Refrigerator pickles are a great make-at-home summer food. They dont require the science of traditional fermented pickles that can be scary to some first-time canners.
When recipes call for food to be left at room temperature for extended periods of time and for scum to be removed from the top of the crock, it can be a bit intimidating, especially if it is Sunday and the county extension office is closed.
I mean, who would you call?
Refrigerator pickles can be made with as few as four ingredients, most of which are in your pantry already.
If you grow pickling cucumbers and dill in your garden, youre all set, but purchased cucumbers and dill will work as well.
Pickles that are mass produced and sold in jars in the grocery store typically include calcium chloride, alum, natural flavors, polysorbate 80 and yellow 5. While all these ingredients are deemed safe by some agency or another, I dont find them necessary or the least bit appetizing.
Calcium chloride is used to make pickles saltier without adding more sodium. It is also used as a road deicer. Ick.
Alum helps the pickles stay crunchy. It is also used as a flame retardant. Double ick.
Natural flavors are trade secrets and contain preservatives and solvents.
Solvents? Yes, solvents.
Polysorbate 80, a synthetic compound, is a viscous, water-soluble yellow liquid. Ew.
Yellow 5 is, well, a color with a number. That cant be good.
My made-at-home pickles dont include any of these ingredients and they are crunchy and delicious. There is no need for artificial preservatives because they dont last long enough to go bad. Besides, salt and vinegar are natural preservatives.
There are a million refrigerator pickle recipes in cookbooks and online. Theyre easy to find and theyre worth trying. Or you can wing it and not use a recipe at all, but rather place whole or cut pickling cucumbers in a clean, resealable jar, add a few teaspoons of good salt, like pink Himalayan or some fancy sea salt.
Add some vinegar I use white or apple cider or a combination of the two and a little fresh dill, and put the whole business in the fridge. The vinegar doesnt have to completely cover the cucumbers. The salt will bring out their water. Theyre 90 percent water, you know.
No cooking, no heating.
Theyll keep for a month.
You like garlic? Add garlic.
You like habanero peppers? Add habanero peppers.
You like red onion? Add some super-thin sliced red onion.
Whatever you want to throw in there, you can throw in there.
Theyre perfect for hot summer days straight out of the jar, stacked on a big sandwich or chopped up in potato salad.
If youd rather go the more complicated route that includes adding sugar, heating everything before pouring the brine over the cucumbers, and bringing it to room temperature before refrigerating it, you can do that, too.
But I like the simplicity of not following a recipe, measuring anything out and especially not having to turn the stove on.
