Refrigerator Dill Pickles

The pickle. Some absolutely despise them while others dream of them. I absolutely love pickles. A good pickle to me is sour, salty, flavorful, and crunchy but does not include any sugar whatsoever. In fact, I strongly dislike the sweetened pickles. Many pickle recipes include sugar which absolutely baffles me. Needless to say, this recipe does not. ‘Tis the season for cucumbers, and we have finally nailed down a recipe we can come back to time and time again for this seasonal vegetable (or are they considered a fruit?).

I love this recipe because it’s very easy to make, and you don’t have to worry about canning them. They are stored in the fridge, which I believe makes them crunchier, and they only take a bit of time to assemble. We used fresh, homegrown pickling cucumbers with lots of fresh dill and spices. Add some vinegar and water, stick them in the fridge, and they are ready to eat the next day.

Why make your own pickles? They are cheaper, especially if you are growing cucumbers in your garden, sustainable, and enjoyable. By making something as simple as pickles at home, you can connect with your primal nature. You can carefully select each ingredient to be of the highest quality. With homemade recipes, you know what you are going to get. And these days, that is so important.

We hope you enjoy this final product, just as much as the process of carefully selecting and handling each and every ingredient. From the farm, to the table, we will have it no other way.

What You’ll Need:

• 2 pounds pickling cucumbers (about 2-3 large), cut into spears
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh dill*
• 3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 jalapeno, optional for more spice
• 4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp black pepper kernels
• 3/4 tsp dill seeds
• 1 1/2 c white vinegar
• 2 cups hot water

*fresh dill can be replaced with dried (use about 1 T dried, or enough to sparingly coat the cucumbers)

What to Do:

1. Boil 2 cups hot water. Combine hot water, vinegar, and salt together in a heat-safe container and mix until salt dissolves.
2. Toss together cucumbers and fresh dill.
3. Now we want to put this all into jars. You can either divide into separate jars, or put it all into one large jar. Divided is good if you want to hand them out, but is a little trickier since you’ll have to separate all the ingredients evenly into all the jars.
4. Determine how many jars you will need (about 3 or 4 16oz jars or 2 quart size jars) and evenly divide chopped garlic, sliced onion, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, and dill seeds into each.
5. Add your dill cucumbers into the jars and cover completely with your now warm salty water and vinegar solution. Put the lid on, allow to cool a little more if you’d like (not entirely necessary), and place into refrigerator overnight.
6. Enjoy the next day, and store in the fridge.

Makes 3-4 16oz jars, or 2 quart size jars BONUS: Once you eat up all the cucumbers, you can use this tasty marinade again! Simply chop some more cucumbers, add to the water, let sit again overnight in the fridge, and enjoy! Please note, this second marinade tends to be less strong.