Making refrigerator pickles today

[CathyA]

This is a really easy way to make pickles that you eat within a month. They are crisp and delicious.
I make them mostly for DH. I use white vinegar/water/sugar/dill seed/mustard seed/pickling spice/garlic and a little red pepper flakes.

I used to make bread and butter pickles but it's just too much work now.
I'm sure there's probably a recipe for bread and butter refrigerated pickles too, but we don't use bread and butters much.

[Blackdog Lin]

Cathy - we make a lot of refrigerator pickles in season too. Mostly bread-n-butter and tsukemono (a Japanese sour pickle, without dill). I have a killer bread-n-butter pickle recipe that I got from the Wichita Eagle newspaper in 1989 (I only know 'cause I cut it out whole and taped it to a recipe card): Excellent Microwave Sweet Pickles. I still make them every summer. And I grin a little every time I make them, thinking about how microwaves were pretty new and novel at the time, and we all were learning how to use and cook with them.

[awakenedsoul]

Cathy and Blackdog Lin, Your recipes sound great. I love sweet pickles in tuna fish sandwiches. Especially on homemade bread. I didn't grow any cucumbers this year, just zucchini and tomatoes.

[Blackdog Lin]

awakenedsoul: don't be sorry about not having homegrown cucumbers. There's a very very VERY fine line between "oh isn't it great to have our own fresh homegrown cucumbers!", and "honey, I couldn't get rid of any of them, 'cause everyone has started locking their cars against me, and they all run from me in the (bank, grocery store, hardware store, pick one)." :)

Thanks goodness the zucchini didn't go crazy like the cucumbers did this year.

[awakenedsoul]

Blackdog Lin, That's funny. You made me laugh. I just read a post by the meanqueen on her blog saying she was walking around trying to give away her courgettes. It's ironic...we work so hard to grow food, and then it's easy to get sick of it. Fortunately, my dog loves zucchini.

Happy pickling, CathyA...

[creaker]

Sounds similar to what I make - it's easy and way cheaper than the comparable ones in the store, even if you have to buy the cucumbers.

[CathyA]

awakenedsoul: don't be sorry about not having homegrown cucumbers. There's a very very VERY fine line between "oh isn't it great to have our own fresh homegrown cucumbers!", and "honey, I couldn't get rid of any of them, 'cause everyone has started locking their cars against me, and they all run from me in the (bank, grocery store, hardware store, pick one)." :)

Thanks goodness the zucchini didn't go crazy like the cucumbers did this year.

LOL Blackdog Lin..........I remembered you had that problem last year, I think with the zucchini. hahaha

[SteveinMN]

This is the season I make lacto-fermented pickles. I just had a batch of lacto-fermented string beans go south (not sure why; I suspect a couple of the beans managed to slip their bond and hit the air >:(). If I can get down to the farmer's market, I have a recipe for lacto-fermented blueberries. They'll either be really cool or really ick.

But I really want to make some more refrigerator pickles pickles. I've long liked oshinko (a Japanese pickle) and I find myself getting more into Korean ban-chan, which includes some pickles. Lin, could you point me toward your recipes?

[Blackdog Lin]

Steve - happy to - will have to just post it here, as I use my stepmother's recipe she gave us (20? 30?) years ago. I had to adapt her recipe to Kansas availabilities (in parentheses).

Cucumber Tsukemono

4 lbs. pickling cucumbers, left whole if small enough (4 lbs. cukes, cut into 1/2" unpeeled slices)
4 tbs. pickling salt
3 c. water
5 tbs. white vinegar
4 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. Ajinomoto (we would just call it "Accent")
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno papper, cleaned and halved
3 whole red chili peppers, crushed (or 1 tsp. hot red pepper flakes)
2 slices ginger (or 1/2 tsp. ground ginger)
2 stalks green onion, shredded
3 c. water

Boil the 3 c. water with the salt. Pour over cucumbers and press for 2 hours. Place in large jar, discarding salt water. Boil remaining ingredients. Cool slightly and pour over cucumbers in 1/2 gallon jar. Chill. Will keep for weeks in refrigerator.

[SteveinMN]

Thanks, Lin! This weekend, I think....

[Blackdog Lin]

Steve: hope you like them.

We have friends that make fermented pickles all summer and they rave about them. But we don't have the crocks necessary, and really, there are only so many pickles the two of us can eat. We can both dill and bread-n-butter, not to mention all the refrigerator ones we make. I don't need to be making MORE pickles.

But I might change my mind. Tell me more about Korean ban-chan. Sounds interesting. How different are they? (Goodness knows I have the cucumbers - though they are finally dying out.)

[SteveinMN]

Tell me more about Korean ban-chan. Sounds interesting. How different are they?
Lin, I'm sorry I forgot to respond to this earlier.

Ban-chan is actually a "set" of little dishes that serve as side dishes or condiments to the main course of a Korean meal. The most widely-known ban-chan is kimchi, which can be made from cabbage, radish/daikon, leafy greens, summer squash, cucumber, or some combination of those. If cabbage kimchi is served, there often will be some lightly-pickled cucumbers or carrots (like a Japanese sunomono) served. Maybe marinated bean sprouts or tofu. Some ban-chan are starchy -- like boiled seasoned potatoes or chapchae (glass noodles). It's just the different flavors and their presence at the meal that provides some variety in the meal. But I like the idea.

I've toyed with the idea of making my own sauerkraut, but I know I will be the only one in the house eating it and it seems a shame to home-make sauerkraut that will go into a slow cooker with a piece of pork. I bought a jar of Trader Joe's lacto-fermented sauerkraut and -- well, it's not a great example of type. So the jury is out on that. Kimchi, however, would be fine with me (though not DW) so I'd need to keep that to small batches, too.

[CathyA]

I love that show on PBS........is it something like the "Kimchi chronicles"?
If you do make sauerkraut, be sure to cut it really thin. I shredded mine too thick.

[Blackdog Lin]

Thanks Steve. Interesting.