Easy Refrigerator Pickles

I love pickles! I like sweet pickles, dill pickles, pickle relish, and pickled onions. But my favorite pickle is a spicy dill pickle. Traditional pickles can be time consuming and finicky because of the canning process. These easy dills forgo the fuss and are ready to eat in 2 days!

You can make them spicy or mild. It comes down to the amount of hot pepper flakes you add. The more pepper flakes, the spicier the pickle.

You want to choosy about the cucumbers you use. If you can find small pickling cucumbers, those are the best! If you can’t I recommend using mini English cucumbers. English cucumbers have fewer seeds. I don’t recommend using large cucumbers as they tend to get mushy and I prefer crisp pickles. I like to slice my cucumbers in rounds, but you could slice them in spears if you prefer.

If you have access to fresh garden dill, use a combination of dill heads (they look like flowers) and the fronds. If you have to get your dill from the grocery store, you will usually only find the fronds. This will work for the pickles, but the dill flavor will not be quite as strong. You can supplement fresh dill fronds with some dried dill seed to amp up the dill flavor.

I like crisp pickles. There are a few things to do to help avoid mushy pickles.

-Use filtered water. If you don’t have a water filter, just use bottled water. The chlorine in tap water will make the pickles mushy.

-Use kosher or pickling salt. Iodine causes mushy pickles and both table salt and sea salt have iodine.

-Use small cucumbers. Large cucumbers make mushy pickles.

Easy Refrigerator Pickles

3/4 cup filtered Water

2 Tablespoons White Vinegar

1 teaspoon Black Peppercorns

1 Bay Leaf

1/8-1/4 teaspoon Hot Pepper Flakes

1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher Salt or Pickling Salt

3 Cloves Garlic, peeled

1/4 Cup packed Fresh Dill (I prefer a mix of the flowery heads and the soft fronds.)

1 1/2 Cups sliced mini cumbers or sliced pickling cucumbers

Directions:

In a 2 cup jar with lid, mix filtered water, vinegar, peppercorns, bay leaf, and hot pepper flakes and salt. Put the lid on the jar and shake until the salt is dissolved.

Add the dill and garlic. Top with the sliced cucumbers. Put the lid in the jar and place the jar upside down in the refrigerator for 2 days. (When the jar is upside down, all the cucumbers are in contact with the brine.)

After 2 days the pickles are ready to eat. You can turn the jar right side up and enjoy. The pickles will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.