Chef Klaus
Apfelmus
The apple-harvest preserve of the German kitchen, cooked low until the fruit collapses, then kept smooth, tart, and ready for potato pancakes or warm Mehlspeisen.
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Spreewälder Senfgurken
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The Spreewald pickle for overgrown cucumbers: peeled, seeded, salted, then set in a sweet-sour mustard-seed brine until the flesh turns glassy and still keeps its bite.
Sauces & Condiments
German
Make Ahead
Batch Cooking
Budget Friendly
35 min
Active Time
15 min cook•12 hr 50 min total
Yield4 x 500ml jars
Spreewälder Senfgurken belong to late summer in Brandenburg, when the little gherkins are gone and the cucumbers left on the vine have grown big, thick-skinned, and full of seed. That is not failure. That is the preserve. Weggeworfen wird nichts: peel them, scrape out the wet seed core, salt the firm flesh, and the larder gets another jar for potatoes, cold roast, bread, and sausage.
The Spreewald makes them sweet-sour and yellow with mustard seed, sometimes with onion, dill, bay, and a little horseradish. Farther north, cucumbers often stay sharper and dill-heavy; in the south you meet more sweet pickles beside cold meats, but not with this same Spreewald cucumber logic. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. This one belongs to the wet meadows and cucumber fields south-east of Berlin.
The step that decides it is salting the peeled cucumber before it meets the vinegar. Salt pulls out the loose water, so the brine doesn't turn thin and the pieces don't collapse into soft green rags. Then you cook them gently only until they turn glassy at the edges. Boil them hard and you've made sour mush. Nicht aus dem Glas, unless it is your glass.
The Spreewald, a river-and-canal landscape in Lower Lusatia in today's Brandenburg, became famous for cucumbers in the nineteenth century, when market gardeners sent barrels of pickles by boat and rail to Berlin. Spreewälder Gurken received protected EU geographical status in 1999, tying the name to the region and its long cucumber trade. Senfgurken are the thrifty branch of that tradition: large ripe cucumbers, no longer fit for small whole gherkins, are peeled, seeded, and preserved in mustard brine.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
large ripe cucumbers
Quantity
2kg
peeled, halved, seeded, and cut into thick fingers
fine salt
Quantity
40g
white wine vinegar, 5% acidity
Quantity
500ml
water
Quantity
350ml
sugar
Quantity
220g
yellow mustard seeds
Quantity
2 tablespoons
onions
Quantity
2 medium
thinly sliced
bay leaves
Quantity
2
black peppercorns
Quantity
1 teaspoon
allspice berries
Quantity
1 teaspoon
dill
Quantity
1 small bunch
divided
fresh horseradish (optional)
Quantity
30g
peeled and sliced
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| large ripe cucumberspeeled, halved, seeded, and cut into thick fingers | 2kg |
| fine salt | 40g |
| white wine vinegar, 5% acidity | 500ml |
| water | 350ml |
| sugar | 220g |
| yellow mustard seeds | 2 tablespoons |
| onionsthinly sliced | 2 medium |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| black peppercorns | 1 teaspoon |
| allspice berries | 1 teaspoon |
| dilldivided | 1 small bunch |
| fresh horseradish (optional)peeled and sliced | 30g |
Equipment Needed
- •4 x 500ml preserving jars with new lids
- •Wide non-reactive pot
- •Jar lifter or tongs
- •Ladle
- •Clean kitchen towels
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the cucumbers
Peel the cucumbers, halve them lengthwise, and scrape out the seed core with a spoon. The seeds hold too much water, and water is what weakens the brine. Cut the firm flesh into thick fingers, about a thumb wide, so the pieces can soften at the edges without falling apart.
- 2
Salt overnight
Toss the cucumber pieces with the salt, cover, and leave them in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours. The salt pulls out loose water and tightens the flesh; skip this and the jars taste thin by the second week. Drain well and pat the pieces dry. Do not rinse, or you put the water straight back in.
Use glass, ceramic, or stainless steel for salting. Aluminium and vinegar are bad company, and the metal taste has nowhere to hide in a pickle. - 3
Make the brine
Bring the vinegar, water, sugar, mustard seeds, onions, bay, peppercorns, allspice, half the dill, and the horseradish if using to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Use vinegar marked 5% acidity; this is preservation, not salad dressing, and the acid has work to do.
- 4
Cook until glassy
Add the drained cucumbers to the brine and lower the heat to a quiet simmer. Cook 4 to 7 minutes, turning once, until the edges look glassy but the centers still look pale and firm. Runter mit der Temperatur. A hard boil drives the pieces past tender and into soft, and then no mustard seed can save them.
- 5
Fill the jars
Pack the hot cucumber pieces, onion, mustard seeds, and fresh dill into clean hot jars, then pour over boiling brine to cover by 1cm. Wipe the rims because sugar brine sticks, seal, and let the jars cool. For refrigerator pickles, chill at least 3 days before eating so the mustard has time to move through the cucumber.
- 6
Store safely
Keep refrigerator jars cold and eat within 2 months. For shelf storage, process sealed jars in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes, then let them stand undisturbed for 24 hours and check the seals. Any jar that hasn't sealed goes into the refrigerator. Das braucht seine Zeit, and so does safety.
Chef Tips
- •Choose cucumbers that are large and ripe but still firm. Yellowing is fine; soft spots are not. A soft cucumber has already spent its bite before you start.
- •Scrape the seed channel clean. That wet middle dilutes the brine and gives you flabby pieces, which is why Senfgurken use the flesh and leave the watery core behind.
- •Let the jars sit three days before judging them. Mustard seed is slow. On day one the brine tastes sharp; by day three it has settled into the cucumber.
- •Serve them with boiled potatoes, cold pork, rye bread, or a plate of Wurst. They are a condiment, yes, but a proper one, not decoration.
Advance Preparation
- •Salt the cucumbers the night before, then cook and jar them the next day. That overnight rest is the main work of the recipe.
- •The finished jars taste best after 3 to 7 days, when the mustard seed has softened and the sweet-sour brine has gone through the cucumber.
- •Refrigerator jars keep up to 2 months. Water-bath processed sealed jars keep up to 6 months in a cool dark cupboard; refrigerate after opening.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 500g)
Calories
305 calories
Total Fat
3 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
3920 mg
Total Carbohydrates
67 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
62 g
Protein
4 g
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