Perky Pickles

 
Here are two easy pickle recipes for beginners.  I am new to making pickles, but am quickly developing a pickle problem.  I've made four batches of pickles this week and only stopped because I ran out of jars.  When it's so hot and humid outside that you get sticky with sweat just sitting in the shade, nothing is better than a crunchy, tart and salty pickle.  These two recipes are for refrigerator pickles, so there's no canning involved.  Just assemble the ingredients and enjoy.
I grew cucumbers and fresh dill in my garden.  I think the intense flavor of the dill straight from the summer sunshine makes this simple recipe shine.  All you need is cucumbers, dill, garlic, vinegar, and salt.  Yum.  Vinegar and salt.

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar or white distilled vinegar

2 cups water

1 0r 2 cloves garlic

fresh dill or dried dill and seeds

1 tablespoon salt (kosher or pickling salt only)

cracked black pepper

cucumbers - cut into spears, slices, or whole if they are very small (If you buy your cukes at the grocery store, look for UNwaxed.)

Clean and dry 2 glass pint jars or one large quart jar.  You can reuse any glass jar for these recipes since they are refrigerator pickles and don't need to be canned or sealed.  When you're cutting up the cucumbers, cut off the blossom end (one end has the stem, the other usually smaller end is where the flower used to be - the blossom end) because it has an enzyme that can cause limp pickles - yuck!  Put as many cucumbers as you can into the jar(s) along with a clove or two of garlic, some dill and cracked pepper.  You can vary the amount of garlic, dill, and pepper according to your taste.  Place the vinegar and salt in a saucepan and heat to a boil.  Spoon the hot brine over the veggies until the jar is full and the cucumbers are submerged.  Put the lids on and let the pickles cool to room temperature.  Move them to the refrigerator and enjoy after 24 hours.  The inspiration for this recipe came from Urban Preserving.

These pickles crunch and snap with each mouthwatering bite. 

The next recipe is both sweet and sour and comes directly from the White On Rice Couple blog.  They have lots of fantastic recipes so you should click through and see for yourself.   For this recipe you'll need some fresh ginger, sugar, fennel seeds, and of course the vegetables you want to pickle.  Although cucumbers are by far the most common vegetable to be brined, you can pickle just about anything.  This recipe recommends using snap peas or asparagus, but I didn't have any so I used the veggies I had left over from another recipe (yes, another pickle recipe). 

Quick Ginger Pickles

1 clean pint jar or 2 jelly jars

1/3 cup white distilled vinegar

1/2 cup water

zest and juice of 1 lemon

3 or 4 sprigs fresh tarragon or dill

2 Tablespoons sugar

A 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, julienned (cut into very thin matchsticks)

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon dill seeds ( I didn't have any, so I added extra fresh dill.)

1 teaspoon salt - use kosher or pickling salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

pinch red pepper flakes

1/2 pound snap peas, asparagus, cucumbers, or other vegetables

1/2 medium red onion thinly sliced

Combine everything except the veggies and mix well to dissolve the salt and sugar.  I heated the mixture just a bit to get it to dissolve.  Now, scoop out the solids (lemon zest, seeds, dill...) and divide it evenly between your jars.  Next, put your vegetables into the jars and press down a little.  Pour the brine over it all and refrigerate.  Viola!  A lovely sweet and sour and most importantly, very gingery pickle. 

Comments

[Sonya]

Oh no! The first time I made them I used twice as much vinegar as in the final recipe. They made my eyes water. I planted one pickling cucumber and one burpless hybrid, but I used both types. I just cut them to size. I lost a vine yesterday, today's official high temp was 105 degrees. I ran out and hosed it off, but it just shriveled and died. Oh well.

[Jehan]

I made your pickles a couple of nights ago, but I neglected to write the IMPORTANT detail about 2 cups water . . . when I poured my 3/4 cups of vinegar over the cucs, I thought, "huh, that's weird -- it barely covers the cucumbers. Guess I'll boil up even more vinegar." So, when I asked Tyson today about the pickles, he said they are very vinegary . . . I asked, "as in inedible?" and he hedged, saying something about how Romans used to drink vinegar.

I'll give it another go with some fresh cucumbers. And did you use regular cucumbers or pickling cucumbers?

[jennifer cantwell]

i wonder how they are stressed? poor, little guys. it's probably my spaghetti squash that is trying to take over the whole garden. nuts. also, i noticed from your pictures (and from a flower vase at my favorite restaurant!) your dill seeds are yellow. mine are white. hmmmm.

[sonya]

I tried canning pickles too. I made gardiniera (italian vegetable pickles) but they're supposed to sit for three weeks before you eat them, so I haven't tasted them.
I always thought that lettuce and cucumbers get bitter if they're stressed. For example if they don't get enough water, but I couldn't say for sure. I don't know about male cucumber flowers.

[jennifer cantwell]

(good to hear from you, too). i made these this weekend.....and made some canned pickles with a boiling water bath.....next time i'll get the jars more full, but it was my first time! the fridge pickles are so good! the other pickles are good, too....i used zucchini, dill and cucumbers from the garden and added some carrots and onion i had! yum! i like the sweet. some of my cucumbers are coming up very bitter. I've done a little research but am not sure if there is anything i can really do about it. have you had this problem? they say to pull off the male flowers.....which ones are male??