Earlier this fall, I took a trip to our local farm stand for some fresh end of season veggies. I picked up some carrots, string beans and cucumbers so I could make quick and easy pickled vegetables. These veggies are easy to make into yummy refrigerator pickles which means there is no canning involved. I also experimented with different spices to give each jar its own special flavor. Luckily, I live close by The Mustard Seed in Nottingham, NH which sells all kinds of dried herbs including this pungent pickling spice blend. The supermarket blend just doesn’t cut it when it comes to taste and flavor. I also snagged some fresh dill and garlic which I used to make the green beans into refrigerated dilly beans and the cucumbers into dill pickles.
The beauty of refrigerator pickles is that you can use any glass container that’s clean and sterilized but you don’t need to worry about creating that all important seal which canning requires. The only drawback is that they only last for about a month in the fridge. You can eat them on their own or put them on a cheese board or do what we did on Sunday Funday Brunchday…
Make some good ole bloody mary’s! Happy pickling!
- Sliced fresh vegetables
- 2 cups white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- sugar
- 2 tablespoons pickling spice
- garlic
- fresh herbs
- Clean, peel and slice your veggies (I chose large canning jars so the carrots could be left uncut and I cut cucumbers into spears)
- Mix 2 cups vinegar and depending on how sweet you want the brine use somewhere between ⅓ cup and 1½ cups sugar (I used more sugar for the carrots and ⅓ cup for dilly beans and pickles).
- Add 1 tablespoon of kosher salt to vinegar mixture and heat on stove until sugar dissolves.
- Add 2 tablespoons pickling spice to your jars and or herbs and garlic
- Stuff veggies into jars and pour vinegar mixture over everything and fill to top (you may have to make several brine mixtures depending on how much sugar you want to use)
- Tighten lids on jars and place in refrigerator. Try and let your pickles set undisturbed for at least a few days to become fully pickled.
- Good for 1 month in refrigerator