3 Day Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles

Not too long ago, my husband and I decided that it would be a great idea to join a CSA...and then he went out to sea, leaving my 3 year old and I to eat ALL OF THOSE FRESH, TASTY, SUSTAINABLE VEGGIES ALL BY OURSELVES!

The HORROR...

Not really. It's seriously been fantastic. I did have to come up with some creative ways to use up the (over)abundance of vegetables in our share, and so I decided to take up pickling, which is something that I had never done before. After some trial and error, I came up with the perfect pickle recipe. The best part? There is no processing required. Just stuff the jar, make the brine, pour it over the ingredients in the jar, put on the lid, tap out the bubbles and put it in the fridge. It's RIDICULOUSLY easy. The above method results in the most amazingly crunchy, garlicky pickles- so good that you will never
buy them from a store again!

I couldn't even take a photo without polishing off half of the jar...FOR SHAME.


Ingredients

4 Sanitized Pint Size Mason Jars

A Head of Garlic, Peeled and Chopped (I said these pickles were garlicky...)

Several Bunches of FRESH Dill (Seriously...the dried in a jar crap will not work for this!)

2 Tsp Black Peppercorns, Divided into 1/2 TSP Per Jar
A Sprinkle of Ground Mustard Powder Per Jar

1 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes, Divided into 1/4 TSP Per Jar (Or more if you like spicier pickles) 

4-6 Pickling Cucumbers, Sliced into 1/4" Thick Rounds (Slice them as you put them into the jars, because the number of slices that will fit into the jars varies depending on how you stuff them in!)

2 Cups of Distilled Vinegar

2 Cups of Water

4 TBSP Salt

2 TBSP Sugar

1. After sanitizing your jars and lids in boiling water, divide the Garlic, Dill, Peppercorns, Mustard Powder and Pepper Flakes evenly among them.

2. Slice up your cucumbers one at a time and stuff on top of the other ingredients. Fill every nook and cranny until they reach the bottom lip of the jar, about an inch from the top. 

3. Pour your vinegar and water into a saucepan and stir in the salt/sugar mixture until dissolved. Bring to a boil. 

4. Once the mixture is boiling, carefully pour it into each jar, leaving 1/2" of headspace. If you run out of brine, just throw together a little bit more by dividing the same recipe that you just used in half. 

5. Once full, put the flat piece of the lids without the screw on part onto each jar, then tap gently to get out all of the trapped air bubbles. Screw on the second part of the lids and set the jars on the counter to cool down a bit.

6. Once cooled, move the jars to your refrigerator and let sit for 3 days at the very least. This will allow ample time for the flavors to develop, but if you wait a few days longer, they will be even more flavorful. 

A word of Caution: Because these pickles are not cooked or processed in a hot water bath, they need to stay refrigerated and will last about 2-3 weeks. Just give them a whiff, if they smell "off", they probably are.