Pickle Fail

I love pickles. All the pickles. Dill, Sweet, Spicy, Sour, Bread & Butter. All things pickle.

I’ve never actually made pickles before, and randomly ended up with an abundance of cucumbers so I figured - why not now?! I read through a variety of recipes, and pieced together my own recipe.

welp. it didn’t live up to my pickle making fantasy.

The Goal? Sweet & Spicy spears and rounds

The Result? Really spicy cucumbers

womp womp. Round one, not so much.

Here’s what I did & What I’ll change for round 2:

Ingredients

  • 1 cucumber (you can use English, I just used a regular)

  • 1 chopped garlic clove

  • 1.5 tablespoons crushed red pepper (lesson: too much!)

  • 1/2 white onion, thinly sliced

  • 1.5 cups water

  • 3/4 cup distilled white vinegar (lesson: not enough!)

  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (lesson: not enough!)

  • 1 tablespoon salt

  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

  • I didn’t have dill, but I’d probably add a few dill sprigs

Get Started

  • In a small pan heat up vinegar, water, sugar, salt, pepper so the sugar dissolves

  • While that’s heating, slice cucumbers and place in mason jars (I did one jar of spears and one of rounds)

  • Add pepper flakes, garlic, and onion slices in mason jars

  • Fill each mason jar with the warmed liquid and once cooled enough to handle, tighten the lid and put in the refrigerator

What didn’t work?

The ratio of water to vinegar was off, so there wasn’t much of a pickle effect. (I ended up pouring out some of the brine/liquid, and added more vinegar, which helped a little)

They were spicy. Really spicy. There wasn’t a balance of spicy and sweet. There was just heat.

It seemed so easy, I was so excited, and then so let down :) But - I’m ready to go for round 2!

Do you have a go to pickle recipe? Have you had a kitchen fail? Let me know!

Muchly,

Katy

EatsKathryn McKnightpickles, homemade, katy's cookingComment