When an Almanac colleague and gardener greeted me one day with,”Good morning! I left a bag of pickling cucumbers in your office!”, my eyebrows jumped, my jaw dropped, and “Oh, wow—thanks!” came out of my mouth.
At the same time, “Oh no, oh no, oh no” was crawling across the mental marquee on the interior side of my forehead. I had never made pickles. I seldom even eat pickles. Pickles involve boiling pots, hot glass, steam, stink, and seals that won’t stick, not to mention untold lost hours.
However, I sucked it up, decided not to waste the gift, and put pickles on Saturday’s to-do list.
Fast forward: I now LOVE pickles! I love everything about pickles: making them, eating them, sharing them!
This recipe, for Sweet Pickle Chips, adapted from “Vegetables,” a cookbook produced by the Culinary Institute of America, results in a bread-and-butter pickle that is quick, easy, delicious, and requires no processing. The CIA advises that these pickles will last up to a month under refrigeration. I can’t vouch for that; mine were gone within days.
6 to 8 pickling cucumbers, washed and sliced into ¼-inch rounds
1 large onion, sliced thin
1 ½ cups cider vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon mustard seed
1 ½ to 2 cups sugar (to your taste), divided
4 cups water
1 ¼ cups white vinegar
1 tablespoon celery seed
½ tablespoon crushed (not ground) allspice
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
Put the sliced cucumbers, onions, cider vinegar, salt, mustard seed, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and water into a large pot.
Turn the heat on high, bring the liquid to a simmer (not a hard, rolling boil), and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 10 minutes—and not a moment longer. Drain and discard the liquid. Return the remaining ingredients to the large pot and set aside.
Put the remaining ingredients into a separate pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Remove this pan from the heat, pour the mixture over the cucumber and onion mixture, and stir once or twice.
When the ingredients are sufficiently cool, distribute them into jars, and refrigerate.
Makes 3 to 4 pints.
Got a good pickle recipe? Send it my way—even better, send pickling cukes! (Seriously, but postage paid, please.)
Rather make dill pickles? Sweet pickles? Find more pickling recipes and tips here!
~ By Janice StillmanHere at the Almanac, we love to cook, bake, grill, roast, and eat! We show you how to make some delicious recipes.
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