Pickled Cucumbers or Baby Eggplants

This is the recipe that was the one my Mom's paternal grandmother used for making pickles. Several years ago I got a batch of baby Thai eggplants and decided to put them up with this same recipe. It worked wonderfully! The baby pickled eggplants are great on an antipasti tray or just to serve when you want some kind of pickled vegetable. We like them just for snacks. This year I am growing two Thai eggplants in hopes of getting enough to put up a few jars.

But today I had cucumbers from the veggie box that needed something done with them. I didn't get to make pickles last year, so I decided to make a quick jar of these. I have dill growing in my container kitchen garden and garlic is always on hand. No whole red peppers so I just used 1/4 tsp of my Calabrian hot red peppers instead. The recipe just calls for vinegar. Sometimes I use plain white vinegar and sometimes I use cider vinegar. Today I used the cider vinegar. And as I only have one jar, I didn't process them in the BWB. Rather, I will put them in the back of the fridge for a few weeks before getting any out to eat.

One very important thing to know when making pickles: DO NOT use iodized salt. Iodine will make the pickles turn a very icky colour.

Cucumbers, pepper, garlic and dill


Cukes and seasonings in the jar. As I got to the top of the jar I had to cut some of the cucumbers in smaller pieces for them to fit.


Vinegar mixture poured over the cucumbers


Now they will go in the fridge for at least a month.

Happy pickling!

Pickled Cucumbers or Baby Eggplants For every quart jar: 1 clove garlic, peeled 1 small hot red pepper, I like cayenne 4-5 sprigs of fresh dill cucumbers or baby eggplants to fill jar ¾ cup vinegar 1 1/3 cups water 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp plain salt Place garlic, red pepper and cucumbers in the jar. Sprinkle the dill seeds on top. Mix vinegar, water, salt and bring to a boil. Pour over the cucumbers. Seal jars in BWB. For pints, still use one garlic clove and one pepper per jar.

namasté,