Ever made Homemade Pickles? Know how simple it really can be? Summer and Pickles go hand in hand, but who has the time to make a huge bunch of pickles? These recipes are for quick Small Batch Pickles. You can pickle almost any vegetable. Use these recipes and try pickled onions, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots (with ginger and lemon peel), green beans and asparagus. A Summer Bloody Caesar is best enjoyed with a fresh made pickle! Pickles can be saved for at least 2 months in your refrigerator but seriously I do not think they will be in there for too long. No need to sterilize jars and lids, although I would at least boil the jars for 10 minutes on the stove top in a large pot of water or put them through the dish washer. I always use glass bowls with tight fitting plastic lids when making pickles for the fridge, but good old jam jars or any sealer jars will work just fine. These pickles are great for burgers, pulled pork, sandwiches and even on the side with a cold beer at a picnic or in your every day lunch box. The Bread and Butter Pickles you can eat right out of the jar they are so good! To quickly cut even slices of cucumbers (straight or crinkle cut), you could use a mandolin. You can also use a crinkle cut knife found at most kitchen shops for a fun looking pickle.

THE SECRET’S OUT DILL PICKLES

Our friend Jeannette has shared her Mom’s “secret recipe”. Thanks Jeannette! This recipe does not need to be refrigerated but consumed within a few months.

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup pickling vinegar
• 1 tbsp pickling salt
• Garlic cloves
• Sprigs of fresh Dill or 1 tsp Dill seed

Wash and put cucumbers on ice overnight in the fridge. Next day, make a brine. Boil vinegar, water and salt. Put a garlic clove and a spring of dill in a hot sterilized jar. Cut cucumbers into 4 lengthwise if you like spears or into chunks or slices for sandwiches and place in jar. Put more dill on top. Pour brine until it covers the cucumbers in the jar. Seal immediately and put jar upside-down on a tray to cool. Repeat until all cucumbers are in jars. Ready in 3 to 4 weeks. Any left over brine can be kept and used for another batch.

SUPER SIMPLE PICKLES

This recipe is for one jar of pickles. You can alter the recipe for more jars. This one has a zing of flavour!

• 3 pickling cucumbers 4-4 1/2″ long, but no longer or sliced 1/4″pieces
• fresh dill a few sprigs per jar
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cloves garlic crushed with the side of a knife
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp whole mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp whole black peppercorns

Wash cucumbers and cut into spears or slices. Pack into a wide-mouth pint-sized canning jar, or any clean glass jar. Since these are refrigerator pickles a canning jar is not necessary. Tuck several sprigs of dill in between the cucumbers.
In a saucepan, combine the vinegar, water, garlic cloves, salt, sugar, mustard seeds, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil and stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
Pour liquid over cucumbers in the jar. Make sure to include all the mustard seeds, peppercorns, and garlic. If you are using a slightly larger jar and the liquid doesn’t fully cover the pickles, fill the rest of the jar up with water.
Close the jar and refrigerate for a minimum of 24 hours but preferably 48 hours. Enjoy!

These are not shelf-stable, so they will need to be kept in the refrigerator. They should keep in the refrigerator for about two months, if you don’t eat them all before that!

DAD’S FAVOURITE REFRIGERATOR PICKLES

My dad always enjoys the fresh cucumbers every summer in a bath of fresh water, vinegar, salt and pepper. Here is a slant on that simple recipe….prep time 5 minutes. Want it spicy? Add a hot pepper!

• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup vinegar (rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, even white wine vinegar will work)
• 1-2 Tablespoons sugar – only if you are looking for a sweet pickle
• 1-2 Tsp salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 2 cups Sliced Cucumbers
• Sliced Green Onion

Place all in a glass bowl and let soak for at least an afternoon, but overnight is even better. At time goes on the veggies will be less crisp, but still enjoyable. As the pickles get eaten, you can keep adding fresh veggies to this mixture, just allow some time for the flavours to develop! Enjoy

REFRIGERATOR BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES

Sweet, spicy, fresh and tangy and ready to enjoy the next day!

• 8 medium sized cucumbers, thinly sliced
• 1 medium sized onion, thinly sliced
• 3 Tablespoons coarse salt
• 1 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 3 tsp mustard seeds (peppercorns optional)

In a large bowl, combine cucumbers and onion with the salt. Chill for 1 hour. After one hour, rinse cucumbers and onions under a cold water tap several times and drain. Pack cucumbers and onions snuggly in glass jars. Put all remaining ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil making sure all sugars are dissolved. Remove hot liquid from heat and pour into the jars just to cover the cucumbers and onions. Let jars stand 30 minutes until cool then seal and put in refrigerator. Let stand at least over night. Enjoy! YUMMMMMMM

PICKLED CUBANELLE PEPPERS

Adapted from Mom Foodie (www.blommi.com)

Not sure what to do with those new CUBANELLE peppers that showed up this week? Try pickling them! This way you can experiment and use them in different dishes! The recipe calls for 4 peppers, but you could cut it in half.

Warm water until it almost comes to a boil.

While the water is heating, slice the peppers into 1/4 inch rings. Place the peppers and garlic in a container which has a lid.

Add the salt and vinegar to the hot water, stir to dissolve the salt. Pour over the peppers. Allow to cool, then cover.

Try after 2 hours, allow to set up to 4 hours at most. Remove from brine.

The pickled Cubanelles can go directly into a recipe, or can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week.