A few dishes we make require pickles, and we also like to eat pickles with hamburgers and sandwiches from time to time. We’ve found that there isn’t a good selection of pickles in Uruguay (or pickle relish for that matter).
Since produce is so inexpensive in Uruguay, we decided to make pickles from scratch. But, we didn’t want to go through the canning process and wait weeks or months to enjoy our pickles.
So, these recipes are for “quick” pickles. We’ve included a recipe for sour dill pickles (my favorite) and another recipe for sweet pickles (Brian’s favorite).
And before the jokes start, no, I didn’t make these pickles to eat with ice cream… I may be pregnant, but I’m not crazy ☺
One-Day Sour Dill Pickles
Ingredients:
- 1 large cucumber (or 3 small pickling cucumbers)
- 2 cups white vinegar
- 1 small bunch fresh dill
- 3 cloves coarsely chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
Directions:
- Thoroughly wash the exterior of your cucumbers
- Slice into uniform, thin rounds
- Place your dill, garlic, salt and peppers in a 1-quart canning jar or other container of similar size
- Add cucumbers
- Add vinegar to cover the pickles
- Seal jar or container and refrigerate for 24 hours
- Serve
Tips and Modifications:
- The skin of these pickles will retain a fresh green color and the flesh of the pickles will be fairly white
- These pickles are very tart; to reduce tartness, dilute vinegar with ¼ to ½ cup of water
- Sour dill pickles will keep for about 10 days in the refrigerator
- Optionally add some sliced pepper and onion with the cucumber in step 4
One-Day Sweet Pickles
Ingredients:
- 1 large cucumber (or 3 small pickling cucumbers)
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon mustard powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric (optional)
Directions:
- Thoroughly wash the exterior of your cucumbers
- Slice into uniform, thin rounds
- Loosely pack in a 1-quart canning jar or other container of similar size
- Combine apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard powder and turmeric in a small saucepan on medium-high heat
- Bring to a boil and allow to cook for 5 more minutes
- Pour hot liquid over the vegetables in the container
- Seal jar or container and refrigerate for 24 hours
- Serve
Tips and Modifications:
- Sweet pickles will keep in the refrigerator for about 10 days
- Optionally add one sliced sweet onion or sweet pepper with the cucumber in step 3
- Add some crushed red peppers for a little spice