Krakus pickled cucumber (in jar)

My sister swears that Krakus have two types of pickled cucumber, one in what she describes as "sweet vinegar" and the other in spirit vinegar.

I think it's only made in one base liquid, that of pickling solution of spirit vinegar, dill, horseradish, garlic, mustard, sugar & salt.
Which of us is correct?

She is. One is Ogorki konserwowe. The other ogorki kiszone

konserwowe are in sweet vinegar but I thought kiszone are made in brine, not vinegar.

the difference between konserwowe and kiszone is hard to make in (US) English where both are usually... pickles with no generally accepted way of distinguishing them, like czereśnie and wiśnie are both just 'cherries'....

No.
Konserwowe means using spirit vinegar
Kiszone means they are naturally fermented, like sauerkraut.


You are correct talking about Konserwowe - that is the flagship product of Krakus.
But recently they introduced Kiszone - it is still marked as Novelty on the labels.

Now you have to establish whether your sister meant Kiszone when she said sweet vinegar. Coz I am afraid it is not the same - naturally fermented cucumbers tend to be salty, not sweet.

Therefore, I am opting you have won this argument with your sister. :):).

I know the difference. My point was that English lacks a quick and simple way to distinguish the two... which can lead to confusion.

Yes. In vinegar versus naturally fermented sound awkward. :):):).

Made with scalding water. They produce their own acid as they decompose.

I was under the impression, that Konserwowe and Kiszone are traditionally from different parts of Poland. My family from Warsaw never ate Konserwowe and dislike it. I see adding vinegar to cucumbers as a english thing. Prove me wrong

Urban v. rural, if anything. If there's anything regional it's about traditional production/distribution as well as taste.

It´s how it´s preserved too, Kiszone doesn´t have added sugar in it (which is why I buy them)

Yes. Kiszone are done with just water and a few bits and pieces. They probably account for 80% of what's actaully consumed, whether home-made, bought by weight from a barrel or bought in a jar.

Konserwowe are made for bulk production, keeping and transportation.

Kwaszone used to be more common than they are now. A very different taste but an interesting one. Most people seem to prefer kiszone to kwaszone, as do I.

Kiszone and kwaszone it is the same.

There's a key difference. Kwaszone are made by an industrial process using added acid (often lactic acid) to artificially speed up preservation and reduce costs. This inhibits natural bacterial action (which produces subtlety of flavour) and produces a different taste and texture.

When my wife makes cucumbers, they are malosolous (malosolne) after 3 days and pickled (kiszone) after a week.

This is normal for gherkins (though pickled isn't the best translation of kiszone).

Kwaszone are done in a factory, vacuum packed and dispatched to wholesalers/shops straight away.

Confused. So pretty much any mass produced kiszone/ogorki in brine that are sold in cans are actualy kwaszone? and only the stuff found in wooden barrels in rural areas etc are really kiszone??

No. Kwaszone are made by a specific twentieth-century industrial process and are less popular.


Cans?


No. You can kisić ogórki in a jar, a barrel or a vat in a factory. Just as long as it's sealed and sterile.

Google translation for gherkins is "korniszony". It is not the same. Korniszony are with vinegar.

Don't trust Google translation. Korniszony are cornichons in English; the same French-style product and about as popular in England as in PL or less so, and about as long on the supermarket shelves.

Gherkins are any kind of preserved small ogórki.

Yes we have glass jars from Poland and metal cans/tins from Israel here. Israeli ones very good too but only have garlic whilst the polish ones have the dill and other plants/spices etc.

I've not seen those.

A bit of garlic's important if you're doing małosolny however otherwise I can live without it and too much can make them unpleasant. Best to go heavy with the dill and horseradish and ligfht with the garlic.

Chilli gherkins seem more and more popular in PL. A few years ago supermarkets would have none or maybe one brand, and now there are a few.

With vinegar? Funnily enough, I went to a Ruski sklep once for the Israeli ogorki in brine, and this time they had ogorki in brine with lots of chilli instead, which they claimed was the same company , but manufactured for the Palestinian territories.

Usually, though I've seen kiszone too.

Yes and while cooking this brine do not stand over it and breath it or you can burn the inside of your nose.


And that acid may have a chemical reaction to tin cans.
That is why the Polish use glass instead of cans.
Even while making the brine you shouldn't use metal pots that could be reactive to the brine.


And the Polish pickles that we in the U.S. imported from Poland are in glass jars also.
Here is a simple Polish recipe that I use to make them.
(Quite fun to make on a rainy day in late summer)

polishpoland.com/pickled-gherkins-ogorki-kwaszone/

It's about a heaped tablespoonful (maximum) per litre. I use around half that and get good results. Oversalted ones have harder skins and a different taste..

I bought the israeli ogorki today and jon was right, in the ingredients they list acetic acid and firming agent. So they really are kwaszone. They do taste different actually but damm good! The shop also had marinated ogorki with prunes! but i was not brave enough to buy that..

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Thanks jon, I will take your advise and give it a try this year.
Canning season here will be starting in about three weeks. (Mid-August thru September)
Buy your canning lids now before they get all sold out.

If you've got fresh horseradish, put a bit in the jar.


In Poland now, drying is very popular. People buy electric food dryers. It doesn't work with gherkins though.


I would try that just for the experience. The Israeli ones sound good too.

Take a look and tell us what the sodium (salt) content is in that can of dill pickles you bought.
Right up there with the worst of sauerkraut and tomato sauce.
This is why I don't buy canned vegetables and have switched to frozen or can my own.


Will do as I always start with a fresh grape leaf in the bottom of the jar with a clove of fresh garlic and some fresh dill.

Pickled things are popular in Hungary too and compared to Poland I noticed they pickle lots more different things (including paprika stuffed with sauerkraut, cauliflower and even baby melons!.... whole!)

On the other hand there's less variety of tastes (everything I had had a sweet taste like bread and butter pickles).

One place in the market on Hold utca (Moon street) had whole pickled plums but with a clove of garlic where the seed would usually be... weirdly delicious but they had left the market the last time I was there.....