my first batch of pickles

This year I decided to grow cucumbers for the first time:  one pickling cucumber plant and one regular cucumber plant.  I planted them in pots and put in a small trellis so I wouldn't have to worry about having enough room for the vines to grow, nor would I have to worry about them being forgotten under the leaves. Plus I just didn't want to dig a garden.

But what to do with them since only my husband likes cucumbers? Pickle them, of course!  Although I've learned how to do canning, I didn't have nearly enough cucumbers to do more than one jar of pickles so I opted for a refrigerator pickle recipe.  (At this point I had only two pickling cucumbers so far.) All I had to do was cut up the cucumbers, mix the ingredients, put them all in a jar and stash them in the fridge overnight. Pickling the cucumbers was also an excuse to use the fresh dill from my garden.

Here's the recipe I used:  Easy Dill Lovers Refrigerator Pickles

Here are the pickles before they went into the fridge. A couple days later the level of liquid rose almost to the top, because the salt in the brine released water from the cucumbers.

Overall I liked this recipe. They're so fresh-tasting and crispy. Much different from jarred pickles from the grocery store. (And notice they're not Army Green-colored!) I tried another one a couple weeks ago and it just didn't taste like a sour dill pickle should taste. I think I'll be sticking with this recipe. A word of caution, though:  if you're not used to fresh pickles, brace yourself for the first bite--it will put hair on your chest!