Pickling foods is one of the best preservation methods. Pickling enables you to keep food that would normally spoil in a few days for up to a month — and sometimes even longer. It’s a fantastic way to decrease your food waste, not to mention you get a delicious, salty treat as a reward. While it’s completely possible to pickle almost anything — even hard-boiled eggs — this recipe is for the classic pickled cucumber. The only caveat? You’ll have to wait at least five days before you can eat this snack… but trust me, it’s worth the wait.
Laura Tucker / Daily Nexus
Ingredients:
- Pickling cucumbers, sliced in fourths lengthwise
- Apple cider vinegar
- Fresh dill
- Whole black peppercorns
- Coriander seeds
- Cayenne peppers, halved
- Garlic, halved cloves
- Salt, to taste
Directions:
- Put all ingredients into a mason jar and cover with apple cider vinegar, leaving half of an inch of space at the top of the jar.
Yeah, you read that right. There’s literally only one step to making these amazing, crunchy pickles. If the pickles and other ingredients are floating to the top of the jar above the vinegar, place a coffee filter and a rock on top of the liquid to hold everything down. If you want to be extra careful in the preparation of these pickles, you can heat the apple cider vinegar to a near boil and let it cool before pouring it over the other ingredients.
