Monday, August 16, 2010

How to Make Refrigerator Pickles

For the past couple of years Zach and I have grown pickling cucumbers in our garden with pretty good success. Last year we had so many that we were looking for ways to use them up before they went bad. We tried several pickle recipes including one that processed the pickles in canning jars, and while I love to can, the pickles didn't have that fresh crunch. I started looking for refrigerator pickle recipes and couldn't find one that encompassed all the flavors that I was after. So after looking up the basic ingredients for the brine we've added and changed some things including the vinegar. Many of the recipes call for apple cider vinegar, which in my opinion, gives the pickles an aged taste, I like the freshness of the white vinegar. We also added fresh dill and garlic cloves. Here's our recipe.

Garlic Dill Pickles
Mix Brine, do not cook

2 qts. water
1/2 c. kosher salt
2 cups white vinegar
fresh dill
garlic cloves crushed
pickling cucumbers sliced into wedges

Rinse cucumbers, slice and pack in jars with 2 cloves garlic and small bunch of dill. Mix salt, water and vinegar, pour over cucumbers filling the jars. Leave pickles at room temperature for 3 days. Refrigerate after that.

I'm not sure how long the pickles keep in the refrigerator because we eat them too fast to let them spoil. We kept a can for about 2 weeks and they seemed fine, but the vinegar taste was a little strong.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just put up several jars of Rhubarb jam and though I will not share that recipe-I will barter them away...Also try using 1/2 cider vinegar and 1/2 white vinegar---keeps well....for the pickles...Good Luck w/ the site-it looks very interesting and informative.....

Jennifer Sartell said...

Mmmm, sounds great! We are so behind this year on the canning and pickling. With the move, we are so strapped for time. Can't wait to get settled and really get my hands on some Ball jars. Thanks for the pickle tip, definitely will try that.

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