Easy Fridge Pickles!
Both these recipes were tried by our CSA volunteers and WOW - crispy and delicious. If you don't have grape leaves you can always try oak leaves too!
EASY PICKLES!! (very easy no-canning required fridge pickles.)
Adapted from the “Pin Junky” DIY blog
12 or so small cucumbers
1-1/2 cups of white vinegar
4 Tablespoons kosher/pickling salt
pickling spices – you can get creative here or go traditional
fresh dill bunches
3 (or much more!) cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups hot water
Optional – one jalapeño sliced thinly or red pepper flakes
One grape leaf to maintain crispness
Directions:
1. Mix the sugar and salt with the hot water. Stir until dissolved. (Let the liquid cool before pouring over the cucumbers.)
2. Add the vinegar and pickling spices to the liquid.
3. Slice the cucumbers and put the slices in jars.
4. Add the dill and garlic cloves.
5. Pour the liquid into the jars.
6. Seal the jars and store in the refrigerator.
This recipe made enough for two jars of pickles. They looked so pretty and Martha Stewart-like in their jars that I was almost ready to call it a success before I even tasted them, just because they looked so nice! Those pickles looked so good, we only waited a day before we started tasting but the flavor gets stronger if you wait a week or so at least. Crispy just like I them and with a lot of bite! I can tell these pickles won't last long and I'll be making more. They are so easy and yummy and I'd love to share them with friends too!
A Peck of Pickled Peppers!
Pickled Peppers
fresh peppers (or do everything the same and replace with CSA carrots or beets or both!)
sterile glass jars, sized appropriately to hold the number of peppers that you have.
1 1/4 cups, water
1 1/4 cups, vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
1.5 Tbsp sugar
1.5 Tbsp salt
1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and pierced with a fork
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp red chili flakes
1 Tbsp fennel seed
Directions
1. Prepare the jar of peppers. Stem your washed peppers and slice them into thin discs. Arrange them in the glass jar. I used sweet mini peppers and jalapenos, layering them out of vanity.
2. Then make the brine. Use a non-reactive saucepan. Add all other ingredients and bring them to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Combine and cool. Remove the brine from the heat and pour over the peppers into the jar. Transfer all seasonings as well. Cover the jar and set it aside to cool. Refrigerate.
Pickled peppers will be ready as soon as they’ve fully cooled, 2-3 hours. I’m told that keeping these refrigerated for a week improves the flavor, but mine have never lasted more than a day or two. Keep in mind that the method described above is not a sterile preserving method and that you should handle and consume these pickles the same way you would fresh food.
