This the season for cucumbers. Our friends' gardens are starting to produce vegetables which is a true feat in the desert of Arizona in my opinion. We therefore received some cucumbers and I decided to make some refrigerator pickles.
My husband enjoys pickles so I buy them for him. This year I have tried to not buy items with high fructose corn syrup, which somehow sneaks into everything ... including pickles. Really? It is actually pretty hard to buy pickles that don't have high fructose corn syrup and when you do, it is more expensive. I have been buying some to be nice to Michael, but had decided that I needed to start making my own to save money. Pickling seems like a lot of work and you have to buy canning jars etc. Again, we are trying to save money, so I decided to make refrigerator pickles instead. Refrigerator pickles are super easy, quick and inexpensive to make. To make the project even cheaper, I used old glass jars I had recycled and removed the labels from.
Refrigerator Pickles
Ingredients
Brine
1 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
1 1/2 cups filtered water
4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
Include in each jar
2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
Dill weed (even though fresh dill would be best)
Cucumbers
Directions
Slice the cucumbers. I used a mandolin.
Stir the brine ingredients together in a bowl.
To each jar, add the garlic, pepper, mustard seeds, and dill. Add the cucumbers last and add a little more dill.
Fill each jar with the brine. Screw the lids on and let them sit in the refrigerator for at least four days.
Enjoy!
