Easy Homemade Pickles
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Back in April, my kids and I picked out a few types of seeds to plant in the very limited “sunny spot” in our yard. My daughter picked two kinds of flowers, while my son and I picked out veggies. He chose pumpkins and carrots, while I picked cucumbers and basil.
The basil looks a little sad because some critters have been chewing on the leaves, and the carrots are coming along. The cucumbers and pumpkins have grown into a crazy bramble of leaves and vines. I actually thought it was all pumpkin, but then I was poking around the other day and I discovered an 8-inch, fully ripe cucumber in the midst of it all. We like our homemade pickles around here, so I was a happy lady!
This is a simple, real food recipe for homemade pickles. My husband likes sweet pickles, but I wasn’t willing to make them with loads of sugar like I’ve done in the past. This batch has some honey, along with lots of vinegar and some seasonings (adapted from this recipe from Whole Foods). It passes everyone’s pickle test in my house, which is quite a feat.
Easy Homemade Pickles
Ingredients
- 4 cucumbers 6 inches each
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1 cup cider vinegar
- 4 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp celery seed
- 1/4 tsp mustard powder
Instructions
- Sterilize 3 pint jars in boiling water or in the dishwasher (see my raspberry jam recipe for details about sterilizing).
- Slice the cucumbers 1/4 inch thick with a mandolin or food processor and divide them among the jars.
- In a small saucepan, stir together the remaining ingredients and simmer them over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour the mixture over the cucumbers in the jars (1/3 in each jar). Proceed with canning or refrigerate.
Nutrition
Homemade Pickles Price Breakdown
Using cucumbers from my garden, the total cost of this recipe is $2.90, or $.97 per pint of pickles. Store-bought cucumbers would bring the price up to about $1.97 per pint, but this is still a great price for high-quality, real food pickles. This recipe for homemade pickles is an easy one to make when cucumbers are plentiful in your garden or at the farmers’ market.
Thank you for the recipes. It looks so easy and I love the honey idea.
Question. Do the jars have to be processed in a canner? Can you just keep them in the fridge and if so for how long? ( I know they will be eaten real quick anyway)
Thank you.:-)
Yes, you can refrigerate the pickles without canning. We usually eat them within a couple weeks.
If canning how long. What about water bath.
I don’t can this recipe, Jeanie, so I’m not sure. Sorry!
Are these sweet? My family likes crisp dill not sweet pickles. The ones I made last year were dill but too sweet for them…looking for a good refrigerator dill. What do you think?
These are somewhat sweet from the honey, Paula. I would cut out the honey (or cut back to 1/4 cup) for your family. Let me know if you try them.