NINETEEN YEARS AGO ALMOST TO THE DAY, I ate pickles for breakfast with lovely Dan Koshansky, a retired railroad conductor and an organic gardener in suburban Long Island. I was garden editor at “Newsday” newspaper then, and the beat included many a recipe tasting at harvest time. It’s how I learned to garden, and to cook from the garden: from people like Dan. I want to share his recipe for how to make dill pickles, refrigerator style, with you. Enjoy.
making dan koshansky’s pickles
THESE PICKLES were a hand-me-down recipe from Dan’s mother. And they couldn’t be simpler. Those in the photo (top) are from a batch I made many years ago (photo by Kit Latham).
THE RECIPE:
Wash jars: Run gallon or half-gallon canning jars through the dishwasher or wash thoroughly.
Prepare your brine: To each quart of water that has been boiled and brought to room temperature, add ¾ cup of distilled white vinegar and 4 Tablespoons Kosher salt (Dan would say “heaping Tablespoons”). Estimate how many quarts to make depending on how many jars you will pack with pickles. Note: Do not use reactive pots (like aluminum) for making brine. Stick with stainless and glass equipment for pickling tasks.
Wash and pack small cukes (or green tomatoes or peppers) into clean glass jars, into which fresh dill has been layered on the bottom first.
Add 1 Tablespoon of pickling spice and lots of chopped garlic. (Trust me, I can still recall the garlic-for-breakfast experience. Up to you how much. And frankly I never chop it, as you can see in the photo. Creative license!)
Add a dash of crushed red pepper flakes, or 1-2 small hot red peppers slitted open lengthwise, plus more fresh dill. I love having the flowerheads from a variety like ‘Mammoth,’ instead of just the foliage of ‘Fernleaf’ for this task, but you’ll want plenty of both.
Cover with plastic wrap and let stand out until soured, perhaps a couple of days, then refrigerate with lids on.
I think of these unprocessed pickles as a seasonal treat, So I make enough for a few months only. If you want to store pickles all year, use a recipe that calls for water-bath processing (meaning vacuum-sealed lids). It’s not that refrigerator pickles go bad, but they lose that special quality. It’s the crispy freshness that makes Dan Koshansky’s Refrigerator Pickles so fantastic, a real rite of the harvest season, so enjoy them summer-into-fall and then (as gardeners know how to by necessity) start looking forward to next year.
added notes
- Sometimes pickles get too salty. In summer 2010, thanks to Deb at Smitten Kitchen blog, I found out why. Not all Kosher salt brands are created equal. And:
- What’s in pickling spice? Some recipes.
- Zukes, you say, not cukes? Pickling zucchinis, too.
- Prefer your pickles sweet? Try Viola Whitacre’s 1952 recipe for bread and butter pickles (above photo).
I did this method last summer and everyone loved them. I made my own spice mix, used garlic, dill and hot peppers from the garden. Already people are asking me this year again when will there be pickles. I had to go to the farmers market and buy some pickles to get the ball rolling. Hopefully my garden will yield enough for me to try and freeze some. My family has made it clear I am forbidden from giving away any pickles this year. I am very happy I discovered this recipe:)
You made me laugh, Andrea, when you wrote about the new rules for pickle distribution (or should I say NON-distribution). Glad they were a hit!
I’m trying not to appear too naive here (I feel I may fail when asking this question). Is it safe to leave the cukes in brine “out for a couple of days” until sour? My fear is that I poison my family with my first batch ever!
Any recipes for Tomato’e's… It appears I will have a bumper crop.. I have a raised bed in front yard and my tomatoes are of several varieties and tucked in close and also in huge pots in the driveway.
Forget the ketchup please… tried that one years ago… grandmother’s recipe.. NG and took bushels,,,
TX TX TX
Hi, Tammy. I can tell you that growing up, I always saw parents/grandparents do this with pickles. In a brine I don’t think you are going to grow any molds in that time, but remember that the longer they are int he brine (especially in a warm environment) the faster they will get sour, and also that because they’re not “hot-packed” in a canner, they will keep souring in the fridge after you chill them (though more slowly). So plan accordingly.
Hi, Lynn. I make lots of red sauce — the really easy kind — and freeze it, and also a basic base for soups/stews that I can use later on. You could browse through my tomato stories and look at the ones about making sauce and so on…
my zucchini plants are huge with lots of flowers, however, the zucchinis are tiny then shrivel or not show at all. I am tempted to pull it all out. Any advice that you can share.
I have a bunch of cukes growing like crazy but no zuccini.
Thank you for any advice you can share.
roseanne
OMG – just tasted my first effort (not that there was much effort used for these….) with this recipe… I was about to mow my way through most of the jar when I suddenly remembered my root canal appt tomorrow and thought that holding off might be appreciated by the dentist and his staff. I will count the seconds until I get home for my next taste – novocaine or not, can’t wait!
Hi, Roseanne. Summer squash and their cousins the cucumbers have two kinds of flowers — male and female — on the plant, and both are required for pollination and good fruit set. Male flowers appear first on longer, thinner flower stems by the crown of the plant. The female flowers, which come later, are on thicker stems. Assuming you have both kind of flowers, then perhaps weather is to blame. Extremes in weather will postpone fruit because they interfere with pollination — including cold weather, rainy conditions, and so on. I am fascinated that you have cucumbers, but of course each plant is a different age relative to its eventual maturity, so the cukes may have been farther along before whatever interrupted good pollination conditions occurred.
Roseanne-
Sounds like you r zucchini is not getting pollenated. Last year I had the same issue. What you can do is take a few Q-tips out to the garden with you and pollenate them yourself. All you do is take the Q-tip and brush it on the inside of the male flower ( the one without the zucchini attached) and then brush the pollen you collect into the center of the female flower ( the one attached to the zucchini that is growing). Once they get pollenated, they will grow like they are supposed to. What seems to happen sometimes is that the females start earlier than the male flowers so the first ones do not get pollenated and shrivel and die. Another issue may be that bees have not found your plants yet so they are not getting pollenated. I had to do this to my plants for a couple of weeks last year, then the bees found them and nature took over. :)
Thanks, Tracy!
Dan’s pickle recipe sounds wonderful. I wanted to share my own, which is really an old Nova Scotia settler’s recipe, and similar to Dan’s. The brine is 9 cups water, 3 cups white vinegar, and 1/3 cup pickling salt. To this I also add dill (as does Dan) plus a clove or two of fresh peeled raw garlic. Most important of all is a grape leaf. I use the water bath method, and the grape leaf is what allows my pickles to remain crunchy through the next year. I don’t know why it works–it just does.
Thank you, Bill, for this old-style recipe. I have heard about the grape leaf idea and crunchiness but never seen it in a recipe, so this is great! I have to do some homework and try to find out why.
This is the first year we grew cucumbers and we used new organic soil with some compost and lime mixed in. our cucumbers are big but a little soft. If we don’t eat them the first day they seem too soft ??? Any advice ??? What type of cucumber seed is recommended ???
Hi Norine and Elaine. Cucumbers are very perishable, you are both right. That’s why they have traditionally been waxed before shipping to the supermarkets — to hold in the moisture.
One thing that may help is to pick they with the stem on (preventing a “hole” at one end that speeds water loss a bit) and also I have read that wrapping each one in a piece of paper towel and placing them all in a plastic bag (not zip-locked shut, but the kind of lightweight bag you put vegetables in when you shop) and putting it in the crisper of the fridge.
Can’t wait to try this recipe! One question…. the recipe says to use small cucumbers, and from the photo shows them whole. I have larger cucumbers and wondering if you can you follow this same recipe, slicing the the cucumbers before canning, as some other refrigerator pickle recipes call for? I imagine it’s best to keep them whole for a reason?
Thanks so much for any help!
Thank you so much … :)
Hi, Julie. They will pickle faster if cut, and last a shorter time (as the brine continues to soak into refrigerator pickles — unlike those made for the freezer or canned in a hot water bath, both of which stops the progression of the pickling). So they will be great as spears, but plan to use them in a timely fashion so they don’t get too sour or start to lose their crunch.
Like others, I’ve always wanted to try, but never had the guts….Exactly (or estimately?) how many cucumbers will I need per quart of brine? Thanks!
How do you tell when they are sour enough to put into the refrigerator?
I love the ease of fridge pickles! But I also put some up in a hot water bath to last thru the winter. I was having trouble with my pickles going soft- until someone suggested I use bottled water to make the brine. My well water is very, very hard. This seemed to have solved my problem.
I someone is having trouble with soft pickles, ask yourself about your home water quality. Bottled water might help.
Hi, Terry. Good suggestion! Also a grape leaf (with tannins naturally in it) is supposed to help.
In Dan K’s refrigerator pickles, the recipe says “Cover with plastic wrap and let stand out until soured, perhaps a couple of days.” So how do you tell they are “soured”? By tasting? By appearance?
Hi, Nancy. Yes, it’s all so dependent on cuke size, whether you did whole cukes or spears (which sour much faster of course), the temperature…so there’s no precise timing for any batch. Even if you put them in the fridge right away, they will sour (very slowly). So I’d taste one, exactly. You will also notice that as the brine starts to do its work, the bright green of the cuke skin will fade/change a bit.
guess this may be for Andrea, or anyone for that matter. How can you make your own “Pickling Spice” and how much garlic. I am going to try to make just one pint of these to see if I like them, and if I do, then I will make a larger batclh. My boyfriend LOVES Hearty Garlic Claussen Pickles and I have been trying out several recipies but don’t want 100 jars of pickles I may not like. I do have a few pickling cucumbers left so the sooner the better!!!
Hi, Barbara. Pickling spice recipes at your service, right here. As for garlic, it’s really “to taste” — I’d try a couple of cloves in a large jar and see what you think.
Hi Margaret! I’ve been reading your blog for about a year and have always enjoyed it, but not until the pickles did I feel compelled to post! Before leaving on a two week vacation, I had to somehow solve our “Cucumber Problem.” They are having a good year here and we hadn’t been eating enough of them. I found your recipe and made several jars, at least transforming the Cucumber Problem into a Refrigerator Pickle Problem. We just got back from vacation and I’m actually thrilled to find the cucumbers in the garden still going strong – another Cucumber Problem to be solved! This is a wonderful recipe, thanks for sharing it on your site.
So glad to help, Christine. Another Cucumber Problem solved! See you soon, I hope.
Thanks for the recipe. When my friends tryed the result last night, they couldn’t believe it was my first ever attempt at pickling. I made up the batch during Hurricane Irene, so this is my fond memory of the storm. Included half a jalapeno in each jar, and you can really taste the heat in the spears (had to cut to fit into my jars).
I am so glad to hear this, Ilana! The pepper makes a big difference, you are so right. May you enjoy many batches in years to come.
I am new to pickling and had a few questions. I have done some refrigerated pickles and have been using dried chopped garlic. I was worried about using fresh garlic as I had been warned years ago it could cause an adverse reaction to your brine, am I missing out here by doing so? Also, I noticed I had to refrigerate for about 2 weeks before my pickles stopped tasting like cucumbers where most people have been saying you can start in on them within a day or so. Is there a secret I am missing ?
Hi, I can’t wait to try this. Is it possible to use the recipe then do something extra to preserve, like you mentioned with the water bath (i’ve never canned anything, pardon my ignorance). I definitely want to try these fridge pickles, but I’d love to make and store some long-term.
Hi, Brian. Better to select a recipe made for “hot pack” than to use a fridge one, I think. Search for one with similar ingredients, but with instructions for packing the jars then finishing in a boiling-water bath canner. I have a number of canning books (like “Stocking Up III”) that I refer to for recipes/guidelines as well.
Can you use regular cucumbers in the winter months to make pickles, or do they have to be the smaller pickling ones?
Hi, Barbara. Theoretically you can pickle them, yes, except supermarket ones are often waxed (for freshness), so that wouldn’t be good, and the best pickles of any kind (or canned food in general) comes from fruits that have come right off the vine pretty recently. So I’d skip it, really, and wait for a fresh harvest that’s in season locally for you — whether from the farm market or green grocer who sells local or homegrown from the garden.
Hi, Mike. Sorry your comment and question got lost in spam temporarily and I have delayed in replying as a result. No worry about using fresh garlic — highly recommended by all resources (books, etc.). As far as when they start tasting like pickles, it depends on so many factors: how big the cukes were, how thick the skins are, whether you picked then whole (spears “pickle” faster, but get soggy sooner so don’t last as long in the fridge, the temperature in the room where you left them out after assembling the pickles in jars, BEFORE you put them in the fridge…sounds like maybe they didn’t get a fast start because they weren’t out long enough before refrigerating?
i have tried a few recipes, and this one was the favorite. my friends now bring me the raw materials, i.e. picklers, until i said “enough!” a new cottage industry, i am afraid. i used my own fresh garlic.
this also works well for green tomatoes.
Hi Margaret,
Does Dan’s Recipe allow the pickle’s crispness preserved all year round? What do you recommend for the containers to preserve its freshness as much as possible as I haven’t been successful in preserving or canning goodies to last a whole year, lol. If you can suggest a better way, I’d be much obliged.
Thanks in advance!
Hi, John. No, refrigerator pickles don’t typically hold up crispy like hot-packed ones do all year. Some people add a grape leaf to the bottom of the jar, and take off the slightest little bit of remaining “bump” at the blossom end (apparently an enzyme there causes faster softening) and of course using whole, smallish, firm cukes to start with will help…but about two months is what they are meant to last. Otherwise, you need a hot-pack pickle as well to serve you after these go by. Some pickling basics.
Can you save the brine? I’ve been making these pickles evey few days as I pick cukes frame the garden, so can I reserve the extra brine for a day or so to use as needed?
Hi, Melissa. You can make lots of brine and then do a jar or two of pickles as you have cukes, yes. But don’t re-use brine that has had cukes etc. in it already. But go ahead and make some extra, yes.
Here is a question in regards to the Brine. I have used this recipe over the past year and it works great. In regards to the Brine, I have always gone out and bought the distilled water as suggested, however, I now have a water softener attached to the main water line in my house, I was wondering if you have ever addressed whether water from that source could be used in making the brine?
Hello, I was wondering if you could use dried dill instead of fresh. Our summer here has been over 100 for quite awhile, and my dill is finished, all I have is what is in the jar. Thanks for this recipe as my family loves pickles.
Hi, Vickie. I think a better choice would be to get some fresh at the green grocer or farm market, but yes, you could also use dried. Nice to see you! Hope everyone’s weather relents and cools down.
I have one more question, Could you put the vinegar and kosher salt in each jar and then fill with the boiled water? I’m not quite sure because when the jar is full of cukes, you don’t use a full quart of water. Thanks..
I have one more question, Could you put the vinegar and kosher salt in each jar and then fill with the boiled water? I’m not quite sure on the directions because when the jar is full of cukes, you don’t use a full quart of water. I sure don’t want to add to much salt and vinegar. Thanks..
Hi, Vickie. Make your brine separately first so that the solution is the exact concentration of acid, salt, liquid in the ingredients list. Whatever size jar or number of cukes you then use matters not — you have a consistent brine solution to pour over, whether a cup or a gallon is needed at any instance. Don’t try to mix it in the jar. I put extra brine in a big jar int he fridge (doesn’t really need to be cold, but I do) for later use, as cukes come ripe.
This looks like a good recipe which I would like to try. One thing I have noticed is that most recipes don’t specify how much dill? Should the flower head have seeds? How much head and leaves..etc
Thanks for the input – from a fellow Long Islander
Hi, Anita. I think it’s really “to taste,” and I like both seeds and foliage (Dan Koshansky used lots of foliage as I recall).
My Mom would pickle anything that she had left over, she didn’t like waste, carrots, watermelon rind, green tomatoes,etc….the enzymes in the vegetables are good for digestion, pickle juice is great for heartburn…I love your website