Description
Makes one quart of floral, vinegary, salty pickles.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1.5 pounds pickling cucumbers
- 8 peppercorns
- 1 large garlic clove, peeled, smashed and cut into a few chunks
- 1 jalapeno, cut into thick slices
- 2 stalks basil
- 1 cup distilled white vinegar*
- 1 cup water
- 3 tsp pickling salt
Instructions
- Gently scrub the cucumbers, halve or quarter the cucumbers lengthwise.
- Add the peppercorns, chile and garlic to the bottom of a 1 quart mason jar.
- Pack basil and cucumbers into the jar tightly (pouring the brine in will loosen things up).
- In a non-reactive saucepan, bring the vinegar, water and salt to a boil, stirring to dissolve the salt.
- Pour the liquid over the cucumbers, leaving 1/2 inch headspace, but making sure all the cucumbers fit under the brine.
- Store the pickles in the fridge for at least 3 weeks before eating.
Notes
*Guys, I’m terrible at math. It’s a wonder I can balance a checkbook (just kidding, I can’t). I used just shy of 1 cup of vinegar for this recipe. The recipe I was using as a guide calls for 2 3/4 cups of vinegar for 3 quarts of pickles. I tried to divide that by three, panicked and eyeballed it. It worked out just fine. If you like pickles to be REALLY vinegary, use the whole cup.