I've got big pickles!

We have been receiving an insane number of cucumbers in our CSA boxes the last couple of weeks, so Friday was pickle-making night.  Now, I am really new to this canning thing, so I wanted to start simply.  I decided to make refrigerator pickles.  No fuss.  No muss.  And very tasty.  It begins with two big mason jars...

...and 6 of the biggest cucumbers I've ever seen.  I thinly sliced each one into a bowl.  (This is my favorite part.  I love chopping veggies.  It's totally therapeutic to me.)  I added slices of half a yellow onion, then moved on to the brine.

In a small sauce pan I combined:
1 c    vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
2 c    sugar
2 T   salt
1 T   celery seed

I brought this mixture just to a boil and then I poured it into the jars stuffed with cucumbers and onions.  I actually made this combo twice...once for each jar.

These two jars of pickles made barely a dent in my cucumber stash, so the rest I coated in salt and left to sit over night.  The next morning I drained the cucumbers and rinsed off the extra salt.  I then tossed them with one cup of rice vinegar and one cup of sugar.  Done.  They were very yummy.

All the cucumbers (the pickles and the "salad") are in containers in the downstairs fridge.  Both versions were quite tasty and should last a while, so we can work slowly through them for the next few weeks.

And, the cool thing about refrigerator pickles is that you can just keep adding cucumbers and onions to the juice and keep them going for a while...  nice to not have to waste all that juice!

Happy pickling!