This is one of my favorite parts of the summer, making homemade pickles! Last year I made my first batch after I was given a huge box full of baby cucumbers. I made about 13 jars of refrigerator pickles and ended up giving away most of them since they were refrigerator pickles, good for only 3 months. This year I'm hoping for more of the baby cucumbers from the same friend but while I'm waiting, I got four medium sized cucumbers (about 1/3 of the size of the cucumbers sold in supermarkers) so I'll make two canned jars - pint size - and one refrigerator pickles.
I always get a packet of seasoning and this time it recommended cutting the ends off the pickles, which I did, and letting the cucumbers soak in ice water for four hours. I only soaked them for about two hours. Then I mixed together the seasoning packet, six cups of water, and 2 1/2 cups of vinegar that I brought to a boil. I brought my water bath canner to a boil at the same time. I packed the cucumbers (without the ice water) into the jars, then poured the boiling seasoning juice around them. I immediately water bath canned the two jars for 15 minutes. The other jar I let cool, then capped and put in the fridge. I find I actually prefer the taste of the refrigerator style to the canned but obviously the canned will last a lot longer.
Follow up: I just tried these pickles today - excellent! The putting them in ice water first DEFINITELY makes them crispier! Too good.. I could eat the whole jar. I think I will definitely follow this style again!
