05/13/2026
If you have been to the market recently, you will have noticed the absolute abundance of produce being harvested by our farmers. (If you haven’t been, why not? We miss you!)
This makes it the perfect time of year to put things up for later in the year when we are making do with okra, eggplant, and peppers (I’m looking at you, August).
One of our favorite ways to preserve the fresh vegetable coming in is pickling. Growing up, we always canned our pickles; and though the flavor was good, the texture always left something to be desired. Enter: refrigerator pickles.
This recipe is weeknight quick and easy, and makes wonderful pickled vegetables to enjoy all summer long.
While we have started with cucumbers, we also love to pickle carrots, cauliflower, snap beans, etc. You can mix veg in one brine to save room in the fridge.
If you are *scrupulously clean* handling the brine (i.e. no fingers in the jar to retrieve a pickle, always clean tongs or fork), you can keep adding well washed vegtables as you eat the finished pickles. In the last two pictures, I have the English cucumbers we made first, along with some pickling cucumbers that came to the market a week later.
Note 1: Dill equivalents for this recipe: 2 dill heads = 8 sprigs = 4 Teaspoons dried dill w**d. If using dill w**d, make a sachet for it out of cheese cloth or a coffee filter.
Note 2: Recipe can be scaled up or down for your family size and refrigerator space. The given proportions will Yield: 10-15 pickles.
Special Equipment/Prep: Large container (will be about 2 1/2 QUARTS, brine and pickles) with lid, washed and sterilized. We are using a cambro container because our half gallon jars are full of kimchi, pickled eggs (directions coming soon), and lemonade :) Plus the wider opening makes it easier to push the new veg under the pickled ones so they are eaten in the proper order.
Enjoy!