Don't be embarrassed. We've all been there. You made homemade pickles and they're so salty cows are wandering into your kitchen looking for the salt lick. And the salt lick is your lips. Here's how to fix them.
So you got your Laura Ingalls on and made homemade pickles. You don't do this sort of thing a lot, but you've always wanted to make pickles so you did it. You *finally* made them. You bought the cucumbers, washed the jars, made the brine, let them sit.
Then you casually mentioned to as many people as possible that you were about to, were in the middle of or had just finished making homemade pickles.
After a few weeks you couldn't wait any longer and you cracked open a jar, smelled them (delicious!), stuck your fingers into the pickle brine, chose a big, juicy pickle and took a bite. You can't remember very much of what happened after that because you instantly went into a rare salt coma - the most severe on record since the great Cured Meats and Mixed Nuts convention of '72.
When friends and family come over asking for one of your famous homemade pickles, you're forced to lie to them and say they aren't ready for tasting yet. They need to "steep". They're immature. You must give this sort of thing time.
One thing leads to another and before you know it you've told everyone no one can ever try your pickles because you're moving to Japan and you're taking your pickles with you. (Japan is well known around the world for their Fall Fairs pickle competitions and you plan on entering your pickles into all of them on account of the fact you can just tell they're award winning quality.)
Lord only knows what'll happen after you and your pickles move to Japan, I mean, it's a slippery slope. At the very least you'll get involved in the underground Cosplay world.
Instead of going through all the lies and deception you might want to just fix your salty pickles.
In fact this method can be used to cut saltiness in anything that can be soaked in water.
Get a notepad and pencil ready ('cause Laura Ingalls kicks it old school) and take these notes.
How to Fix Salty Pickles
1, Take pickles soak them in water.
The end.
How to Fix Salty Homemade Pickles.
Fix those salty pickles in NO time.
Materials
- Water
- salty pickles
Instructions
- Take salty pickles and soak them in water for 10-30 minutes.
Notes
- The longer you leave the pickles in plain water, the more salt that comes out of them.
- If you cut your pickles into quarters or slices, the salt will dissipate more quickly.
- The process should only take 10 – 30 minutes depending on the saltiness and the thickness of the pickle.
- Take little bites of the pickle as they sit to see when they’re ready to your liking.
- If you leave the pickles in the water too long ALL of the salt (and flavour) will be removed from them leaving them tasteless. So don’t do that.
- If you're canning homemade pickle do NOT reduce the salt of the recipe. The salt acts as a preservative. If you're not canning them, but rather storing your pickles in the fridge it is fine to decrease the salt in a recipe.
I guess I could give you a bit more direction but really there's not much left to say.
The science behind it is osmosis which you may remember for high school science. You put the salty pickles into unsalty water and the salt is drawn out of them.
- The longer you leave the pickles in plain water, the more salt that comes out of them.
- If you cut your pickles into quarters or slices, the salt will dissipate more quickly.
- The process should only take 10 - 30 minutes depending on the saltiness and the thickness of the pickle.
- Take little bites of the pickle as they sit to see when they're ready to your liking.
- If you leave the pickles in the water too long ALL of the salt (and flavour) will be removed from them leaving them tasteless. So don't do that.
If you made homemade pickles that are two salty those are your options. Soak them in plain water - or rent yourself a Hello Kitty costume and buy a plane ticket.
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
This was the wittiest, funniest and strangely, the most informative post I’ve ever had the please of reading. Thank you so much Karen! I’m going to cancel my tickets to Japan and go soak some pickles!
If you have a large batch of pickles and soak them in water to remove the excessive salty taste, what do you do with them afterwards to store them? You can't put them back in the salty brine. Should I add water to the brine instead?
Hi Stephanie. You have to remove just the portion you want to eat. Leave the rest in the salty brine. ~ karen!
I have store-bought giardiniera that is inedible it's so salty. If I remove it from the jar and soak it in water for 30 minutes, then how do I store the remainder? back in the jar filled with water? Or perhaps a mix of water and brine? thanks!
Hi MB. Just take out the portion size you want to eat and let those soak. ~ karen!
Anyone try doing this with pickled jalapenos? If so, how long hold in water bath? Want to get rid of the salt but not the spiciness. thanks
Can I open and drain off about half of the pickling liquid and replace it with a light sugar syrup? Can I then reprocess them in a boiling water bath or must they be refrigerated?
After removing salt from processed pickles, do I reprocess the jars of pickles. Do I have to clean the jars again?
If i soak the pickles in the water, it will spoiled know...whether i have keep jar itself if the water..or i have to soak in the water...little confusion..pl..help me out
I'm not sure if I can taste any flavor other than salt. I'm going to replace half the brine with water and keep them in the fridge. But, I was wondering...if I wanted a pickle with just a little more zest to it, can I replace the brine with a 50/50 water/vinegar solution?
Can you soak store bought pickles the same way to cut down the salt?
what can you do about too salty dill pickle juice?????
Heard it was good for your blood sugar but it is soooooo salty!!!
I bought a gallon of it.
Use it as a marinade it’s totally amazing on chicken or pork chops. Also great for leg cramps ( maybe mixed with some boiled water to tone it down
Anyone know if this applies to salty pickled fish also? Pickled some fish and it is way salty. Need a fix!
Well I'm from Florida and having made too salty pickles, read your title as I really need to read this since that describes my last venture into pickle making. Thanks so much for this. Now back to making refrigerator pickled onions. So good!
I’m in Mississippi, and when I saw the title, I thought it was a recipe for salty pickles. As in, “I’m fixin to woop up a batch of salty pickles”.
Nancy Ann.....I'm from Texas and that's just how we talk...
Brilliant!
You had me on tenterhooks and laughing at the same time.
Now I must go tend to the pickles....