Pickles, Pickles and More Pickles

Pickles, Pickles and More Pickles

Last night we made refrigerator pickles, and I am SO excited! Our little garden is producing a bounty of cucumbers, and as a family who LOVES pickles,  it seems only appropriate that we make some ourselves.

There are lots and lots of pickle recipes on the internet, so after scouring several we decided to make some traditional refrigerator pickles but then also make a few jars with an extra kick (since we love spiced up foods and especially hot pickles).

So, we combined white vinegar, kosher salt and water to make our brine. Next, we added our cucumber slices, peppercorns, garlic cloves and several bunches of dill to each jar. Then, for the extra punch we put some peppers in three of our jars and red pepper flakes to three more jars before pouring the cooled brine over the cucumbers and herbs. 

Those pickles are now in the fridge and we are looking forward to enjoying them all summer long. The nice part is that the whole process was pretty quick, and very inexpensive. We used cucumbers from the garden, old jars we had in the pantry and many of the ingredients were things we already had around the house. 

Here is a summary of two of the recipes we modified to make our pickles…ENJOY!

3 cups of white vinegar

1 cup kosher salt

4 quarts of water

5-6 cucumbers

1 teaspoon peppercorns for each jar

1clove of garlic per jar

1 bunch of dill per jar

1 hot pepper per jar (as desired)

1 teaspoon of pepper flakes per jar (as desired)

Boil water, and then add the salt and vinegar after you remove from the stove. Stir to dissolve the salt and wait for brine to cool as you prepare your pickle jars.

After you clean your jars, add the cucumber and herbs to each one squeezing as many cucumbers as you can into each jar. We cut ours into “chips” but spears are just as yummy!

Once cooled, pour brine over the cucumbers and put your lids on. Place the jars in the fridge and wait a few days before you begin to eat them.