Name: Sweet Gherkin Pickles
Prep time: 5760 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 5780 min
Ingredients: 7 lbs pickling cucumbers (extra-small, 1 1/2 to 2 inches, about 5 quarts); ½ cup canning salt; 8 cups sugar; 1½ quarts vinegar (white or cider vinegar, 5% acidity); ¾ tsp turmeric (optional); 2 tsp celery seed; 2 tsp whole pickling spice; 2 whole cinnamon sticks; ½ tsp fennel seed (optional); 2 tsp vanilla (optional)

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Sweet gherkin pickles made with baby cucumbers, sugar, and spices. A 4-day canning recipe for crisp, classic gherkins with bold, sweet flavor.

Why You’ll Love It
Ingredients for Sweet Gherkin Pickles
How to Make Sweet Gherkin Pickles
Altitude Adjustments
Sweet Gherkin Pickles Recipe
Canning Safety
Altitude Adjustments

Sweet gherkins are a timeless favorite—crunchy, bite-sized, and packed with sweet, spiced flavor. This recipe strikes a perfect balance between flavor development and effort. With just a few hands-on steps spread over four days, you’ll get that classic gherkin texture and taste without the drawn-out process of a full 14-day sweet pickle recipe.

True, they do take a bit more time than simple one day sweet pickles, but I think they’re worth the effort.

These extra-small cucumbers are first blanched, and then salted, and finally slowly infused with sweet and tangy syrup over several rounds of heating and cooling. Each stage draws more flavor into the cucumbers while building up the syrup into a rich, fragrant brine.

The final pickles are intensely flavorful, beautifully crisp, and perfect for sandwiches, relish trays, or snacking straight from the jar.

Why You’ll Love It

Perfect texture: Blanching and multiple syrup soaks create crisp, flavorful gherkins.
Classic flavor: Sweet and tangy with warm spice, a hint of cinnamon, and optional vanilla.
Hands-off prep: Most of the work is waiting, with just a few active steps each day.

Ingredients for Sweet Gherkin Pickles

This recipe makes about 6 to 7 pint jars. It’s designed for extra-small cucumbers—look for firm, baby cukes no longer than 1½ inches.

Pickling Cucumbers: Use the smallest cucumbers you can find—1½ to 2 inches is ideal. Prickles and bumps should be scrubbed off, and you’ll trim just 1/16 inch off the blossom end to prevent softening during storage.
Canning Salt: Used in the early stages to season the cucumbers and help maintain crunch. It’s divided across the first two days of prep.
Sugar: The backbone of the syrup that builds gradually over Days 3 and 4. This may seem like a lot, but sweet gherkins need that rich syrup to develop flavor.
Vinegar: White or cider vinegar is fine, as long as it’s 5% acidity. It gets added in stages to help preserve texture and control the syrup strength.
Turmeric:Adds a warm golden color and subtle earthy note.
Celery Seed: Adds a gentle aromatic quality to balance the sweetness.
Pickling Spice:A mix of whole spices—look for a blend that includes allspice, cloves, and bay.
Cinnamon Sticks:Adds classic spice and warmth without overpowering.
Fennel:Adds a subtle licorice-like flavor that pairs beautifully with sweet pickles.
Vanilla:Adds a soft, sweet finish and is traditional in many regional sweet pickle recipes.

You’ll need about 5 quarts of small cucumbers to make a full recipe, but you can easily scale this recipe down to make a smaller batch.

I often take a few quart jars right out into the garden and harvest the mini-cukes right into the jars so I can measure as I go, and then I’ll start a batch of pickles based on how many little ones I find in my search.

Harvesting Gherkins for sweet gherkin pickles

How to Make Sweet Gherkin Pickles

This is a four day pickling recipe, starting with salting, and then each day the sugar concentration in the brine is slowly increased. This allows the cucumbers to incorporate it over time, helping to maintain their texture and ensure the best flavor.

Day 1

Morning: Wash cucumbers well, scrubbing with a vegetable brush to remove any prickles or bumps. Trim 1/16 inch off the blossom end but leave about ¼ inch of stem on the other side. Place the cucumbers in a large heatproof container and pour boiling water over them. Let stand for 6 to 8 hours.

Afternoon: Drain the water, sprinkle ¼ cup salt over the cucumbers, and pour fresh boiling water over them again. Cover and let stand overnight.

Day 2

Drain the cucumbers, add another ¼ cup of salt, and cover once more with boiling water. Let sit overnight.

I don’t have many large heatproof containers on hand, so often I just do the prep in mason jars, either quart or half gallon. This recipe starts with about 5 quarts of small cucumbers, but they’ll shrink as you process them. By the end, you’ll only need a few quart jars to hold them all.

Day 3

Morning: Drain the cucumbers and prick each one a few times with a fork. In a saucepan, combine 3 cups sugar, 3 cups vinegar, turmeric, celery seed, pickling spice, cinnamon sticks, and fennel. Bring the syrup to a boil and pour over the cucumbers. They may not be fully submerged yet—stir gently a few times throughout the day to help distribute the syrup.

Afternoon: After 6 to 8 hours, drain the syrup into a saucepan. Add 2 cups sugar and 2 cups vinegar, bring to a boil, and pour over the cucumbers again. Let stand overnight.

Day 4

Morning: Drain the syrup once more and add 2 cups sugar and 1 cup vinegar. Bring to a boil and pour over the cucumbers.

Afternoon: Drain the syrup one final time, add the remaining 1 cup sugar, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, if using. Pack cucumbers into prepared pint jars and cover with the hot syrup, leaving ½ inch of headspace.

Remove air bubbles, wipe jar rims, adjust headspace, and apply 2-part canning lids. Process pint jars in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. If you’re above 6,000 feet in elevation, increase the processing time to 15 minutes.

Let jars cool for 12–24 hours, check seals, and store in a cool, dark place. These gherkins improve in flavor over time and are best after a couple of weeks.