Refrigerator Pickles, You Can't Say No.

I thought pickle making would be hard to do. I was wrong. Pickle making is one of the easier things to do in the kitchen, especially if you have glass jars around and know how to slice a cucumber or boil a pot of soup.

Pickles are made of all sorts of things, vegetable and animal alike, but being raised in the United States my first impression of the pickle was a thinly sliced cucumber with a subtle vinegar tang. I liked them, especially the whole baby cucumber pickles we sometimes had with sandwiches. They were crisp, crunchy, and refreshing. Well friends, these pickles blew all those pickles straight out of the water. I insist that you have not had a pickle until you have had a homemade pickle. And quite simply that means that you must try making these if you like pickles at all.

This recipe is adapted from Alton Brown, the great and wonderful.

If there isn't enough of the liquid to fill your jars at the end of this process, boil up a mixture of 2 parts vinegar to 1 part water to top off your pickles.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 medium cucumbers thinly sliced
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tbs and 2 tsp of either Kosher or Pickling salt
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp celery seeds
• 1 tsp pickling spice (or one small bay leaf, some peppercorns and a dried chili pepper)
• 4 whole garlic cloves, smashed
• 2 large glass jars, or 4 pint sized glass jars with lids

Directions:

1. Prepare all vegetables, using a food processor if you have one a knife if you don't.
2. In pot combine the water, cider vinegar, white vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard seeds, turmeric, celery seeds, and pickling spice. Bring to a boil and simmer for 4 full minutes.
3. Add the garlic, onion slices, and cucumber to the jars filling as compactly as you can.
4. Pour the hot vinegar mixture into the jars completely covering the vegetables, but leaving 1/4-1/2 inch of headspace at the top.
5. Let cool to room temperature, and top off with any pickling liquid. Caps on and refrigerate. 

*Enjoy on sandwiches or burgers for supreme delight.