It's a matter of ......Refrigerator Pickles

Oh Wow.....pickles? What is the big deal? Well, let me tell you. These are called "Refrigerator Pickles" and only take a week before they are ready to eat. You may be familiar with this type of pickle in your Grocer's refrigerator section. They are a national brand, and must be ....... refrigerated. I wondered if I could duplicate it or do something simlar as my children devor this national brand very quickly.


Why am I sharing this with you now, well you have just about a week before Thanksgiving. If you wanted to try this....you could this just to see if it works for you. The best part is that they are so very easy to do.....which is my kind of anything!

The recipe I used comes from the book "The Joy of Pickling" by Linda Ziedrich. Here is the process in words and pictures>

I purchased pickles that were relatively uniform in size from the big Club Store near me. The recipe instructions are to wash the cucumbers and remove the blossom ends. Quarter the lengthwise.

Put the cucumber strips into a bowl or Crock. Disolve 3 Tablespoons salt in 1 quart water and pour the brine over the cucumbers. (Be sure you use Pickling salt and not table salt as table salt is iodized and it will cloud your brine).

Top the cucumbers with a heavy plate that just fits inside the crock or bowl. Let the cucumbers stand for 8-12 hours. Drain and rinse the cucmbers, then drain again.

Pack the cumbers, garlic, onion and dill head into a 1-quart jar. Place 2 Grape Leaves in the jar to help retain the color. (I happened to have some leaves left on the vine when I did this....what a miracle!)


In a nonreactive saucepan, bring to a boil the water and 2 teaspoons salt, and the vinegar, sugar, and spices, stirring to dissolve the salt and sugar. Pour the hot liquid over the cucumbers.

Here is how it looks just before you put the cap and ring on.



Cap the jar tightly, and let cool.


Store the jar in the refrigerator for at least 1 week before eating the pickles. They reportedly will keep for months in the refrigerator.

I would include the recipe, but it is copyrighted by Linda Ziedrich. However, this is really a great book. I have struggled with pickles for sometime. Her book is very straight-forward and I actually succeeded with this pickle recipe. My children even said these were the best pickles I had ever attempted to make...and that is a pretty high compliment. Please know that even though these have dill in them, they still are sweeter like a Bread & Butter Pickle.

Also, she does give a recipe for making your own pickling spices, and I was surprised to see that I had them all in my spice cupboard and did not need to go out and purchase anything additionally. I highly recommend you check into Refrigerator Pickles....they are really easy to do!

TRY IT!!