Now is the perfect time to get into all sort of home DIY projects! With everyone spending the majority of their time at home, it's never been easier. And if you're a fan of pickles (or pickled veggies of any kind), then you should know it's completely possible to make them at home.
All you need is a few supplies and the motivation to try it out. Luckily, those supplies are easy to come by, especially on Amazon, for totally affordable prices. So we've put together a list of instructions, complete with everything necessary to making pickles at home. Check out the steps below, and get yourself all ready to go in no time at all.
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Slice up your pickles.
For pickle rounds (or “chips," as they’re called), cut the cucumbers into thin slices around 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick.Â
For spears, slice the cucumber in half lengthwise, then slice the halves into quarters. Then, slice the quarters into eighths until you’ve got wedge-shaped spears. Make sure the spears aren’t too tall for your jar!Make sure you’ve got a good knife and cutting board set up.
This cutting board and knife set on Amazon is totally affordable and has a ton of great ratings; if you’ve been looking to spruce up your setup, these will do the trick! The kitchen knives are stainless steel, and they even come with a sharpener.
Make a brine.
In a cup or measuring bowl, combine a 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of rice vinegar, 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and 2 tablespoons of pickling spices. Stir it until most of the salt has dissolved (which should take 1 minute at most).For that, you’ll need pickling spices.
And you can get these already mixed and ready to go on Amazon! Take this 16 oz. pouch of Marshalls Creek spices; all you have to do is pour them out and add them to your brine liquid.
Place your chopped cucumbers in a jar.
It should be a wide-mouth jar about 3 to 4 inches in diameter, and there should be at least 1 inch of extra space on top once all the slices go in.Check out these mason jars on Amazon.
You’ll need to make sure you have the right type of jar for the job, and these wide-mouth mason jars are perfect! They come in a pack of 6 and hold up to 32 oz. of liquid.
Time to top off the jar.
Add two smashed cloves of garlic to the jar of cucumbers, and then pour in all of the liquid you mixed until the cucumbers are fully submerged.Got your measuring cups in order?
This awesome measuring cup and spoon combination from Amazon has everything you’ll need to mix and measure out your brine mixture. It’s a 10-piece dishwasher-safe set that includes a 1-liter measuring cup, a funnel, a scraper, a hook, and 6 measuring spoons.
From there, you’re almost done.
Cover the jars and refrigerate them. For pickle rounds, you’ll want to leave them in for at least an hour. For spears, you’ll need to leave them for at least 3 hours. Voila! You’ve just made your own pickles.You could also keep a fermentation kit on hand.
If you’re ready to get more in-depth with your pickle-making, this fermentation kit is designed to work with wide-mouth mason jars. Using it, you can make sure you’ve got totally airtight jars as your pickles are made.