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Like pickles? Want to try making your own, but don’t want to go through the process of canning? Try quick pickles.

Easy Pickles

Quick pickles, or refrigerator pickles, are pickles not cooked or canned, nor fermented. (Canning here referring to the process of preserving in sealed jars.) They are made with a brine of vinegar and salt, and sometimes water and/or sugar. After making, they are refrigerated.
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Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 to 2 Cucumbers, depending on size. That’s for standard grocery store cucumbers. Smaller thinner ones are better, but use what you can find. You can also substitute an equivalent amount of smaller cucumbers.
  • 1/2 Tbsp Dill weed
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 3/4 c Vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp Sugar (rounded tablespoon)
  • 1/2 Tbsp Salt
  • 1/2 Tbsp Mustard seed
  • 1 clove Garlic

Instructions
 

  • Gather ingredients.
  • Cut the ends off the cucumbers, then slice, anywhere from about 1 mm to 1/4 inch thick.
  • Place in a bowl that’s heat proof. I have a lidded batter bowl I like to use. I can just put the lid on and put it in the fridge rather than transferring it to a container. It’s tempered glass, so it's heat safe.
  • Add dill weed and bay leaf. Stir.
  • In a small sauce pan, put vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard seed, and garlic and stir. Heat to simmering. Stir again to make sure the sugar and salt are dissolved.
  • Pour vinegar mixture over cucumbers.
    Stir to make sure all cucumbers are coated.
  • Cover and refrigerate. Stir again after a few hours (or in the morning if making in the evening). I find stirring them again helps them to pickle evenly. Note that as they pickle the cucumbers will lose some of the water to the brine, so it will have more liquid than it starts out with.
  • Make these at least several hours ahead of when you plan to serve them. They keep well.

Resources

For other quick pickle recipes, try this quick pickle cookbook: The Quick Pickle Cookbook: Recipes and Techniques for Making and Using Brined Fruits and Vegetables by Grace Parisi, available via Hoopla Digital

Other pickle cookbooks:

Pickles & Relishes: From Apples to Zucchini, 150 Recipes for Preserving the Harvest by Andrea Chesman, available via Hoopla Digital

Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey: Recipes from My Three Favorite Food Groups and Then Some by John Currence, available via Hoopla Digital

Video: Pickles: Episode 46 of Making Stuff: Season 1 This 6-minute video shows how pickles are made in a factory. Available in Kanopy Kids. (Kanopy Kids titles are unlimited viewing and do not use up any of your 20 per month Kanopy borrows.)