Making Pickles

Quarantine has brought me a lot of new past-times, most of them happening in the kitchen (like baking sourdough! Check my previous post for my recipe). Today, I decided to ferment my own pickles. I had a huge cucumber that I wasn't using, so it was perfect. Pickling is a great way to reduce food waste. You can pickle loads of things. The next thing on my list is to pickle red onions & also pickle some carrots.

To Make Your Own Pickles:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of cucumber (I've read that Kirby & Persian cucumbers are ideal, I just used the huge organic cucumber that was on my counter)
• 3 peeled & crushed cloves of garlic
• 1 cup of filtered water
• 3/4 cup white vinegar
• Optional: 2 large sprigs fresh dill (we didn't have dill, & ours turned out just fine!)
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• Pickling jar (16oz or bigger)

Process:

1. Crush cloves of garlic & toss them into the jar (& dill if you're using it)
2. Cut up your cucumber into spears or slices. I sliced 2/3 of the cucumber into spears & the other 1/3 into small slices & toss it all into the jar
3. In a pot, make your brine:
1. Pour water & white vinegar into pot
2. Bring to a boil
3. Stir in salt until dissolved
4. Pour brine over cucumbers, seal it, & give it a shake
5. Let the jar cool on the counter & then refrigerate 
6. Let sit for at least 2 hours, but honestly the longer they sit, the better. We are waiting overnight before eating them
7. Voila! Pickles!