Cucumis sativus.
A variety developed specifically for home pickling — short, stocky, firm and crunchy, selected to answer the great North American tradition of home pickling, that summer-and-autumn ritual where gardeners turn their cucumber surplus into jars to savour all year. Very different from the slicing varieties that are bred for fresh eating, the Homemade Pickles is designed from the start for processing, with particularly firm, dense flesh that stays crunchy after several weeks in brine, and a skin of intermediate thickness that lets the marinade penetrate well without going soft. It's the variety found in old Québec and Canadian cookbooks, in postwar gardening columns, and in the family kitchens where September rhymes with "pickling week" and the big pot simmering on the stove.
A compact, semi-trailing plant 1 to 1.5 m, grown on the ground or on a low trellis — particularly productive: a single healthy plant yields 25 to 50 pickling cucumbers over the season. Short stocky fruits 8-13 cm long, dark green with paler stripes, with a slightly spiny skin (visible black spines — a distinctive sign of pickling varieties).
Harvest in three main size categories depending on intended use: cornichons at 4-7 cm (the classic French format, pickled in white vinegar with tarragon and mustard seeds), medium pickles at 8-10 cm (the standard North American format, for dill pickles, sweet-tart bread-and-butter pickles, and sweet-spicy brines), and large pickles at 10-13 cm (for Ashkenazi kosher dill, those big pickles fermented in salt water with dill, garlic and black peppercorns that spend 3 to 4 weeks in brine before being ready). Also very good eaten fresh, snapped right off the plant — classic cucumber flavour, mild and juicy, a touch more pronounced than that of English cucumbers.
Grower's tip: Start indoors 3-4 weeks before transplanting, or direct-sow in early June once the soil has warmed to 18 °C. Like the other cucumbers, susceptible to downy mildew (Pseudoperonospora cubensis) and powdery mildew in humid heat — space plants generously (40-50 cm in the row) and water at the base rather than on the foliage. For pickling, ideally harvest every day in peak season, in the morning, and process within 12-24 hours — a freshly picked cucumber gives a noticeably crunchier pickle than one that has waited a few days in the fridge. Enthusiasts often add a grape, horseradish or oak leaf to each fermenting jar — the plant tannins help preserve the cucumber's firmness.
- Open-pollinated. Heritage variety. Annual. Monoecious; bee-pollinated, so crosses with other nearby Cucumis sativus — isolate for seed saving. Does NOT cross with squashes (Cucurbita), melons, or cucamelon.
- Vine length: 1-1.5 m.
- Maturity: 55-65 days after transplant.
- Exposure: full sun, warmth.
- Rich, well-drained, warm soil. Space plants 40-50 cm in the row. Low trellis optional but useful.
- Start indoors 3-4 weeks before transplanting, or direct-sow early June in Québec. Harvest every 1-2 days in peak season.
