Pickled Lemon Cucumber is a great way to enjoy an abundance of lemon cucumbers far beyond their growing season.
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Lemon cucumber recipe
Lemon cucumbers do not really taste like lemons. But they are similar in appearance to lemons and have a nice light, bright flavor. I love them sliced fresh. But lemon cucumbers are also great for pickling because they stay crisp even when canning lemon cucumbers.
But you can also adjust the recipe, as directed below, to make quick refrigerator pickled lemon cucumbers instead.
Either way you choose you’ll want to make sure the pickles are as crunchy as possible. Start by choosing the smallest lemon cucumbers you can find. Then give them a good dunk in an ice water bath after slicing.
Other than that the recipe is the same as Ball Mason Jar’s dill pickle recipe using a little lemon juice and garlic instead of dill. But you can always add a sprig of dill into each jar before canning to make dill pickled lemon cucumbers instead.
Additionally these are cut into lemon wedge like quarters. But you can also use larger lemon cucumbers and slice them into ¼ inch thick rounds instead.
Ingredients
- Small lemon cucumbers – for the best crisp, crunchy texture choose the smallest lemon cucumbers you can find. If you only have access to larger cucumbers, thinly slice into rounds instead of wedges.
- Vinegar – white vinegar makes for a nice clean and clear pickling liquid but you can substitute apple cider vinegar instead.
- Lemon juice – a little bottled lemon juice adds a very slight lemon flavor but additional vinegar can be substituted.
- Granulated sugar – although this isn’t a sweet bread and butter pickle recipe there is still sugar in the pickling liquid to balance and soften the sharp acidity of the vinegar.
- Pickling salt
- Garlic cloves
- Black peppercorns
- Ground turmeric – optional, to enhance the bright yellow color.
Step by step instructions
- Wash cucumbers and cut into small quarters. Place quartered lemon cucumbers in ice water to soak and crispen.
- Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready to use. Do not boil. Wash lids in warm soapy water and set aside with bands.
- Make pickling liquid. Combine vinegar, water, sugar, lemon juice, pickling salt, and turmeric a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt. Reduce heat and keep warm.
- Drain cucumbers. Place 1 garlic clove and 1 teaspoon peppercorns into a hot jar. Pack cucumber wedges into jar leaving a ½ inch headspace. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover cucumbers leaving a ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and re-measure headspace. If needed, add more pickling liquid to meet recommended headspace. Wipe jar rim. Center lid on jar and apply band, adjust to fingertip tight. Place jar in boiling-water canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.
- Add additional boiling water if needed so water covers jars by 1 inch. Adjust heat to medium-high, cover canner, and bring water to a rolling boil. Process pint jars 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat and remove cover. Let jars cool 5 minutes. Remove jars from canner; do not retighten bands if loose. Cool 12-24 hours. Check lids for seal, they should not flex when center is pressed.
- Enjoy!
How to serve
Enjoy pickled lemon cucumbers as you would any other pickle – on the side of a burger or sandwich, chopped into a cold chicken or tuna salad, along fried chicken, fish or other seafood, in a bloody mary, or just by itself!
Quick refrigerator version
To make quick refrigerator pickled lemon cucumber simply adjust the yield to 1 and cool the pickling liquid after boiling. Then simply slice cucumbers, or quarter, and place in a container with garlic cloves and black peppercorns. Cover with cooled pickling liquid and store refrigerated.
Yield
This recipe yields 5 pint jars of pickled lemon cucumber.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 13 cups quartered lemon cucumbers or sliced ¼” if large
- 3 ¾ cups white vinegar at least 5% acidity
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 4 cups water
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup pickling salt
- 5 cloves garlic
- 5 teaspoons black peppercorns
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
Instructions
- Wash cucumbers and cut into small quarters. Place quartered lemon cucumbers in ice water to soak and crispen.
- Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready to use. Do not boil. Wash lids in warm soapy water and set aside with bands.
- Make pickling liquid. Combine vinegar, lemon juice, water, sugar, pickling salt, and turmeric a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt. Reduce heat and keep warm.3 ¾ cups white vinegar, ¼ cup lemon juice, 4 cups water, ½ cup pickling salt, ½ teaspoon turmeric, ¼ cup sugar
- Drain cucumbers. Place 1 garlic clove and 1 teaspoon peppercorns into a hot jar. Pack cucumber wedges into jar leaving a ½ inch headspace. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover cucumbers leaving a ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and re-measure headspace. If needed, add more pickling liquid to meet recommended headspace. Wipe jar rim. Center lid on jar and apply band, adjust to fingertip tight. Place jar in boiling-water canner. Repeat until all jars are filled.13 cups quartered lemon cucumbers, 5 cloves garlic, 5 teaspoons black peppercorns
- Add additional boiling water if needed so water covers jars by 1 inch. Adjust heat to medium-high, cover canner, and bring water to a rolling boil. Process pint jars 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat and remove cover. Let jars cool 5 minutes. Remove jars from canner; do not retighten bands if loose. Cool 12-24 hours. Check lids for seal, they should not flex when center is pressed.
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