Homemade Sour Pickles

I love pickles. In all forms. So I can't believe it took me so long to make a batch of my own. It is super easy, and they taste sooo good. Here is how to do it yourself. These will make you a believer in the quick-pickling method. I have to give a shout out to a reader who found a couple of measurement errors and fixed them for me. Big thanks to Mr. Rivers from Portland, Maine.

Ingredients:

Recipe for (1) 32 oz. jar of pickles:

One large (32oz) sterilized jar (preferably with a snap top)
2 green cucumbers - fresh from garden or wax pealed (or 3 Kirby cucumbers)
1/2 medium onion
1.25 cups of apple cider vinegar
1 cup of filtered water
Pickling mix (2 bay leaves, 1 Tbl. yellow mustard seed, 1/2 tsp. peppercorns and 1-1/2 tsp. fennel)
1 cup of sugar
4 T of kosher salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
2 cloves crushed garlic

Combine everything but the garlic, onion and cucumber in a pot and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, turn the heat off and let it steep for ten minutes. In the meantime, thinly slice the onion (I used a mandolin for this part), and crush the garlic. Now place the onion and garlic in the bottom of the jar. Now take your cucumbers and slice them to your desired thickness (I used a knife for this because the mandolin would have made them too thin).




As you go, fill the jar with the sliced cucumber pieces. This is pretty fun. Be sure not to over stuff the jar, as you want the slices to be able to move around a bit, in order to facilitate even pickling.


When you have the jar filled with cucumber slices, gently pour the steeped liquid over your future pickles.

Allow the jar to sit out overnight, uncovered, and then cover and refrigerate the next morning. They are best after at least 24 hours, and will keep getting better over the course of the week. They will also be good in the fridge for up to two months, but you will be hard pressed to keep them around that long. I am through (with some help from my friends) half of this jar and it has only been two days! You can branch out from here by using hot pepper flakes to make a spicy batch, or use double the sugar for a sweet batch. It really is quite easy, and everyone will be impressed. These are the perfect cheeseburger pickles, although I have quite enjoyed them with everything from a cheesesteak to a grilled cheese. They also aren't too shabby by themselves for an afternoon snack. Speaking of...