I love the idea of summer pickling. Putting beautiful summer veggies in little jars that you can stow away in your cupboard and eat months later. It’s almost like packing up a little piece of summer for your future self when you really need it most, on a snowy winters day. Pickling is actually dead easy and pretty impressive, a rather excellent combination. It also leaves room for a lot of creativity. You can really play with spice blends and vegetable combinations, you can pickle just about anything. Use this recipe as a base and feel free to change it up once you have made a few batches, are a little more comfortable and have watched them disappear! I love to use these pickles in sandwiches throughout the year, but they also make a stellar addition to your cheese boards. These directions will help you pickle a batch of cucumbers and will last in your fridge up to a month, but if you want to water bath process them, they will last up to a year. Look up basic water bath instructions on Google or You Tube; it's a really easy way to process these to enjoy months later.
Ingredients
10 mini cucumbers
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp mustard seeds
6 thai chiles
2 tbsp black peppercorns
6 bay leaves
6 cloves raw garlic
3 500 ml mason jars
Directions
Slice cucumbers into spears that fit your mason jars.
Make your pickling brine.
Combine water, vinegar and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil for 10 minutes.
Divide cucumbers between your jars. Divide spices between jars.
Fill each jar with pickling brine, leaving 1/2 inch of space from the top.
Let pickles sit for at least 2 days before eating.
Pickles will last up to 1 month in the fridge or up to a year if you water bath process them.
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