What type of cucumber do I have?

Yes, they're ridge cucumbers.

Although they are fine to eat as a salad cucumber they were, and are, traditionally used for pickling. In that form they are usually known as pickled gherkins and you see them sold quite a lot in fish and chip shops. In the East End of London they are traditionally known as wallys. Back in the old days (60+ years ago) I used to pickle them professionally in large barrels for sale in a deli.

 

Look up cream of cucumber soup.

 

You could wear goggles!

 

That's an interesting article

I do mine completely differently but everyone to their taste and all are good

The most popular pickled cues, when I was making them for our deli in the East End of London, were made with Cues (obviously), salt, bay leaves, garlic, coriander seeds, black peppercorns, allspice and acetic acid. As I used to pickle them in bulk (large oak barrels) I used glacial acid, which is 100% acetic acid (vinegar is usually 5%-10% glacial). The acid is part of the flavouring and also helps to pickle the cues quickly - about a week.

They are good and crispy for up to a month. I always had to start a new barrel each week because they sold so quickly. Most customers said they ate them within a week so I knew they were always having them fresh. They didn't need to buy a lot or keep them long as they could always pop in for more and they were just sold by weight.

 

Lots of questions! I'll try to answer them but it was usually done by feel and taste (used to taste the mixture).

Yes, but it was by pouring it in to a barrel that is already half full of water. Adjustments, to taste, were made later.

If the barrel sold out quickly we then just added a new lot cues. If it took much over a week to sell them then we dumped the mixture - but that rarely happened.

Also by taste, but it was usually a good guesstimate.

They were not cut but we only used 'crooks' and didn't top and tail them. Crooks are the small and crooked rejects from those cues grown for salads. They're perfect for pickling, pickle well and quickly and remain crisp.