B-Rad's Sun Pickles (Recipe Included)

These refrigerator pickles are an easy weekend or evening project.  Start by filling clean jars with uniformly sized (or sliced) cucumbers, then toss in a few dill tops and garlic cloves.  You can also add peppercorns, chile peppers or other spices according to your taste.

Next, just mix up a bowl or pitcher with the following ingredients (makes enough to cover 4 quarts or 1 gallon of pickling cukes):

        Sunshine Brine

• 5.5 cups water
• 2.5 cups white vinegar
• 1/4 cup pickling salt
• 1/8 teaspoon Alum (in the spice aisle)

Stir until salt is dissolved.  Pour into jars to cover cucumbers.

Here comes the fun part: set the jars outside in the sun for a few days.

What?

Yep.  This is my first go at it, but B-Rad swears by the method and has had success over the years.

 According to the maestro, check the developing flavor of the pickles as they relax in the sun, and when they taste how you want just stash the jars in your fridge.  Estimated keeping time?  About a month.

I'll keep you posted on how these sun pickles come along.  You can 'pickle' just about anything, not just cucumbers.  Let me know if you've got a favorite pickling procedure.