Refrigerator Pickles

All last summer, I wanted to try my hand at making refrigerator pickles, but I lacked pickling spices and then, before I knew it, cucumber season was over. So, I kept getting my refrigerator pickles from the grocery. Now, I don't know why I never looked at a pickle label before, but a couple of weeks ago, as I was standing in the fridge munching on a pickle, I took a glance and there was my old friend - HFCS. I know I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. And so, I still have no pickling spices, but I grabbed a few cukes from the farmer's market and some dill from our community garden and got to work.


Garlic Refrigerator Pickles (Kevin called these "breath of fire" pickles)
1 or 1 1/2 cucumbers (depending on size), sliced, you know, cucumber width
1/2 small onion, sliced
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tblsp sugar (you might want to add more if you don't want them to be "breath of fire" pickles)
1 tsp salt
4 cloves garlic, smashed
dash crushed red pepper
Place cucumbers and onion in glass storage container (mine was two cups). In a small saucepan, bring remaining ingredients to a boil. Stir and boil until sugar dissolves completely (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool for a minute or two. Pour over cucumbers and place in fridge for 24 hours before eating.


Dill Refrigerator Pickles

1 or 1 1/2 cucumbers (depending on size), sliced

1/2 small onion, sliced

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup sugar (these were for Kevin, so I tried to reduce the "breath of fire" aspect)

1 tsp salt

4 large springs fresh dill

Prepare same as above.