My refrigerator pickle recipe.  ***

Clean the pint jar(s) before you start! Wash them and then stick them in the microwave with water in them. When the water boils, take the jars out, empty the water, and turn them upside down on a clean towel. The two piece lids go in a saucepan on the stove. Bring it to a boil. Leave it until it is time for the lids to be attached. Then dump them into a strainer and use them. 

Ingredients: For one pint jar of sliced refrigerator pickles (except that, of course, I nearly always make more). 

1/2 pound of pickling cucumbers. 

They should be as fresh as possible and as soon as you get them home, cut off the blossom end. It looks smooth. Then scrub the pickles and put them in cold water, with ice if you like. At this point, you can refrigerate the whole water/cucumber deal if you aren’t quite ready to pickle. I’ve left them for a day and a half, even though it isn’t ideal.

Mix together

1/2  cup of water

1/4 cup of cider vinegar plus 1 Tablespoon

1/4 cup of white vinegar

1 TBSP of pure salt (without yellow prussate or iodine)

Microwave it to boiling while you prepare the jar(s).

*****

Spices! Turn the clean jar(s) right side up and add

1 tsp dill seed

1/2 tsp mustard seed

1/2 tsp peppercorn

1/2 tsp citric acid (This is supposed to help with crispness. Some people use grape leaves. I did try that but it was annoying, time-consuming and not obviously crispier.)

Optional: one small clove of garlic, smashed. Garlic really helps to smooth out other flavors and meld them into greatness but sometimes I like the sharpness of no garlic. 

If Available, sprigs of fresh dill. I do not recommend adding dried dill weed when fresh is not available. The dill seeds will be sufficient. 

*****

Slice the cucumbers as thinly as possible.** I cut a bit off the stem end if it looks tough. Stuff the slices into the jar(s) on top of the spices. Press down with a wooden spoon, and don’t fill the last 3/4 inch. (I know, I always cheat, but it’s not actually a good idea.) Make sure the vinegar mixture is boiling, then pour it into the jar. (Use a hot pad on glass from the microwave. It will burn otherwise!) Did you press down? You can do it again. Screw the lid on, and set the jar aside. When it is cool, put it into the refrigerator. 

Mine lasted for months and months. In the refrigerator. Don’t forget that part. At least, the year that I made 14 pints, some of them lasted for a long time. The rules say just a few weeks but I don’t see how a) it can spoil with all that vinegar and salt and b) you wouldn’t smell and see the spoilage if it existed. 

Actually, of course, I never make just one jar, but sometimes two works really well. Also, sometimes I make a lot of vinegar liquid, and save the extra in the refrigerator. It can happen that there’s just enough time to make a jar or two of pickles, and if the liquid is already in the fridge that speeds things up. If you want to do pickles but feel very pressed for time, make the vinegar liquid, and put the spices into a clean jar, with a clean lid on it. Then, on the day you get the cucumbers, all you have to do is to scrub them, cut the blossom end off, soak them while you are heating the vinegar, and voila.  Slice. Pour. Done. A quick jar or two. 

You can do refrigerator sweet pepper pickles. I overdid the vinegar and the peppers were spicy, but they were good. I’m going to try beets but I’m not recommending that yet since I don’t know what it is going to be like. I tried pickled radishes but something went wrong. I certainly wasn’t using this recipe. They were both spicy and boring. 

 ** In the past I cut the cukes by hand, but this year I used the Cuisinart. I can’t say scientifically that I got more into each jar but it really seemed that way. The evenness of the slices seemed to be a good thing. 

*** Why is this mission creep? Because pickles aren’t either Catholic or fiction. Maybe they are science. This recipe came about because I was making pickles and being very casual about it. Hence, I got some really good results and some not so good. A chemist spoke to me firmly, saying that I needed to write down what I was doing, so that I could make the good stuff and avoid the blah. Very true. Also, I am aware that some people use cinnamon or bayleaf. But I prefer to live as if I were unaware of this.