Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Easy Refrigerator Pickles

Pickles in the jar

Want fresh, crunchy, totally delicious homemade pickles all summer long??

I do, I do!

Want a super fast and easy recipe that will yield at least 2 big jars of refrigerator pickles? Is that you raising your hand??

Well do I have a recipe for you! I found this recipe in the latest issue of Taste of Home and as soon as I saw those beautiful dill spears in that magazine I decided I was making me some homemade pickles.

I love dill pickles. Sweet pickles are another story. There is just something wrong about a sweet pickle to me. Pickles should be tart and tangy, not sweet and sugary. Sugar is for desserts, not pickles.

I can’t begin to tell you how fresh and crisp these are. The flavor is phenomenal. I’d rate it 10 on the lip puckering scale.

Here are the baby cukes all cut up and ready for their dip in the brine.

Pcikles - raw sliced

I wrapped them up the big bowl and set it in the extra fridge we have in the garage so I wouldn’t be tempted to snatch some before they were done.

Dill Pickles in bowl

I let them sit for 2 days instead of the recommended 24 hours, and then I jarred them up with some of the liquid. Now I’m not sure if I should have included the liquid. It didn’t mention anything in the directions but it just didn’t seem right to set them in a dry jar with no liquid in it. If there are any experienced pickle makers out there, please let me know if I’m correct or not.

I planted some pickling cukes this year, so hopefully there will be many more batches to come.

Pickles in pie plate

Easy Refrigerator Pickles
Printable recipe
15 small pickling cucumbers
40 fresh dill springs
2 large onions, thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves
1 quart white vinegar
1 quart water*
1 cup canning salt (I found mine right near the kosher salt)

Cut each cucumber lengthwise into four spears. In a large bowl (the biggest you have) combine the cucumbers, dill, onion and garlic and set aside.

In a Dutch oven, combine the water, vinegar and salt and bring to a boil, stirring every once in awhile to dissolve the salt. Once it has reached a boil pour it over the cucumber mixture.

Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Store in the fridge for up to 3 months.

*Save the empty 1 quart vinegar bottle, and fill it with the quart of water you need for the recipe.

8 comments:

preTzel said...

Oh, I am going to be buying me some baby cukes and fresh dill. I love homemade dill pickles! I totally agree with you on the sweet pickles too!

krysta said...

you should soooo have enough pickle juice for pretzels. i'm with you on the swwet pickles it just wrong. i'm going to get some cucumbers and make these. do you think i could can them? or should i just make it a batch at a time?

Melissa said...

I've always wanted to make my own. Need jars.

And I agree with you and my Krysta. Sweet pickles? Ew.

Daniela said...

I LOVE YOU! This just made my day! I always wanted to make my own pickles without the hassle of the traditional pickling process. Now I can! thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sweet pickles are an abomination! they should outlaw them..YUCK!

Jeff said...

Good another anti-sweet pickle person. I always end up adding some habanero or jalapeno to my curing pickle mix too.

Audrey said...

I just wanted to say that this is the *AWESOMEST* recipe EVER. I don't even want to go back to conventional canning of pickles--this is the way to go!

And YES, sugar belongs in sweets, NEVER in pickles! (hardy har har!!) It's so wonderful to hear someone else sports that philosophy ;-)

One more thing--and this is a testament to how incredible this brine is--I took regular spears from the grocery store, emptied out that cruddy 'brine' washed the pickles, and stuck them in the USED BRINE from this recipe, and 5 days later, they tasted like home made refrigerator pickles, no kidding. And they *just got better* as time went on.

In closing, let me add that I *hate* raw onions. I will under no circumstances eat them...until this recipe, that is. Yeah. That's how awesome it is. You've found the best pickle recipe on the 'net. :-)

Thank you *so* much, from the bottom of my heart for posting this!

Audrey said...

Oh sorry--one more thing--Zucchini (young ones) substituted for cucumbers works FANTASTIC in this recipe. No one could tell the difference until I told them!

Okay, I'm done! :-)

Audrey said...

Oh sorry--one more thing--Zucchini (young ones) substituted for cucumbers works FANTASTIC in this recipe. No one could tell the difference until I told them!

Okay, I'm done! :-)