August 3, 2010

Aunt Biddie’s Pickles

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I have no earthly idea who Aunt Biddie is, but I made her pickles this weekend and they are delicious! I had always been pretty scared of making pickles as I’ve never canned anything before (by myself). Since these are refrigerator pickles, I thought I’d give it a try. Unlike my usual cooking method of leaving out ingredients and disregarding steps that I deem unnecessary, with pickling I think it’s important to follow the recipe.

Aunt Biddie’s Pickles

      • 7 cups sliced cucumbers
      • 1 cup sliced onion
      • 1 T salt
      • 2 cups sugar
      • 1 cup vinegar
      • 1 T mustard seed
      • 1 T celery seed

Put your cucumbers & onions in a bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Let sit for one hour. The salt will draw the moisture out of the cucumbers. Drain really well. Boil the remaining ingredients and then cool. Put cucumbers and onions in clean jars, pour cooled vinegar mixture over them. According to my mom (who might know who Aunt Biddie is), these will keep in the fridge for up to a year.

DSC01044{cucumbers sitting in salt for 1 hour}

 

DSC01065

{the finished product}

My only advice is to make a whole lot of these because we pretty much eat an entire jar in one sitting. I’m planning to make a bunch more to give people too. Happy pickling!

RagDill01

{Aunt Biddie’s pickles are sweet, but aren’t these dancin’ dills cute?}

And if you prefer a spicier pickle, here is a similar recipe that includes turmeric and red pepper!