Do you ever have a few extra cucumbers that you don’t know what to do with?
If the answer is yes, don’t panic! You don’t have to do any more thinking, we’ve got you covered here.
This overnight pickle recipe could be the answer. It only takes a few minutes to make, no canning is required, and you’ll have fresh pickles ready to eat the next day!
There are three secrets to producing crisp pickles for this dish. To begin, use freshly picked cucumbers.
Pickles with soft cucumbers are mushy. Cucumbers must also be picked when they are little (3-5 inches are ideal). Large or long cucumbers should be reserved for salads since they have too much water content and too many seeds to make decent pickles.
You can leave your pickles whole or chop them into slices, spears, or bits – the choice is entirely yours.
However, one word of caution: make sure you clip the bloom end off. This is the point when the cucumber bloom appeared. When purchasing cucumbers at a farmer’s market or supermarket, seek the end with the bumpy dot rather than the smooth, indented dot.
Remove 1/16th of an inch to avoid leftover enzymes that could cause your pickles to soften.
One more piece of advice: make sure to use pickling salt or pure kosher salt. Iodized salt, which is commonly available in kitchen cabinets, should not be used.
The reason is that iodized salt is not pure sodium chloride — it has many chemicals, including glucose and calcium silicate, which act as an anti-caking agent, to allow for longer shelf life.
This alters the chemical composition of ‘salt,’ which can affect the texture, color, and flavor of your pickles. Stick to pickling salt or pure kosher salt – both are easily available at your local grocery store.
Overnight Garlic Pickle Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 small cucumbers
- 1 quart of water
- 2 tablespoons of pickling salt
- 4 cloves of garlic
- red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Put some salt and water in a medium-sized sauce pan. Heat to a simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the salt has completely dissolved.
- Cut cucumbers into desired lengths.
- Crush the garlic and cut it into small pieces.
- Put cucumbers, garlic, and (optional) red pepper flakes in the water.
- Pour the mixture into a basin or jar.
By this time, the pickles should be floating on top of the water. To keep the cucumbers from rising to the top, you’ll need to cover the mixture with something. - Put the mixture in the fridge and leave it there overnight.
- Store pickles in an airtight jar for up to a week before eating.
And voilà! You’re done!
Enjoy!