Recipe By Chef Josh
Take advantage of the summer harvest and grab some fresh veggies to pickle or preserve before it's too late!! This recipe can be used for almost any veggies. For tougher veggies like carrots and radishes, you can quickly blanch them first if you feel like it!
Ingredients
1 lb fresh Kirby Cucumbers
Hot peppers (to taste, I used 4 Serranos in this case, habanero is good if you want even hotter)
1 cup White Vinegar
6 oz Water
1 clove of Garlic
1 tbsp diced Shallot
1 tsp whole Peppercorns
1 sprig fresh Dill
1 tbsp Kosher salt
1-2 tsp sugar ( you can leave out the sugar for a slightly different taste)
Directions
Prepare your jars by thoroughly washing and drying them.
Prepare your cucumber by washing them well, if it's fresh from the farm you don't want any of the dirt in there. You can leave it whole, cut wedges or slices.
Add the spice to jar, if you are using more than one jar, divide the spices between them evenly.
Add the cucumber (and hot peppers if you are using them) to the jar, squeezing them in as tightly as you can.
Make a brine by mixing the vinegar and water and dissolving the salt and sugar into it over low heat. Cool the brine and pour into the jar over the cucumbers. For a quicker pickle, use the hot brine, however using a hot brine will result in less crunch.
Seal the jar tightly and place it in fridge. Your pickles should be ready in 5-7 days but the longer you wait the better. You will see a change in color after a day or two. That is normal.
These stay good in the fridge for a few months.