Mary,

Thanks for the recipe. How many lemon cucumbers do you use for the amount of ingredients used? Also, is that really 1/4 cup of vanilla?

Skye

what is the yield of the recipe as written?

I had 15 fairly large lemon cukes (maybe 3" around?) and I ended up with 7 pints for one batch. I did 3 batches and got 24 pints. Yep, It's 1/4 cup vanilla. You would think this would be just overwhelming but honest, it is not. I think the lemon juice balances it out. Everyone I have given some to just raves about them. Also, I meant to write that yellow cukes emersed in honey-colored sauce is just lovely to look at. I am not a "vanilla-eeee" kind of person so was skeptical I would like them but I find them delicious! Mary

What is a lemon cucumber?

Michelle

What an interesting pickle! I must try it next year since I've made 30 kinds of pickles but not this. I'm wondering if the 1/4 cup of vanilla is pure or extract? Could be expensive if it is pure.

Lemon cucumber is the description of an heirloom cuke that looks like a lemon but doesn't taste like it. It is round and yellow when ready to pickle, and has milder flavor than green pickling cukes. I use both the lemon and my white heirloom cukes for slicing fresh too (easier to digest, no need to peel). Several companies offer heirloom seeds, they'll keep for several years (air tight and dark) if you just want to plant a few each year. Also check out the seed exchange forum - http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/exseed/

They are moderate to heavy producers and prefer to be trellised rather than vining on the ground but I've grown them both ways - they also grow nicely in a very large pot. Nearly impossible to find in a grocery store but check out your local Farmer's Market!

Nancy the nancedar

Here is a link that might be useful: Rare Seeds - Lemon Cuke

I grew lemon cukes and thought they were awful eating, in fact i fed them to the pigs. So seedy mine were. Maybe this will change my mind, lol.

There is a small window for lemon cukes. When they go to long they have huge seeds. My CSA grows them and I never liked them because they were too seedy, then last summer I was in the fields with the head farmer. he picked some and gave them to my kids. They were much smaller then the ones I had tried and very tasty.

I wonder if I would like these pickles, I don't usually like sweet pickles.

-Robin

I think the trick with these is to pick before they turn deep yellow. I try to pick them when they are about 2 to inches across & kind of a darker off white color. They really do well on a fence/trellis. I do agree that the bigger they are the more seeds they have. It was vanilla extract. Only time I can afford buy pure vanilla is when we cruise to Mexico! (Going on Sept 29 and CAN NOT WAIT!) I Make my own Kahlua that is just a "wee bit" more potent (!!!) then store bought Kahlua! I am dying to try a recipe for Kahlua Carrots I came across. Just for eating not for canning. I too am not a "Sweet Pickle Person" but these were as tasty as it gets. I am going to try some whole small lemon cukes in this recipe and see what I get. I did add small whole lemon cukes to a few jars of Dills and they turned out fabulously. Kind of look like pickled eggs in the jar.

Do you mean you used imitation vanilla extract? There's pure vanilla extract and imitation vanilla extract.

Or when you refer to "pure vanilla" do you mean vanilla beans?

Synthetic or imitation vanilla is processed from "black liquor" or effluent waste from paper mills. The Japanese have recently come up with a process for extracting vanillin from cow dung. Not appealing.

Carol

I have to say these didn't sound like they would be very good, but I tried them and they are GREAT! I also don't care too much for sweet pickles but these are just right. Also I used imitation vanilla extract. They were simple to make and the first time I had too much brine so I just refrigerated it for a few days until I had enough cukes to do some more, brought it back to a boil and it worked just as good as the first time.

How strong is the vanilla? Do you notice the alcohol from the extract? I'm wondering if you couldn't use a vanilla bean or two.

We love lemon cukes and I like finding unusual recipes. I would like to try, but I think I might have to grow the cukes first.

I use imitation vanilla extract. I have never used vanilla beans in amything other than making vanilla bean flavored oil. But I would think that the vanilla beans could be left in the jar along with the cinnamon stick but do not know enough about how strong/intense the flavor would be? If someone tries that way or knows more about using vanilla beans in recipes, I would like to know. It would make a lovely presentation with the yellow cukes, the dark cinnamon stick in the amber liquid. Might have to try that next year. I do not taste any alcohol at all. I guess a person could use pure extract but it would be expensive and one might have to adjust the called for amount as I suspect pure extract would have more intense flavor? Nancy posted a reply and she mentioned the white heirloom cukes and I would think that those would also look terrific in this mixture. Mary

It's true there are tasters who prefer the imitation. Chemists have found good ways to fool the tongue. The flavor is less complex than the real but there's more of a vanillin "hit" so you get less nuance but the bazooka effect of the primary flavor.

It will be interesting to see how the imitation holds up in the pickling syrup over time. Flavors do change with canning and as the product sits on the shelf.

But I am amazed that people think real vanilla is too expensive to buy compared to the chemical alternative. You can buy a pint of vanilla for under $15.00 all over the place. At Costco pure Madagascar vanilla is under $10 for a pint. Barring the occasional recipe, a pint or quart of vanilla will last almost forever, so the cost per batch of cookies or whatever is miniscule.

You can make your own wonderful vanilla extract using vodka, brandy, light rum or grain alcohol and fresh vanilla beans for even less and control the strength. There are a number of ebay sellers who offer vanilla beans at incredible prices. The best vanilla beans I ever found anytime anywhere came from an ebay seller. Far better than Penzey's and darned cheap.

1 inch of vanilla bean = 1 tsp. of extract so for 1/4 cup you'd need 12 inches of fresh moist vanilla bean (slit to expose beans).

Why go to the trouble of making your own food from the best available products and then adulterate it?

Carol

I just can't get my head around this recipe. I've tried to imagine how it would taste :-)

Our family also used to buy vanilla in Mexico...but we were told that much of it was testing for lead. This was a number of years ago, so that may have changed. It also may depend on where you buy it.

Real vanilla is also pretty reasonable around here. But it sounds fun to make your own!

Thanks for the info on the vanilla beans. As I am nearly ON MY WAY (YEAH!!!) to Costa Maya, I will look for them there. They had huge bundles when last I visited. All I know is these french vanilla pickles are truly great and I doubt they will linger on my pantry selves for long. Friends are allready hitting me up for a 2nd jar. (Was saving them for xmas gifts along with jars of sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil.) I suspect I will be putting up some more before the frost comes.

Carol, thanks for the info on how much bean to use. I just bought some more beans off eBay -- I've bought 3 times before and 3 out of th 4 were the best beans I've seen or had. One was mixed par and above. And they were cheaper than I could have expected duringthe time when vanilla had gone sky high. The prices are back down now.

I do make my own vanilla, so I could easily use 1/4 cup of the good stuff, but the idea of a piece of bean in each jar was appealing to me. If I can find any lemon cukes, I'm going to have to try them.

Suzyq2, I made som jame with fruit and vanilla and felt the same way -- until I tried it. I think that's why I really want to try this one -- that and the lemon cukes and it sounds pretty to boot.

I've been wanting to try these pickles and finally gave it a shot today. I'm not sure how but I ended up with 13 pints. I only cut up cukes for 7 so I was frantically cutting away to fill more jars. I did the recipe as-is and I'm not good at packing cukes so that's not where the extra jars came from. Anyone have a suggestion for that? I should have canned yesterday instead of today since I picked them on Sunday evening so that could be part of the shrinking problem.

They smell wonderful though and I can't wait to try them!

Lora

Just wound up here in Vanilla Pickle land, and have to admit, they sound weird. However, I'm down for giving it a shot, seeing as I just received a large bottle of vanilla (pure vanilla extract) that a friend picked up for me at Costco for $5. If you have a Costco, Smart and Final, or Sam's in your area, check there for the pure vanilla extract, it's usually much more affordable there.

Hi,

I found this old thread and was wondering if anyone made these with regular cucumbers...

Shannon

I have only done them with the lemon cukes (which are neither lemon-flavored or acidic) I can't see why it would not work? If you do this, let us know how it turns out (maybe just do a few "test" jars?" I know that this vanilla stuff sounds icky but these are great pickles.