Pickled Cucumbers at home

All summer long, our vegetable garden was a gift that kept giving. In the form of cucumbers, mostly. It did so well that we had so many cucumbers and I thought that I would have jars and jars of pickled cucumbers to last me all winter. 

Well.. it didn't turn out quite so -- we ended up eating most of the cucumbers as snacks or made pickled cucumber kimchi and even did facials with them. 

It actually took me a while to make picked cucumbers because I was just too lazy to go buy jars and peppercorn and mustard seed, which we didn't have in our spice rack. 

But once I had all the ingredients, these pickled cucumbers were super easy and quick to make. I mean, you really can't mess this one up. Promise.

There are a few more cucumbers forming right now in our garden and I plan to make more pickled jars before we say bye to our summer garden. 

Here is how I made our pickled cucumbers if you're interested in seeing. 

What you'll need: 

 // 1 quart jars with lids -- I picked mine up at our local grocery store. I bought the 10 jar pack but I only needed 3 for this pickling session. 

 // Cucumbers -- I used 4 medium sized ones, which fit into 3 jars

 // 5 springs of fresh dill (per jar)

 // 2-3 clovers of garlic, crushed and minced (per jar)

 // 3 tablespoons of white distilled vinegar (per jar)

 // 1 teaspoon of kosher salt (per jar) -- I might have actually used even less. You can eyeball depending on how much salt you want to use. I didn't want to use a lot for our consumption but did enough to make sure the taste was there. 

 // Filtered water (enough to top your jar/s)

 // 20 black peppercorns (per jar)

 // 1/4 teaspoon of mustard seeds (per jar)

Directions -- 

01 // Wash your cucumbers and cut them into discs or spears and add them to your jar.

02 // Add all your other ingredients except the water. For me I added it in this order -- vinegar, garlic, salt, peppercorn, mustard seeds and then fresh dill.

03 // After you have incorporated all your ingredients, pour your filtered water to the top of the jar. Screw the lid on and give it a shake.

04 // Let your jar sit out on your countertop for about 24 hours and then refrigerate. Give it a taste after it's chilled for a bit. It tastes gooood!

We had some with pizza the other night and Yangkyu was the first to taste. We both weren't expecting much {I'm not the brightest in the kitchen} but his eyes lit up and said, "They taste like pickles, Jane! How did you do it?!" Then I stuffed one in my mouth and said, "Oh my golly they do taste like pickles!"

We have finished one jar and will make more once we have a few more cucumbers on hand. We also have a bowl full of tomatoes from the garden and I think I'll go ahead and find a way pickle them too. 

What would you do with a basket full of cucumbers?