Pantry · Summer
Refrigerator Dill Pickles
A first preserving project that stays in the icebox, where it belongs, and is ready tomorrow.
20 minutes, plus a day of waiting · Serves 8 · 1 quart jar
“Anyone with a wise heart is called discerning.”
Ingredients
- 1 lb small cucumbers, sliced into spears
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed
- 4 sprigs of fresh dill
- 1 tsp mustard seed
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white vinegar or apple cider vinegar, 5% acidity
- 1 tbsp fine salt, not table salt with additives if you can help it
Method
- 1
Pack the cucumbers, garlic, dill, and mustard seed into a clean quart jar. They should fit snugly without being crushed.
- 2
Warm the water, vinegar, and salt in a small saucepan only until the salt dissolves. You do not need a boil. Cool the brine 5 minutes so it will not soften the cucumbers into mush.
- 3
Pour the brine over the cucumbers until they are covered. Tap the jar to free air bubbles. Add a little more brine if a spear is poking into the air.
- 4
Cap and refrigerate. They are pleasant after one night and better after two or three days.
From the kitchen
- These are refrigerator pickles. Keep them cold and eat them within about two weeks. They are not shelf-stable. If you want jars that live in the pantry, follow a tested canning recipe and use the right acidity, jars, and processing time. Inventing a brine and calling it safe is not old-fashioned wisdom.
- Kirby or pickling cucumbers stay crisper than large slicing cucumbers.
My note
Kept on this device, beside the recipe, for the next time you cook it.
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