Over the summer, we got stranded 13 hours away from home after our 1980’s Volvo died, when we had at most $50 in our bank account. Read that link if you want to hear the whole story; if not, the short story is that we ended up staying with a relative who fed us the most amazing food straight from their garden while we waited for a way home.

They also taught us the basics of pickling, and gave us a few finished jars to take home with us as well as a recipe card packed with information. Read more below to get their not-so-secret recipe that makes, frankly, the best pickle I’ve ever had.

What you’ll need per batch:

• 1 QT Mason jar (I suggest getting a bunch and doing several jars at once.)
• 2 tbsp dry mustard
• 2 tbsp salt
• 5 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp alum (to keep the pickles crisp)
• apple cider vinegar
• pickling cucumbers (shorter and smaller than regular cucumbers)

Before you start, make sure to wash & rinse your cucumbers of any dirt - you don’t want to eat that later. Combine all the dry ingredients and put the mixture in the jar. Fit as many cucumbers as you can in your mason jar, leaving some room for them to breathe. Fill the jar to near the top with apple cider vinegar.

Seal the jar tightly and store them in a cool, dry, dark place for one month or more. We put the production date on our jar so we’d know when they’d be ready. We also tested store-brand apple cider vinegar versus Bragg’s ACV, and there wasn’t too much of a difference in taste in the end.

Once you open a jar, store it in the fridge until you’ve finished all the pickles in it. Before you take any out, just shake up the jar to combine all the liquid. I like to slice them into sandwiches or just eat one as a snack, but you could also serve them at parties this fall and winter.

Hope you enjoy these as much as we do!