Refrigerator garlic dill pickles

As promised this is a bonus recipe. I'll be doing some extra recipes over the next few weeks, because who needs a recipe for zucchini fritters in January? With all of the fresh veggies Larry's garden is producing, I will have plenty of fresh ingredients to use for recipes I will share here. Timeliness is why I am doing this recipe today - it's the weekend, this recipe is ridiculously simple and cucumbers are getting cheap at Farmer's Markets and in the grocery store right about now. Or, if you are like me, they have begun accumulating in buckets in your kitchen.

These are not pickles you can put on the shelf in your pantry. Two days after you make them they have to go in the refrigerator and they have to stay there until you eat them. Let's get going.

Wash the cucumbers. It is important to make sure the cukes are clean, because otherwise the pickles will spoil pretty quickly.You need some fresh dill. Dill is easy to grow or you can find it in the supermarket, or at the local vegetable stand. My mother in law, she of the blueberries, has it coming up everywhere in her garden, so we don't even bother planting any. Wash that real well too.For each jar of pickles, you want two or thress cloves of garlic. Give them a good smash with a broad bladed knife.Meanwhile, prepare the brine:
2 quarts water
1 cup cider or white vinegar
1/2 cup canning & pickling salt
Bring to a boil and stir to make sure salt is completely disolved. It should be simmering hot when you use it. This much brine will make about 3 quart jars of pickles.Put a couple cloves of the garlic and at least one big or two smaller sized heads of dill in the bottom of each of your jars. You can add some pickling spices or hot pepper flakes if you like, but today, I am going for the pure unadulterated garlic dill thing.Cut your cucumbers into spears or chunks. You can leave them whole, but it is better to cut them because they absorb the brine faster and more evenly.Fill the jars with as many cucumber pieces as you can cram in there. With spears, this easier to accomplish with the jar held on its side rather than standing up. Put another clove of garlic and another head of dill on top. Pour the hot brine in until everything is covered. Stand the jar up before you do that part of course.Top with lids. You can use regular canning lids, but my brother gave these plastic ones to me when he moved to Arizona about 10 years ago and I've been using them ever since. These pickles won't be sealed, so either kind of lid will work. Leave the jars at room tempurature for two or three days and then put them in the fridge for at least a week. Two weeks is even better, but we can never wait that long for the first batch. They will keep for at least a couple months. Naturally, if you see any thing funky going on with them you should not eat them, but I think I have only ever had one jar of them go bad before we had a chance to eat them.

And look - this idea works pretty well for other veggies too
Like dill green beans!

In a couple weeks I will show you some killer pickled hot peppers ☺