Made up my first Batch of Dark Cloud's Fridge Pickles......now I have to wait 2 days

[JP Z]

Now is the time for Fridge Pickles............heck I should have made these weeks ago. I'm really looking forward to them. If anyone is in need of the recipe again here is the original.

This is copied from Here

In a sauce pan combine

A few slices of onion

1 cup white vinegar

2 cups water

3 teaspoons salt - you can go 50/50 on the liquid or more or less salt. This is what I settled on and its easy to remember with the 1,2,3...

I don’t let this boil - just get up to a decent temp(starting to steam a little) looking to dissolve the salt and soften the onions a tad while releasing some onion flavor. Here’s the key to crispy - Let this brine cool completely!

Ok on to the cukes. I use "straight 8s" and "pickling" ones. No real preference. Usually have a mixture in each jar...

The smaller and fresher the cuke the better. I try and make em the day they are picked. Most batches have a mixture of slices, rings, halfs, and baby wholes in em...

Also needed...

3-4 peeled cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon pickling spice

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 or 2 heads of fresh dill - when not available i'll use 1/4 teaspoon of the stuff in the little shakers

This makes roughly a quart to a quart and a half sized container. I have a bunch of the quart and a half glass jars that are my favorite. All the diff size containers is a pain! I have a plastic one that I use alot that is a pint and 5/8th's. My brine ratio always stays the same but i'll adjust other stuff as needed. Its not an exact science and can be played with to suit your tastes...

Add all the stuff to the container. I dont pack the cukes tight. Full but I want things to move around a bit when topped off with the brine and shaken around...

Put em in the fridge and patiently wait two days, shake them a little after a day if you remember...

I snack on them all the time and they go on sandwiches and with meals. Also try chopping them up with a jalapeno and topping a hotdog with it or in some tuna salad! Rarely do they last more than a week so im not sure on shelf life. I did have a jar I found in the fridge that was about 3 months old and they were still good, not as crunchy but still quite good. Enjoy, I hope...

[JP Z]

1 Word...well after all of these words.....YUMMMMMMMMM!

I HIGHLY recommend this recipe.

[Crow Hunter]

I have been using this recipe for a long time, my buddies and I love the pickles. One guy wants to come over for a pickle making class... I make it as listed here except I cut three habanero peppers in half and put them in the jar- gives the pickles a nice bite!

[KEN W]

This is a great recipe.I make zucchini spears using this.Make them hot.

[JP Z]

Well that didn't take long........less than 3 days and my kids and I polished off 3 quarts. Thankfully the Farmer's Market is tomorrow

[the squirrel]

I made a gallon of them but I added some of the scorpion pepper hot sauce to the brine and after day 4 wowser! does she have a kick! Those will be bloodymary pickles now!

[JP Z]

Alright, this time I think I'll do more Cukes. But I also have a yellow Summer Squash in the Fridge.......that may be like the Zucchini spears. Also was thinking of Green Beans, that might be tasty as well.

[otterman91105]

I did 10 jars of these to try out the recipe. These pickles are very good, thanks for sharing the recipe.

[JP Z]

Yup, it is great. I did make up some Green beans. Didn't Blanch or anything just trimmed and put in the brine. They are quite tasty and nice and crisp, the kids really like them.

[fishyspringer]

I made up a couple jars of these last night. Cant wait to try them tomorrow! Has anyone made these in a bread & butter type pickle?

[hockeybc69]

Alright.... you guys got me. I am going to try it too.

[Walleyehooker]

I used this recipe to make a sweet and slightly spicy pickles. Also added some green pepper.

Ingredients

6 cups thinly sliced pickling cucumbers (about 2 pounds)

2 cups thinly sliced onion

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper $

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Preparation

Place 3 cups cucumber in a medium glass bowl; top with 1 cup onion. Repeat procedure with the remaining 3 cups cucumber and remaining 1 cup onion.

Combine vinegar and remaining ingredients in a small saucepan; stir well. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute. Pour over cucumber mixture; let cool. Cover and chill at least 4 days.

Note: Pickles may be stored in the refrigerator for up to one month.

[Dark Cloud]

Thanks all! That recipe took me a few years of testing The nice thing about it is you can make a few jars and tweak em however you want - put some sugar in one, some horseradis in one, hot peppers in another...

[JP Z]

Also found that this recipe is great for banana peppers and hungarian wax peppers.....yum.

[prov1900]

One more day. Thanks for the recipe!

[prov1900]

And I'm not sure why the pic is sideways...lol

[JP Z]

Magnetic bottoms and they are stuck to the side of the fridge?

[fishyspringer]

Tried some pickles from my first batch for lunch today. They turned out great! Thanks for the recipe Dark Cloud.

[kingr]

I love this recipe and My neighbor just gave me all of his pickle size cucumbers. Do you think if I just did the sanitizing and boiling procedures (maybe add a little alum) I could turn this recipe into a longer keeping recipe and not have to keep them in the fridge?

[hockeybc69]

I made up a batch yesterday with larger cukes, and sliced spears out of them.

Anxious to try them. Added a teaspoon of cayenne pepper as well.

[prov1900]

Kingr,

Im not a canning expert...but I did just go to a canning class . My take on your question is this. If you are going to go to the effort of all that, you may as well just "can" those pickles. I was always intimidated to try canning, but after the class I took, it really is easy.

On a side note, my refrigerator pickles turned out great, it just took a couple more days for me, i.e. 4, to get the flavor I wanted. It seemed after day 2, I was just eating cukes with the flavor of vinegar. In hindsight, I wish I would have "dolled" them up a little more like more spices, etc, but now they are closer to what I would call commercial pickles.