In a Pickle

Happy Tuesday! We returned last night from a fabulous wedding weekend on the Kenney side of the KilKenney family. Congratulations to Nicole and Joe!

Apparently the luck of the Irish did not extend to my internet service today, so I’m going to keep this post short and sneak it in between outages this morning.

I noticed before we left town that I had a refrigerator drawer full these small, crunchy cucumbers; perfect for pickles!

This recipe for Refrigerator Pickles is easy and produces jars of nice crunchy, tangy pickle. You can easily adjust the spice level. We eat them on everything around here and they make great gifts.

Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Refrigerator Pickles

These quick and easy pickles are the perfect use for those extra cucumbers you bought at the farmers market. They're crunchy and have a nice zing. You can easily adjust the spice to your taste. The pickles make great gifts if you can keep your family from eating them all! Recipe adapted from the Kitchn blog

Servings pint jars

Prep Time 15

Total Time 1 3

Ingredients

2 pounds small cucumbers
1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups water
4 tsp pickling salt or fine kosher salt
3 cloves garlic one per jar
3 tsp dill seed or three sprigs fresh dill
1.5 tsp black peppercorns
3 tiny pinches red pepper flakes optional

Instructions

Combine the 1.5 cups of apple cider vinegar and 1.5 cups of water and the 4 tsp of salt in a sauce pan. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often until the salt has completely dissolved and let cool
Wash the pickles. I love these small pickles from the farmer's market.
Cut the pickles into small pieces, as even as possible
Place 1 tsp of dill seed, 1/2 tsp of black peppercorns and the tiny pinch of red pepper flakes (if using) in each jar
Add the sliced cucumbers and peeled garlic clove on top of the spices. Fill the jar to just below the top leaving room for the brine and the cover
Divide the cooled brine between the three jars and let cool completely
Cover the jars and store them in the refrigerator for 48 hours.
Serve them with your favorite burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches or by themselves as a snack. YUM!

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Steve D says:

August 13, 2015 4:41 pm

Hi, Maggie! I made these earlier this week and have a couple of questions:
– Does the brand/type of apple cider vinegar make a difference in the flavor or acidity? I didn’t have enough Bragg’s so I used mostly store brand apple cider vinegar. Also, does the water/vinegar ratio have to be 1:1?
– In the simmering phase I got called away from the stove, so it boiled slowly for maybe five minutes before I got back to it. The salt was dissolved at that point so I took it off the stove and let it cool.

The reason I ask these questions is that these pickles have much more of a vinegar “bite” than I’m used to from commercial pickles or most canned dills. The crunch is great! But I prefer a less acid. So how or where can I tweak the recipe?
1. mkilkenney Author says:
  
  August 13, 2015 5:08 pm
  
  Steve-
  
  Thanks for your feedback/question. These are tangy to be sure! A couple of thoughts to make them less vinegary. One – reduce the vinegar by 1/4 – that should lessen the bite a bit. Another option would be to add 1 tbsp of sugar to the vinegar/salt/water mix before cooking – that should tame the acidity somewhat as well.
  
  Thanks again for trying the recipe and please let me know if you find them more mild if you make them again.
  
  Maggie

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