Quick and Easy Pickles
Capture that crisp essence of summer in a jar (or two). Our pickle recipe is quick and easy to make but even quicker to disappear. When that inevitably happens, you can just throw in more veggies or even hard boiled eggs to the leftover brine and get a whole other round of fresh pickled veggies!
Quick Pickles, also known as “refrigerator Pickles”, is a short term storage process that doesn’t require any canning equipment. A variety of vegetables can be prepared in this way but we prefer a classic cucumber pickle. Most recipes call for Kirby cucumbers but we find that there is a lot of flexibility with that. We used heirloom Armenian yard long cucumbers, lovingly grown from seed in Gabby’s garden.
INGREDIENTS
Serving size: two 1-quart jars
1¼ cups distilled white vinegar
3 tablespoons pure granulated salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups cold water
1½ to 2 pounds of cucumbers cut into slices or spears
6 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
1 large onion cut into strips
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ cup tightly packed dill sprigs
First, prepare the brine by combining the vinegar, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir in cold water and set aside.
Tightly pack two 1-quart jars by layering in sliced onions, garlic, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, red pepper flakes, cucumbers, and dill sprigs. (The dill we had went to seed so we skipped that. You can also use a premixed “pickling seasoning” from a local store.)
Pour in the chilled brine, covering the veggies entirely.
Close lid and refrigerate for 24 hours before enjoying. The pickles will keep in the fridge for about 6 weeks.
