~Pickling~

Quick & Easy Pickling

Mrs. Shecky loves pickles and they are so easy to make. She hasn’t bought them in years because it really only takes about 30 minutes to make right from the kitchen. Using Persian Cucumbers, just because they are small and readily available make quick and tasty pickles. However, you can use any cucumber and you can slice it any way you wish. They hold up well and remain very firm and crunchy and Persian cucumbers are the perfect size for jars. Just make sure they are ripe.

• 1 1/2 lbs Persian cucumbers. Cut the stems and cut spears.
• 6 or more cloves of garlic. (more if you are a big garlic fan)
• 2 tsp dill seeds
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 – 2 cups of water
• 1 – 2 cups of vinegar
• 1/4 c of kosher or pickling salt.
• 2 Wide Mouth Mason Jars (wash and dry these well in hot soapy water & rinse well, or run them through the dishwasher).

Cut the ends off the cucumbers and cut into spears. 4 spears each. They fit well in the Mason jars that way, however, you can just put them in whole or slice them, just make sure to cut off the ends first. If they are still a bit long for the jars, cut until they fit but keep the cuts and put those back into the jars! You can still eat them. Don’t throw that yum-to-be away!

Then peel, smash and throw those garlic cloves in with the cucumbers.

You can insert fresh dill at this point or wait until after the brine is poured. It really doesn’t matter when you add the dill on this recipe.

Mix, the water, vinegar, seasonings and salt in a bowl. Mrs. Shecky has a very large Pyrex measuring/mixing bowl that she loves. If you don’t have something like Mrs. Shecky’s bowl, just use a ladle. Mix well and then pour equally into clean jars over the cucumbers. These seasonings mix just fine without stove top heat to dissolve it all. We are not doing a water-bath here.

At this time you can add more dill or seasonings or even more garlic or pepper flakes, onion, or whatever suits your fancy. It is all up to your tasty buds there.

Then get that lid and guess what…you are done.

These can be eaten in just a few hours but they get better day by day. If you think the seasoning is too strong, just pour out a tad of the liquid and add some water to dilute it.

If there is brine left over grab some carrots, beans, radishes, onions, and even okra or garlic and pickle those too. I guess the rule of thumb would be is to use any veggie that you enjoy eating raw. They are wonderful to serve on a charcuterie board!

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Babble:

Storing/Refrigerating: Mrs. Shecky refrigerates these. They are not water bathed, but you can do that. Not only does Mrs. Shecky think a water bath makes them limp and soft, she eats them too fast to store. She likes them crunchy. Regrigerator pickles last for about a month-ish. Just check them and like any food, if they develop any off smell or flavors it is best to toss any remaining pickles out. It is easy to make another batch.

Dill: The main flavoring for dill pickles, is of course dill. We use both the seed and the plant. You can find those in almost any store or if you are like Mrs. Shecky, she grows the plant for her pickles. However, sometimes the store is the place to go when the garden is pfffttt out. But she does use both just because she can.

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Garlic: Another essential ingredient to the Mrs. Shecky dill pickle is garlic. She loves garlic and uses a lot of it.

Seasonings: Mustard seed, coriander, celery seed, black peppercorn, pepper flakes or any other seasoning she may want to throw in. Sometimes it varies depending on the occasion but you have the basic recipe here that you can’t go wrong with. Remember, these are easy peasy to make and it is all up to your own taste. In fact, if you don’t want any seasonings but the liquid with salt or sugar, you can.

Pickling Brine: One part water. One part white vinegar 5%. You can swap out white vinegar for rice vinegar, cider vinegar or any other vinegar you like. But the vinegar is key to the brine. Some use one part salt also. Mrs. Shecky takes some of that out and only uses 1/4 cup. *She gets cankles being a budding old bag*.

Sweet Brine: Just substitute the salt for sugar. Add a cinnamon stick to that bunch and more seasonings to flavor. Garlic is your choice, but as much as Mrs. Shecky loves garlic she does not add that in a sweet pickle brine. But, again, that is all up to your tasty little buds.

Layer these on sandwiches, throw them in a salad and as I said above, a charcuterie board is people pleasing. Eating them straight out of the jar is the fave in this house though.

It is hard to go wrong on refrigerator pickling and it is so easy. When it comes to the ingredients use organics as much as you can. Just makes sense to do so. Use your garden also. That is the first place to look in fact. There is nothing that tastes better than home grown and the pride in saying you grew it is just joy to the soul.

Enjoy

From Mrs. Shecky’s Kitchen to you.