I’ve been scanning another of the books I picked up the other day–The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving
, by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard–and believe I’ve found my debut dill, the refrigerator pickle. I’m itching to get started and am discovering just how many steps there are to this procedure, not to mention how many items I still need to purchase in order to do this correctly. For more experienced picklers, I would imagine a lot of the process comes off effortlessly. Until I get there, and as I’m already fantasizing about more complicated future batches, I’m feeling the need to start living up to my domain name sooner rather than later. Hence the refrigerator pickle, which marinates for four days. I happen to have a couple of English cucumbers* on hand so I may even begin this evening. I hope to report back the happy news on that front by mid week– and perhaps I’ll give them a more dynamic name.
*note: I read earlier that one should not use English seedless cucumbers for pickling due to their high water content, save for the refrigerator pickle recipe. Also, waxed cucumbers shouldn’t be used as the wax prevents pickling brine from penetrating the cucumber.
Good luck in your endeavor! Kori just found the pickler she used with her grandmother in Japanese picklemaking. Maybe she'll share the recipe with you…