Yield: 8-10 servings | Time: 15 minutes (Plus 7 days to brine)

Food Saving Hacks: The liquid from your store-bought pickles still has purpose. Use it to quick-pickle fresh vegetables or add flavor to dressings and marinades.

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 cucumbers (about 3-4 cups), sliced
  • 1-2 small onions, sliced
  • ¼ tsp alum
  • ¼ tsp turmeric
  • ¼ tsp celery seeds
  • ¼ tsp mustard seed
  • 1¼ cups sugar
  • ¾ cup white vinegar
  • 2-3 Tbsp salt
  • ¼ tsp pickling spice

 

Instructions:

  1. You’ll need a clean quart-sized glass canning jar with a lid. Wash thoroughly with hot soapy water and rinse well, or sterilize by boiling for 10 minutes.
  2. Pack the sliced cucumbers and onions into the clean quart jar.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine the alum, turmeric, celery seeds, mustard seed, sugar, white vinegar, salt and pickling spice. Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved to make a brine solution.
  4. Pour the brine solution over the cucumbers and onions in the jar, making sure the vegetables are completely covered.
  5. Screw on the lid tightly and refrigerate for 7 days, shaking the jar gently each day to redistribute the brine and spices.
  6. The pickles will be ready to eat after 7 days and should be kept refrigerated.

Want to make a big dill of it? This is a scaled-down version of Grandpa Norm’s original recipe, which makes 4-quart jars — just multiply all ingredients by 4 if you want to make his full batch.

Save More Than Food! From pickling to freezing, storing food properly keeps it fresher, longer and out of the trash.

Click here to download the recipe card.