Making your own pickles is easier than you think. Can you boil water? Refrigerate? You got this!

So it’s August and it seems everyone’s garden is just BURSTING with cucumbers all becoming perfectly ripe and ready at the exact same time. There’s only so many salads you can make to keep up, am I right?

Enter the “ice box pickle”…Now I am a HUUUUUUUGE pickle person; I’ve been known to order sides of pickles in restaurants, ask for extra pickles on my burgers, and you know I will ask you if you’re going to be eating the one that comes on your plate, because if you aren’t…send it my way! So my thoughts after the first round of harvest led to a week of salads, was to make these babies into delightfully DILL-icious pickles.

Ok so I’m no Ree Drummond, or your Italian grandma who puts up preserves, I’ve never “canned” a dang thing in my life, so initially the prospect of putting up pickles seemed intimidating! Good news, this requires no skill, no preserving, no nothing. Just boiling water, ball jars, and a week in the fridge…which is definitely the hardest part, waiting that week.

Flavorings…now you could really go crazy here. I ended up making 5 jars with the 8 cucumbers I had, and I added different flavors to each jar, just to mix things up a bit. Dill, Garlic, Horseradish, red pepper flakes, celery seed, dill seed….the list can go on and on based on your personal preference. That’s what makes these so great, you can customize the flavor to your tastes! So on that note your ingredients may differ from what I used, don’t worry about being too precise, it’s fun to make this recipe up as you go!

INGREDIENTS

• 8 Cucumbers (the smaller “kirby” ones are best, but you can use any kind!)
• 6 cups water
• 6 cups white vinegar
• 4 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• A big bunch of dill, washed thoroughly with roots removed
• Minced garlic (approximately 1 tablespoon/jar…or more based on your preference)
• Horseradish (approximately 1 tablespoon/jar …or more based on your preference)
• Whole Peppercorn Kernels (approximately 5/jar)
• Celery Seed (1 tsp/jar)
• Dill seed (1 tsp/jar)
• Red Pepper Flakes, to taste

You will also need mason jars. I used 5 of the Ball widemouth 32oz (quart) jars, and highly suggest wide mouth if you can find them; they are easier to not make a mess with when pouring in brine!! You will need to sterilize the jars prior to use. To do so,  soak them in boiling water or run your jars and lids through a dishwasher cycle (high heat).  

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add water, vinegar, salt and sugar to a pot and bring to a boil.
2. Slice your cucumbers. I like to mix up chips and spears. The shorter (Kirby) cucumbers are best for spears, and the longer ones are best for chips. I ended up cutting 3 cucumbers into chips and 5 into spears.
3. Add your “flavorings” to the sterilized mason jars. In my opinion, they all should get a good handful of dill. Then add the other flavorings (and feel free to mix!!) as described above.
4. Pack in your cucumbers; you want them tight, but not so tight that there’s no more room. Chips fit easier. Spears fit best when you wedge a bunch in together at the same time.
5. Once your brine has boiled, use a ladle to fill each jar with brine. Leave about 1/2 inch of space at the top of the jar (fill to just below threaded mouth). Place on cap and screw tightly. Give each jar a good shake to not only make sure you have the lid on tight, but to distribute the flavorings.
6. Put these in the fridge for 1 week. You may want to occasionally give them a shake.

And it’s just that easy!! In total, this took about 30 minutes to make, and like I said, if you can boil water, you can pull this off. Note; this recipe is for 8 cucumbers because that is what I had on hand. You can certainly make with more or less, just be sure to updates your brine ingredient amounts accordingly. Too much brine is no big deal, but not having enough will be a bummer.

Now, what am I going to do with 5 jars of pickles you might ask? Good news is that these will last about 2 months in the fridge, so I have some time, but in my house, they’ll be eaten way before then. More good news, you can certainly REUSE the brine with new cucumber, and the cycle can repeat itself! These also make excellent gifts, so have a jar on hand for the next BBQ you get invited to. Be sure to tell all your friends that you made them yourself, they’ll be super impressed, and there’s no need to tell them how easy it was!