Should I Remove Cucumber Prickles Before Pickling?
Good Questions

Q: I planted Calypso pickling cucumbers in my garden this year. They are growing very well, and I already have an early yield of 10 larger pickling cucumbers from just four plants! These cucumbers are very prickly and I want to make bread and butter pickles out of them.

Do I try to remove the prickles before canning? Or do I make them into pickles with the spikes on?

Sent by Hilary

Editor: Hilary, we're going to turn this tongue-twister of a question straight over to our readers. What say you, expert picklers? Do you scrape off your cucumber prickles, or just let them be?

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(Image: Veseys)

Comments (8)

I always remove them. You don't have to scrape, just hold under running water and rub them with your hands or a dish cloth. They'll come right off.

I use a sponge and just lightly scrub them. Prickles are removed quite easily. This also works for carrots (which I never peel anymore) and just about any other vegetable.

I may have a different type of cucumber, but I find that the spikes come right off with just a little brush of my hand - they hurt to mess with head-on but if you come at them at an angle, they just fall right off.

When I was using my cucumbers for salads, I just washed them with a sponge and they popped right off.

Something similar happened to me.

I brush them off. Here's my recipe for quick and easy Half Sour Pickles
http://www.atthefarmersmarket.com/2010/07/half-sour-pickles.html

I find they rub right off, but the occasional one stuck in the finger can be quite painful, so if the prickles seem stubborn, go at them with a towel. Just wrap them and rub. You wouldn't want those spikes in your hand, so you definitely don't want them in your mouth!

I agree, just rub them with a towel or sponge. Here's my recipe for sweet pickle relish.

http://www.myrecessionkitchen.com/Site/My_Kitchen/Entries/2009/7/30_Sweet_Pickle_Relish.html