles with a plate. This is essential for the fermentation process. It pushes the pickles below the brine, allowing them to fully soak. If a pickle doesn't stay below this, it can spoil quickly.
Wipe down the inside of the crock after the pickles have sat in the salt water and before adding the brine. Foam can occasionally form, and this removes the excess.
Once the mustard pickles are ready to be placed in jars for long-term storage, shaking/agitating the jar while adding the pickles will help them settle, pushing them together more tightly. This allows the brine to cover them fully.
Nutrition
Serving: 0.25cup | Calories: 52kcal