My early attempts at dill pickles were not very successful. I followed the FDA guidelines from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving
Enter my neighbor Betty. Betty and I have swapped a lot of produce and recipes over the years, and this is one my favorites:
Betty’s Open Jar Pickles
- 9 cups water
- 1 ½ cup vinegar
- 1/3 cup salt (Do not use salt with iodine, it will give the pickles a brown tint, Real Salt also gives a slight brown tint, canning salt works best)
- ½ cup sugar
- Dill, 2-3 stalks
- 2-4 inch long cucumbers, enough to fill a gallon jar
Directions
Combine the water, vinegar, salt and sugar and boil one minute. Cool slightly. I used Real Salt for this batch, and it made my brine darker than normal.
Wash the cucumbers and cut off about 1/16”from each end. This gets rid of some enzymes that would soften the pickles, and allows better penetration of the brine. Pack the cucumbers in a one gallon jar with the dill.
Note: I like to curl up some of the dill in the top of the jar to pin down the cucumbers and make sure they all stay submerged in the brine.
Pour the warm brine over the cucumbers. Let stand, loosely covered, at room temperature for three days. (Drape a towel over the jar opening or let lid sit on loosely.) I rubber band everything, especially in fruit fly season.
I had some extra brine and cucumbers, so I made up a couple of quart jars and added a garlic scape to each jar. (Top photo in post.)
Cover and store in refrigerator. They are ready to eat after the three days but the flavor improves after a week or two in the refrigerator.
That’s it! No canning, no heat processing of any sort. These pickles stay fresh and crisp tasty for months. We’ve enjoyed them at Christmastime. If you don’t have a lot of small cucumbers, you could cut the recipe in half, or make up a full batch of brine but process pickles by the quart and hold the reserve brine in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Delicious! Thanks, Betty. I love my country neighbors!
26 Responses to “Easiest Ever, No Canning Required Dill Pickles”
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I just tried making pickles the other day for the first time and they turned out great! In fact, I just posted my directions today – check it out if you get the time. Thanks for all the tips on your site! http://www.diyreviews.net/2010/how-to-make-pickles-the-easy-way/
yum! I need a good pickle recipe too.
[...] without heating/canning. Think old-fashioned pickle barrel. I make at least one batch of vinegar pickles every [...]
I want to try this when cucumbers are back in season. In the meantime I still have beets in the garden that I would love to pickle in the fridge. Would this recipe work? or how would you recommend to modify it for beets?
Hmmmm…I don’t see a reason it wouldn’t work, if you want dilly beets. Otherwise try varying the spices, but don’t decrease the acid.
For hot processing, a grape leaf helps keep them crisp. I refuse to use alum as well. Also, I only hot process my pickles for 5 minutes and haven’t had a problem with spoilage or a seal and they’re crisp. Refrigerator pickles are super easy and yummy though!
I switched to my mom’s recipe when canning (shorter processing time) and much prefer the results. Since the pickles are in a vinegar brine, the acidity should be low enough to keep them safe. Donna at Cultured Food Life discusses other materials you can add in fro extra crispness, including grape leaves, in this post – http://culturedfoodlife.com/need-crunchy-pickles/
We have a fenceline covered in wild grapevines, so I want to try that for lacto-fermenting.
I’ve never tried refrigerator pickles. I, too, won’t use alum, so this sounds good!
This sounds really good! I have been wanting to make my own pickles. I planted my own dill and my silly chickens got into it and ate it all! I will have to try your recipe! I also like the idea of adding the garlic!
Blessings,
Susie
I’ve got a good crop of garlic this season, so I’ll likely be adding some to mine, too. Good for what ails you.
does it matter what kind of vinegar is used? Apple cider? Pickling? Organic white vinegar with the mother? white vinegar with 5% acetic acid?
Angela, I think I love you! I’m smiling as I read your comment. Pretty much any vinegar will do. My personal favorite is apple cider with the mother. I’m sure Betty just used a big old jug of cider vinegar.
ha ha!! Well, you’ll laugh even harder when you read that i’m only doing 4 pickles! My sad, nitrogen deficient garden only gave me 4 pickles at once, so I’m using them as a test run for the others that are (hopefully) coming! Garlic scapes and dill are ready to go!
Thanks so much
Patience is a virtue, right? Especially in the garden.
and I went with Organic White Vinegar with the mother!
I’ve got a batch using cider vinegar with the mother right now.
Greetings!
We have abundant pickling cukes from our garden this year, so I’ve made a couple batches. First batch, I followed the recipe exactly with plain old white vinegar. Hubby & son love it. My daughter said “You didn’t say these were sweet pickles!” They’re not, of course, but they are sweeter than store bought. I thought maybe so too, so second round, I increased salt to 1/2 C. (I’m using Kosher salt, by the way.) Also, made two jars. Added a dozen cloves of garlic to one. Added a hot pepper from the garden to the other. Better. Haven’t tried the hot pepper version yet, but the garlic version is good. I’m already planning the 3rd round. Next time, I will drop the sugar to 1/3 C. We love them and anticipate having pickles for quite a while to come. Or maybe not. I guess it depends how many we can eat each day!!
Lesley – that’s great that you have a house full of pickle fans! My boys would rather eat them fresh than pickled, but friends enjoy the crunchy treats when we have company.
[...] leaves us with FRIDGE PICKLES!!!!!! Sure, takes a few days, but no canning/preserving required. Now, granted, buying pickles is [...]
Hey There, my family loves these pickles. I am curious if they can be canned? I am not sure we need to worry about it, they won’t last long.
you could probably can them, although the FDA might not approve, and they wouldn’t stay as crisp.
Do these have probiotics in them?
While not heat processed, these pickles do not contain live and active cultures. They may help assist digestion due to their acidity, but not to the extent of a live cultured (probiotic) food. For an assortment of live culture food recipes, I highly recommend The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Fermenting Foods by Wardeh Harmon – http://www.commonsensehome.com/the-complete-idiots-guide-to-fermenting-foods/
I do have a lactofermented asparagus recipe on the site, which could be used with other vegetables – http://www.commonsensehome.com/preserving-asparagus-three-ways-freezing-drying-and-lacto-fermenting/
is it possible to exchange the sugar for Stevia instead?
The sugar helps bind free water molecules, aiding in preservation, so I’d be hesitant to eliminate it. If you’re looking for a low-sugar/no sugar option, I’d turn to lactofermenting, so that the cultures act as a preservative.
I add several cloves of garlic and about a tablespoon of mixed picking spice and one small dried red pepper per gallon jar. Have made these for years.