My garden didn't produce enough cucumbers at one time to make a full
canner load of pickles so I just made a few jars each of dill, bread
and butter and sweet pickles and put them in the fridge to develop. I
used fresh-pack recipes from BBB and SETP rather than fermented. The
flavor is mostly okay after a month or so but a good number of them
seem to have a bitter aftertaste. Not spoiled but just bitter.

A friend mentioned that he doesn't like pickling cucumbers for fresh
eating since the peel is bitter. I also read on a gardening site that
too little water can make cucumbers bitter. This seems like the
mostly likely explanation.

Has anyone has similar results?

And what's the difference between fermented and fresh-pack? I mean
flavor- and texture-wise? If I've even ever eaten them, I didn't know
it. Are store-bought pickles more likely to be fermented? I
understand the two different processes but I could quite work up the
nerve to try fermented this year - got a little squicked at the "skim
the scum off the top" part! :-)

Thanks!

Beti