Easy Refrigerator Pickles (No Canning Required)

Now, don’t get me wrong – I like choices, especially in the grocery store, but I also (obviously) like making foods from scratch at home. Case in point, pickles.

Pickles, and normally their smaller punchier cousins called gherkins, can both be bought in almost every store which sells food in Norway. Put that’s not the point.

The point is that making one’s own pickles or other pickled vegetables allows one to control not only the taste of the final product but also the quantity – for much, much less than the cost of buying pickles, gherkins or other pickled vegetables in the grocery store.

This recipe is one I’ve adapted from Christine Gallary in a way that merges my taste preferences with her brining proportions. Feel free to play around and change the seasonings in the brine to your liking.

Easy Refrigerator Pickles (No Canning Required)
Adapted from Christine Gallary’s Easy Quick Pickles Recipe

Ingredients
1 clean glass jar or glass container with a lid– I used a litre-sized jar

Vegetables:
enough chopped or whole vegetables to fill the jar – I used 2 thickly sliced “English” cucumbers
Suggested vegetables: cucumbers, carrots, okra, cauliflower, zucchini, green beans

For the brine seasoning/flavorings:
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon whole white peppercorns
2-3 bay leaves
Additional seasonings/flavorings: up to three cloves of garlic added in with the raw vegetables (not in the boiling brine), dill, celery seed, dried chillies, sliced fresh jalapeño added in with the raw vegetables (not in the boiling brine), coriander seeds or red peppercorns

For the brine solution:
250 ml cider vinegar
63 ml white vinegar
188 ml water
50 grams granulated sugar
36 grams sea salt
———————————————————-
1 cup cider vinegar1/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons sea salt

Directions
1 Pack your vegetable of choice tightly into your glass jar or container. If you are using garlic or fresh jalapeño, put these in the glass jar, not in the brining solution. Leave about 1/2 inch or 1.5 cm of room at the top of the jar and set the jar aside.

2 To make the brining solution, toast the mustard seeds and peppercorns in a small saucepan over medium heat until fragrant. This should take about 2-3 minutes and helps bring out the flavours in the seasoning. Add the remaining ingredients for the brining seasoning and brining solution, then stir until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Bring to a boil.

3 Immediately pour the hot brine into the glass jar, making sure to cover the vegetables completely. All the vegetables should be covered by the brining solution. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature, about 90 minutes. Seal the jar with a tightfitting lid and shake it to evenly spread out the brining solution. Store the glass jar in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 8 hours.

4 After 8 hours, serve and enjoy! The pickles can be kept for a month. 

I like to eat mine as a snack or chopped up in tartar sauce, as an accompaniment on a cheese platter or on top of a burger. 

This post is for non-commercial, personal use only. Copyright © 2012 by Whitney @ Thanks For The Food.

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