How to make pickles

You’ll never be in a snacking pickle when you have pickles in your pantry. Best way to make sure that’s always true? Learn to do your very own pickling. This step-by-step recipe is super easy to follow.

Fills two 1 liter jars. Download print-friendly recipe.

Ingredients:
1kg small Israeli cucumbers
3 cups water
2 cups white vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup coarse (uniodised) sea salt
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
6 bay leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved

Method:
1. Rinse the cucumbers and slice the ends off. Neatly pack them into sterilised glass jars along with the garlic cloves, pepper corns, bay leaves and mustard seeds.
2. Slowly heat the water, vinegar, salt and sugar in a large non-corrosive pot to boiling point, stirring continuously until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Remove from heat and leave the mixture to cool slightly before pouring it over the cucumbers until they are all completely covered.
3. Leave the jars open, allowing the contents to cool down to room temperature (approximately two hours). Once cooled, seal the jars and keep in the refrigerator. Best enjoyed after four days and can be kept in the fridge for about two months.

Speaking of keeping food in the fridge, check out StillTasty, a comprehensive guide to shelf life determination which will help you work out if your food is still good to go. Happy pickling.
With thanks to Karen Grandcourt for the beautiful images.