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Pickling and canning? Of course you can!

You can conquer canning. Here are 12 recipes for sweet jams, savory chutneys, and crunchy pickles a plenty that will leave your mouth watering and your can-do attitude soaring.

Sweet garlic refrigerator pickles

The Runaway Spoon
An old-fashioned recipe that begins with already pickled cucumbers.

  • By Laura Edwins Contributor

This recipe starts with a gallon jar of pickles, which divides up into many smaller jars (4 quarts, or a combination of smaller sizes). I start the summer with a gallon jar, because the cleaned and dishwashered pickle jar is absolutely the best vessel for mixing iced tea. You can also use a quart jar of pickles, which will make three pint jars, and adjust the sugar accordingly.

1 (1 gallon) jar of whole kosher dill pickles (not pre-sliced)
1 (4 lb.) bag of granulated sugar
2 heads of garlic, cloves separated and peeled
Several shakes of good hot sauce

1. Pour the pickles in a large colander and drain of all the liquid. Rinse out the jar, but do not clean with soap and water. Slice the pickles into 1/4 inch pieces. I find doing this by hand the best method, though it takes some time. The pickles are a bit too soft for a mandoline or food processor.

2. Layer the sliced pickles with the garlic cloves and sugar and a few good shakes of hot sauce, covering each layer of pickles with sugar. Top up the jar with sugar as close to the top as you can. Screw on the lid and set aside in a cool place away from direct light. The sugar will dissolve and make a syrup in the jar.

3. Over the next few days, carefully shake the jar to dissolve any sugar that accumulates at the bottom, and add more sugar. Continue to do this for four or five days, until the syrup covers the pickles and you can’t add anymore. You may not use the whole 4 lb. bag of sugar.

4. When the pickles are covered in syrup, pour the whole contents of the jar into a large bowl. Discard the garlic cloves. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pickle slices to very clean Mason jars, pressing down lightly and shaking to distribute the slices evenly. Fill the jars with pickle slices just to the rim under the screw-on threads. When all your jars are full, evenly divide the syrup over each jar of pickles. It may not completely cover the pickles, but that’s OK. Place the lids on the jars, screw on the bands and refrigerate. Store in the fridge up to six months unopened, two weeks after they have been opened.

Read the full Stir It Up! post by guest blogger  Perre Coleman Magness: Sweet garlic refrigerator pickles

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Mark Sappenfield
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