fast homemade dill pickles

The last recipe I made on my week with the July/August 2009 issue of Everyday Food magazine were these Fast Homemade Pickles!

Pickles are so crazy easy to make, you'd really never realize it until you give it a try. Only a few minutes and they are done. I bought a basket of fresh cucumbers this past week because they literally looked like pickles so plump and stubby. Once unloading them there were at least 20 in that small basket, I realized very quickly that I needed to double the brine for this recipe. So glad I did because in the end I made out with 6 jars of pickles. For half the cucumbers I quartered length wise into spears and then the other half I sliced 1/4 inch thick on the mandoline (perfect for burger toppings). 

This recipe is very tasty, but maybe just a little sweet for me. I'd probably hold back on the sugar next time around, but otherwise I'm thrilled with the results. There is an addition of tumeric and I don't believe it really imparts much flavour but gives the brine the look of pickles you'd buy at the store. While packing the pickles the tumeric dyed my fingers yellow, so it's probably a good idea to wear gloves when making these.