Traditional French Cornichons
Cornichons (or tiny baby pickles) are a traditional cucumber pickle from France, made with immature cucumbers that are only 1 to 1 1/2 inches long. These crunchy little pickles are perfect on a charcuterie plate, or anywhere you'd use a pickle.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs very small cucumbers gherkins - typically 1 to 2 inches in size
- 10-12 individual cocktail onions trimmed and peeled
- ¼ cup kosher salt
- 5 " branch tarragon
- 2 small bay leaves
- ½ tsp black peppercorns
- 2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
- 4 cups white wine vinegar
Instructions
- If canning, make sure you have all of your ingredients and equipment ready to go. Sterilize your jars, lids, and rings.
- Wash your cucumbers and cut off a 1/16-inch slice off the blossom end. Make sure to leave ¼-inch of stem attached.
- Put the cucumbers in a large mixing bowl and add the kosher salt. Stir the gherkins well to coat them heavily.
- Let the gherkins sit in a colander with the excess salt for two hours. This is essential, and it draws out extra moisture from the cucumbers so that they're crisp in the jar.
- Rinse the gherkins with fresh water and pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel. Be sure to rinse off all the extra salt, as they've absorbed just the perfect amount at this point, and you don't need the extra on the outside.
- Pack the gherkins into the sanitized pint jars, layering the onions, tarragon, and aromatics throughout.
- Bring the vinegar to a boil and then cover the cucumbers with the boiling vinegar, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
- Add the lids and bands to your jars. If making refrigerator pickles, allow the jars to come to room temperature before storing them in the refrigerator. If canning, proceed to the instructions below.
- If canning, load the jars into the water bath canner, then process for 10 minutes (for pints) in a boiling water bath. Adjust for altitude as needed; see notes.
- Turn off the heat and allow the jars to remain in the canner for another five minutes (optional, but helps prevent thermal shock).
- Remove the jars, then let them cool on a rag for 24 hours at room temperature.
- Check the seals, label, and store.
Notes
Altitude Adjustments for Cornichons
Water boils at a lower temperature at higher altitudes, so jars need to be processed a bit longer as you go up in elevation. Here are the altitude adjustments for canning cornichons:- For 0 to 1,000 Feet in Elevation - Process pint jars for 10 minutes, and quart jars for 15 minutes.
- For 1,001 to 6,000 Feet in Elevation - Process pint jars for 15 minutes, and quart jars for 20 minutes.
- Above 6,001 Feet in Elevation - Process pint jars for 20 minutes, and quart jars for 25 minutes.