Pickles

When I saw these little cucumbers at the Farmers Market this past Saturday, it was destiny.

Darby had just posted about making pickles, so when I saw these little darlings at the Market, they were too cute to pass up.

Plus, I had plenty of little Ball jars left over from the Christmas Butter Bonanza of '09.

With only four cucumbers, I was nervous it was going to be a challenge to figure out the proportions of everything correctly.

So here goes.



Sliced these guys up nice 'n thin (especially since this was all I had).

Here's the ole "workstation" if you will, with peonies leftover from a catering event I worked:



[What's prettier than peonies? ...not much.]


Then I sliced half a vidalia onion, and tried to make the slices very thin and nice.

You put the onions in the bottom of the jars first, then pack the top with the cucumber slices.





After this, you start cooking the juices on the stove.

[This is the part where I momentarily forgot we now have a gas stove, and I forgot to actually light it with the little clicks, so I stirred this pot for a good four minutes before realizing there was no heat. Nice.]



After you pack in the cucumbers and onions, but before you cover with the liquid, top with dill (I didn't have fresh, just dried, oops).



Ladle over the juices once the sugar has dissolved, and let em sit in the fridge for 24 hours, uncovered (I took the grapes out of the refrigerator so they wouldn't smell like vinegar, don't worry).

After 24 hours, you can cover them.



After covering them (and because I couldn't wait any longer) I gave the little jars a nice little shake and a nice little pep talk--then opened 'em up...

It worked!

Pickles!











Now that they've sat in the fridge covered for another day, they've REALLY absorbed the flavor.

SO FLIPPIN' G-O-O-D.

Slightly-But-Not-Too-Sweet Refrigerator Pickles
adapted from Darby's recipe

4 cute cucumbers (from a local farmer to boot!)
1/2 small vidalia onion
1/4 tsp dried dill on top of each jar (before liquid poured on top)
1 tsp dry yellow mustard
1 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 c apple cider vinegar (or a splash more)
1/2 c water
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 T kosher salt
1 t dill seeds

Divide sliced onion between jars and pack cucumbers on top. Sprinkle dried dill on each jar.

Place crushed spices in medium saucepan. Add vinegar, water, sugar, salt, dill seeds. Bring mixture to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.

Ladle mixture evenly over cucumbers. Leave jars uncovered and chill 24 hours. Cover with lids, keep refrigerated.


So easy and SO delish. If you try them yourself, I wouldn't stress too much about the amounts of everything, just as long as you have enough liquid to cover them.

Next time, I'll use bigger jars!