I love pickles. From dilly beans and spiced peaches to pink boiled eggs from a jar, the answer is yes please! I've canned all kinds of pickles, but this year I didn't have the time or volume of produce to make a day of it.
What I did have was green cherry tomatoes. It was so dang hot, only half of my plants set fruit at all and most of those didn't get ripe. They were too small to fry but I couldn't bear to waste them. Time for refrigerator pickles!
I tried piercing them with a skewer and pickling them whole, but they're crunchier and more flavorful when cut in half. I made a jar each of sweet, spicy and dill and they all came out yummy. No green tomatoes? No worries! This also works with onions, daikon, carrots, green beens, peppers and much more.
Start with a sanitized pint jar with a tight fitting lid. It doesn't have to be a canning jar, I just run empty pickle jars through the dishwasher. The brine is a snap to make:
1 cup vinegar (any kind)
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon kosher or pickling salt
Sugar to taste (from none to ½ cup, depending how sweet you want them)
2 tsp purchased pickling spice mix (or make your own)
Boil first four ingredients to make the brine. Place spices in the jar and pack in the veggies. Pour the brine over everything, put a lid on it and refrigerate for a week. That’s it!
Nearly any vinegar-based recipe designed for canning will work for refrigerator pickles. Just keep in mind they have a much shorter shelf life of 6-8 weeks. Around here they don't last that long anyway!
What’s for dinner at your place tonight?