Farmer's Market Find: Cucumbers

Garden harvest time! That means zucchini, green beans, and cucumbers are ready for the picking. Since my best friend Bethany and I have picked a lot of cucumbers lately, I figured it would be a good time for a pickle post! 

When I was at the farmer's market last week one of my favorite vendors had baskets full of cucumbers. He was eager to get rid of them too. He was selling them super cheap and was making deals with people just so he wouldn't have to tote them home that day. So, even if you don't have a garden there are still cucumber possibilities. 

I love sweet pickles canned fresh from the garden. When I was a kid my grandma made the best sweet pickles ever and I wanted to find a recipe that mimicked hers. Here's what I found:

Refrigerator Sweet Pickles

6 Cucumbers Sliced
2 Cups Sliced Onions
1 Cup Sliced Green Peppers


4 Cups Sugar
2 1/2 Tbs Canning Salt
2 Cups White Vinegar

Canning jars (sterilized) - I used a couple pint canning jars. I also made a jelly jar sized portion for my husband. Since he doesn't like onions I added jalapenos instead. It made a sweet n' hot pickle that wasn't too bad!

Combine your cucumbers, onions, and green peppers in a bowl and set aside. In a small bowl mix your sugar, canning salt (I used kosher salt that I ground in our coffee grinder...worked like a charm), and vinegar. 

Stuff your canning jar full of cucumbers, onions, and green peppers. Try to get as many in there as you can. Then, pour your sugar mixture into the jar. Put a lid on them and shake them up. Then, stick them in your refrigerator. Once or twice a day, for five days, give them a good shake and return them to the refrigerator. In five days, you will have some really delicious sweet pickles. They should be good for a couple of weeks, but they are so good they probably won't last that long.

You could freeze these as well, just be sure to leave a little room at the top for the ingredients to expand. 

Of course, since I made sweet pickles and there was no shortage of cucumbers it only seemed fair to make dill pickles as well.  Here is a recipe my family seemed to enjoy. I'm sure there are better recipes out there. If you have one, I'd love to give it a try. 

Kosher Crunchy Dills
Recipe from: grandmabeesrecipes.com

(This recipe is for 1 – quart jar of pickles)

2-3 sprigs fresh dill, with flowers
2 garlic cloves
1 ¼ lbs. (about 8-10 small-med.) pickling cucumbers
1 T. Kosher Salt
½ c. white vinegar
Water

Bring to a boil about 2 cups of water.  Remove from heat and set it aside to cool.

Put dill flowers, and garlic cloves in bottom of sterilized quart jar. Slice the cucumbers in half lengthwise. Arrange the cucumbers in jar for a tight fit. Add the salt and the vinegar. Then, fill the jar (to within 1/8” from the top of the jar) with the cooled water. Put on seal and ring. Shake to dissolve the salt. Set jar upside down on the counter for about 4-5 days (avoiding direct sunlight) turning the jar either upside down or upright each day. Let sit upright for 2 more days. Then refrigerate.

Since these aren't processed in a water bath canner, they have to be refrigerated once they go through their pickling phase. They should last several weeks in the refrigerator. I made a few pint jars of the spears and a few of the traditional sliced kind. Both of these cuts turned out really good. So, you can slice them the way you want. 

Now you have two easy and delicious refrigerator pickle recipes to try. I hope if you have one that is even better that you will send me an email: womaninthemancave@yahoo.com. I'm on the lookout for a good relish recipe, so if anyone has one be sure to send me an email. I look forward to your recipes. 

As always, thanks for reading. 

Take care.

NB