pickling without sugar

[MadauntofA]

Has anyone tried pickling cucumbers without using so much sugar - do you think honey would work ( less obviously) is that a silly idea?

How much sugar are you using?
I use 1 tsp sugar per cup of vinegar, to pickle 1 cucumber.

I don't know yet, I have just been looking at some recipes and wondered if I could substitute?

But honey is just sugar in another form ...

I know it is still sugar, but wondering if I can use less?

The recipe I have found has 140g for 300mls vinegar/ 3 cucumbers - sounds a lot doesn't it? I haven't pickled before so don't quite get the science

That's a lot of sugar. Yes, just use less...not honey though unless you want a honey flavour. The sugar just takes the edge of the sourness of the vinegar and isn't essential at all.

This is my recipe which I've also tried without sugar.

I make bread and butter pickles, sweet pickled cucumber. The sugar mixed in with the vinegar helps to keep the cucumber crunchy.
If you just want the taste of pickles then go for soused cucumber with little or no sugar or maybe maple syrup, they only keep for a day or two though.

Thanks Ony, do you think I can add mustard seeds and celery seeds turmeric and onions instead of the dill and just use that amount of sugar?

I think bread and butter cucumbers are the ones I am going for - will they just end up mushy with less sugar then? What are soused cucumbers?

Sophie Grigson's pickle uses 275g of sugar with 300ml of vinegar blush] and is delish. So your recipe is quite tame. And you don't drink the juice, so not as sugary as it seems.
Sousing, as taught by my dad so open to interpretation, is salt the cucumber, rinse and dry, put in large dish with herring, pour hot spiced vinegar over and leave to pickle for a few hours. Never more than a pinch of salt added. Radishes, fennel etc included erratically. Never known to last more than a couple of days.

MadauntofA if you use onions, it would be best to salt them along with the cucumber, to remove their juices. You can add what ever spices you like, but if you're using whole spices, you'd probably need to warm them in the vinegar first (don't boil) then cool and sweeten to taste with caster sugar. Then pour the cold, spiced vinegar over the drained and rinsed veg in jars.

Turmeric will turn all the veg yellow like piccalilli though...or are you hoping to make something like piccalilli?

I ended up with just a tsp of sugar by stirring it into the vinegar and tasting it. If you prefer it sweeter, just add more sugar.

If you don't salt the veg first, they wont last as long, but will still taste good.

Just re-read and realised you want to make bread and butter pickles, which I'd never heard of! Having googled the recipe, I really don't see why you need so much sugar, apart from using it as a preservative. I'd make a smaller batch with less sugar and see how it tastes and lasts.

Thanks, I think I will experiment a bit with salting and quantities! I am trying to replicate a bought jar from our local market - they were delicious but quite pricey, and DH accidentally ate most of it! They were yellow from the turmeric which I don't mind as it is supposed to be a good anti inflammatory.

I think I might have a go too, as it sounds yummy!