I absolutely love pickles of all kinds. I make canned pickles occasionally but it’s a lot of work to can anything. The batch is usually large and takes the better part of the day and you also have to wait awhile to enjoy the end result (for pickles anyway which need to "pickle" for a few months).
When I discovered that I could make pickles to store in the refrigerator in a small batch, I was elated! They are super cheap to make and you can use all the fancy organic veggies and spices you want with no preservatives. If you have looked at the grocery store, it's hard to find pickles that are made without preservatives and with organic ingredients and if you do find some, they are expensive. The good news is, not only are these cheap and easy, but they will put to shame what you've been buying.
Step 1
Slice up your veggies - whatever veggies you think are good pickled, work.
For this batch, I used:
2 cucumbers
1 onion
1 green pepper
I sliced everything really thin and put it all in a bowl
Step 2
Add ingredients for the brine to a small pot and bring to a boil.
3 cups water
1.5 cups white vinegar
1.5 cups cider vinegar
2 Tbsp dill
1 Tbsp dried onion
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp peppercorns
1 tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp sugar (you can do 1/4 cup for really sweet pickles)
2 tsp salt (optional, I didn’t use it this time)
Step 3
When the brine reaches a boil, turn off the stove and let it stop bubbling (just a few seconds). Grab some hot pads and pour the brine into the bowl with the veggies.
That’s it. Let it cool before putting it in the refrigerator. I usually transfer mine to mason jars because I like to mason jar all the things.
This will keep in the refrigerator for about a week. Maybe longer but we wouldn't know about that. :)
@Deanna2000 - More about me? See my Intro Post.