Quick/Refrigerator Pickles

One of my family’s favorite summer foods are often called either “quick” or “refrigerator” pickles. These make the crunchiest pickles because they aren’t cooked. I grow Armenian cucumbers, which are actually melons. They taste like cucumbers and they don’t get bitter in our high heat like actual cucumbers do. So, I always have fresh additions for pickles. I also grow onions in the spring so the majority of what is in these jars came from my garden.

This year I am growing szechuan peppers. We each tried one the other day. Wow! Weird is an understatement. They are spicy, citrusy (they are in the citrus family) and make your lips numb. You also can taste them 20 minutes later. They are pungent! However, I recognized some potential, so I added one to one of the jars. We’ll see how that turns out! I am also growing capers. I don’t have enough to pickle an entire jar just yet, but I wonder how they’d taste (capers must be soaked in water, changed with new water every couple of days for a few days, to get rid of the bitterness) freshly rinsed in with the pickles? I may try that too.

I was testing out a new food processor we got, so I ran the cukes through to see what we thought of the machine. Unfortunately, this does not have the ability to make thick slices, which negates a large portion of what I would use it for. We liked everything else. (except it said it was a fourteen cup bowl and it’s actually only 8.) Anyway, a fail for us, so it’s going back. So my pictures of my pickles are full of very thin slices. Making this more of a salad than pickles, but that’s unavoidable at this point.

I cut the onion by hand. I didn’t want super thin slices of those, too. I also assembled these jars without the fresh dill and ground hot peppers. I’ll hit the store tomorrow and finish these up. It won’t matter that they marinate a day without the extra ingredients.

This pickling brine is also reusable, just add more veggies when you are done with the first set. Also, you can use any vegetable in these. Green beans or sliced baby okra are also really good with this.

My quick pickle recipe:

1 1/2 teaspoons pickling salt.

1/2 cup white vinegar.

1 1/2 cups water.

2 teaspoons black peppercorns.

5 cloves garlic, peeled.

6 large sprigs fresh dill.

1 bay leaf. (optional)

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more/less to taste. (I use Wang Korean red pepper powder.)

1 large armenian cucumber or several smaller cucumbers, seeded and sliced into half rounds or spears, depending on preference (you can substitute almost any vegetable in this recipe.)

1/2 a large purple, white or yellow onion sliced into rings (or a mix of sliced smaller onions from your garden)

Mix vinegar water and salt over medium heat. Let cool. Put vegetables in jars by the handful. Layering onions and vegetables. Add spices and brine. Put lid on jar and shake. Put it in your refrigerator. They taste better after marinating a few days.

I hope this recipe gives you some ideas for your garden’s abundance this summer!

Meet you out in the garden, Crazy Green Thumbs.