Simplest recipe for refridgerator pickles.
- Small pickling cucumbers, washed
- Distilled white vinegar (high quality*)
- Sugar
- Glass storage containers (canning jars, Pyrex, etc)
- Optional: Fresh dill, washed
- Very Optional (Munch Alert!): Small amounts of peppercorns, bay leaf, whole mustard seed, salt, and other various 'pickling spices'
Fill glass jar halfway with distilled vinegar. Stir in sugar until no more can be disolved. This only makes the cucumbers mildly sweet.
Either use whole cucumbers (slice each end off), or slice them anyway you want. I prefer to quarter them lengthwise, so they are in four equal strips.
Or slice them as if for sandwiches. If you have a krinkle-cut device, use that!
Pack as much cucumber as you can into each jar, and top it off with a few clean sprigs of dill. Close lid.
Let the jars sit in the fridge for at least overnight. I prefer 24-48 hours, depending on how the cucumbers were sliced. I've tried 4 days, that was intense! So adjust accordingly.
*Regarding the vinegar: The best tasting pickles I've made were using Spectrum Organic Distilled White Vinegar, made from organic corn and rye. Apparently, some distilled vinegars are partly made from wood chips or petroleum products. All I know is, I made some pickles with store-brand 1 gallon jug of distilled vinegar... and it came out horrible! Overwhelming harshness and strange taste. So make a few batches with various, slightly more expensive vinegars and pick out what you like.
Enjoy! I like to peel them and throw them in a tomato/avocado salad.
Pickles!
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Almost forgot: Dilute the vinegar for the first batch. Maybe a 2:1 vinegar to water ratio, or to taste. Straight vinegar is strong, but it really depends on what kind you buy and what percent vinegar it is (usually 5% or so).
After the pickles are eaten, you can reuse the mixture... just add new cucumbers. I've done up to 5 reuses, all that happens is it gets more mild, as the vinegar replaces the liquid inside the cucumbers.
After the pickles are eaten, you can reuse the mixture... just add new cucumbers. I've done up to 5 reuses, all that happens is it gets more mild, as the vinegar replaces the liquid inside the cucumbers.