I just made a batch of quick refrigerated pickles and I have a question..... first off, let me say my experence is limited. I used to make pickles by just adding some seasoning, pickling spices, garlic and water, put them in a tupperware, and refrigerated until they tasted OK.... they didn't alwas come out great, but definately edible. Recently I began to grow some Burpee Picklers, and I've been successful, so it was time to try my hand at pickling again. A couple of weeks ago,I boiled a mixture of pickling spices, dill weed, pepper, and sea salt; let cool, and poured over sliced cukes in a cleaned store bought jar with garlic and onion added, with also a small amount of 5% acid vinegar. The pickles taste good, but too sweet for my taste (can taste too much of the cinnemon from the pickling spice.)I call them sweet and sipcy. I let the jar sit at room temp for about 24 hours, then refrigerated. Tonight, I made a new batch. Boiled dill seed, dill weed, "it's a dilly" seasoning (has garlic, lemon peel in it also)and sea salt. After boil, I removed the residue, and poured over the cukes with small amount of vinegar, hot & sweet pepper, garlic, and onion, and topped of with some whole dill greens. It's sitting on the counter as we speak, and I planned on putting in the fridge after about 36 hours. Now, the questions..... am I way off base with my technique? can the pickles be harmful if left ut too long? what effect does the vinegar have in this process? Help, Help, Help!

I've been making freezer pickles for years. The combination of vinegar, sugar and freezing magically results in a very crisp pickle upon opening. I put them in 1 cup containers because they do go a bit limp if not used within about a week. I also make freezer cauliflower pickles ... using the same recipe. Linda Z has several freezer recipes using different seasonings. Mine is below, but I see no reason why your recipe wouldn't work just fine. Freezer Pickles Yield: about 4 pints. 7 cups unpeeled cucumbers sliced thin 1 cup onions sliced thin 1 cup red bell peppers sliced thin 1 tbsp kosher salt 1 1/2 cups white vinegar 2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon celery seeds Sprinkle salt over sliced cucumbers; let sit one hour and then drain. Make syrup with vinegar, sugar and celery seed. Bring to boil till sugar is dissolved. Let cool. Mix cukes with onions and pepper, Put vegetables into sterile jars and fill with syrup. Freeze. Can thaw and eat after 24 hours.

<First time to make pickles (dill) and found so many various recipes. You all mention a book - page 50 of the bbb - can I ask what that book or what bbb stands for? Perhaps I should get this book so I am not guessing about stuff.> BBB stands for Ball Blue Book, sort of the bible for home canning and available for about $8 anywhere canning supplies are sold and also available online. The page numbers won't match with the latest edition but all the pickling recipes are in the book. You can also find all the basic pickling info online at NCHFP which is the primary authority on safe home canning and the basis for all the other publications. NCHFP - Pickling Fermented Dill Pickles Quick Pack Dill Pickles What is confusing about all the recipes out there is that there are several different types of "pickles" - brined, fermented, and quick-pack. As explained in the link above. The many varieties of pickled and fermented foods are classified by ingredients and method of preparation. Regular dill pickles and sauerkraut are fermented and cured for about 3 weeks. Refrigerator dills are fermented for about 1 week. During curing, colors and flavors change and acidity increases. Fresh-pack or quick-process pickles are not fermented; some are brined several hours or overnight, then drained and covered with vinegar and seasonings. Hope this helps. Dave PS: please do keep in mind that while there are lots of recipes out there not all of them are safe to use. This is especially true for some of the so-called old family recipes. So until you learn to tell which are safe and which are not stick with approved sources only or feel free to post the recipe here for review.

Well I have a 15 foot long trellis wall under which I planted a couple packs of pickling cuke seeds. The thing is really filling up, but I have no experience growing these. I'd hope that in another few weeks I'll have the majority of them at their peak. I'd totally recommend growing them this way, I have two small innercity plots and this year I've been able to grow over 25 individual items using a lot of vertical methods.