Refrigerator PICKLES

When my partner first started working at a co-op back in his early 20’s he would work these crazy long hours during the summer, I’m talking 80+ hour work weeks.  During those long weeks, the office manager would bring in an ice cream bucket full of refrigerator pickles.  At the time eating pickles out of an ice cream bucket seemed gross and refrigerator pickles in my mind were just a poor man’s dill pickle. So, I was not exactly on board to start making them for our family, that was of course until I tried them.  Refrigerator pickles are sweet crispy and full of multiple flavors that regular dill pickles just don’t have.  This recipe is my favorite.  Its easy, stores well and even my picky grandma liked it.  I make this every year when I am tired of canning, but to be clear I never eat it out of an ice cream bucket somehow that still seems gross to me.

6 cups thinly sliced cucumbers, about 2 pounds

2 cups thinly sliced onion

1 ½ cup white vinegar

¾ sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoons celery seeds

½ teaspoons ground turmeric

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 garlic cloves minced

In a large glass container (this is where you could use the plastic ice cream bucket) carefully combine the onions and cucumbers.

In a saucepan, combine vinegar and the remaining ingredients, stir.  Bring mixture to a boil and cook for a minute.  Pour over cucumbers, let cool.  Cover and chill.