What is an unfermented pickle?

Most pickles anywhere are prepared through a fermentation process where bacteria extract the sugar from the gherkin and produce acid, thus preserving the pickle.

Unfermented pickles are preserved by high temperatures when they are shortly boiled in salt water and vinegar. Commercially produced unfermented pickles are often not boiled, but undergo a pasteurization process.

Because the preservation of the pickle does not depend on the amout of acid, unfermented pickles are not as sour as fermented pickles.

You can visually tell unfermented from fermented pickles by the brine. Fermented pickles swim in a milky looking brine, while the brine of unfermented pickles is as clear as water.

This recipe was taken from the German language Web site Spreewald-Info.com and translated into English.

Spreewald Unfermented Pickle Recipe:

Take 6.6 lb (3kg) of small, crunchy cucumbers and put them into three screw-cap glasses.

Put into every glass, on top of the cucumbers:

- 1-2 tea spoons of mustard seed
- Some fresh, chopped dill
- 1 chopped onion
- 6 black pepper kernels
- 2 pimento kernels
- Some tarragon (optional)
- 1/4 of a bay leave (optional)

Separately, boil shortly the following ingredients in a pot:

- 4.2 cups (0.26 gallons or 1 liter) of 10% vinegar
- 1.3 gallons (5 liter) of water
- 2 hands full of salt
- 1.1 lb (500 gr) of sugar

Let this mix cool down and then poor it on top of the cucumbers until the cucumbers are covered completely. Put the glasses in a cooker and boil for 10 to 15 minutes.