Over 20 years ago, I would help my mother make Refrigerator Pickles. They were easy (no canning required), they were delicious (they went with everything) and they COULD last up to 2 years (although they never lasted that long)!

Last week, my son asked if we could make them. We visit our local Farmer’s Market weekly, and I had picked up a half of a bushel of pickling cucumbers. Since my friend, Stephanie, and her children haven’t taught me how to make their “Cucumber Slushies” yet, I had nothing else planned for the fresh beauties.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 cups sliced pickling cucumbers
• 1 cup sliced onion
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tsp celery seed
• 4 tbls iodized salt

INSTRUCTIONS

PREPARE LIQUID

In a large pot, add vinegar, sugar, celery seed and salt. Stir and bring to a boil. Let boil for 3 minutes. Set aside to cool.

PREPARE VEGETABLES

Wash the cucumbers and remove the blossom end. If you leave the blossom end, it will make your pickles bitter.

Slice the cucumbers fairly thinly and as uniformly as possible.

Years ago, Irene gave us a 1 Second Slicer and it made short work of the cucumber slicing! You can purchase one for about $30 at Walmart, Amazon and other retail stores.

Slice 1-2 medium sized yellow or white onions. I quarter them then cut the quarters into slices, but it’s truly just a preference. You can slice them larger, smaller or even chop them if that is your preference. We have even made these pickles for friends and totally eliminated the onion.

PACK IN JARS

Pack the cucumber slices into clean glass jars, periodically adding the onion. Sort of “layering” but the onion is not a full layer. Continue to pack cucumber, onion, cucumber, etc. until it reaches the shoulder of the jar, leaving the neck empty. We use 1 gallon glass jars because it takes up less room in the refrigerator, but wide-mouth quart jars work as well.

Pour the cooled liquid over the sliced cucumbers and onion. Let sit for 15-20 minutes. The cucumbers will begin to “shrink” and the liquid should eventually cover them. You may need to give them a slight push to get them below the liquid.

Close with jar lid and refrigerate.

You can begin to eat them in 2 days and they will stay good for up to 2 years in the refrigerator.

We had a half of a bushel which made 2 gallon jars and 8 quart jars and left plenty of cucumbers for salads, etc. The entire process from beginning to end took us less then 2 hours. I hope you enjoy them!

Do you want more ideas for cucumbers? We may not have Stephanie’s Cucumber Slushie recipe (yet), but we have more ideas! Read our article “An Abundance of Cucumbers” by clicking the link or searching on our site for “Cucumber”. Do you have recipes for cucumbers that you’d like to share? Please add them in the Comments. We’d love to try them!