When Garden in a Box Garden Coach, Kim, visited one of her gardeners, Beth, she offered her a simple recipe to preserve cucumbers--refrigerator pickles! Refrigerator pickles are quick and easy to make and preserve the abundant peak-summer veggie without the hassle of canning. They are great as a topping on sandwiches and salads or as a stand-alone snack.
Kim shared her favorite "Refrigerator Dill Pickles" recipe from Allrecipes.com. "I like this recipe because it gives a shelf life of 6 weeks," said Kim. The recipe calls for:
3 ½ cups water
1 ¼ cups white vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sea salt
4 cups cucumber spears
2 cloves garlic, whole
2 heads fresh dill
You can find the complete directions at https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/233542/refrigerator-dill-pickles/ .
Kim brings her own flair to the recipe by adding more garlic and dill heads. She uses "6 cloves garlic and 6 dill flowers. Sometimes red pepper flakes for a kick"!
Our Garden Coaches are always ready to offer advice about plant care, watering, garden pests, and so on, but Beth (pictured below) ran into an unexpected problem earlier in the season. "She had a setback with her bag garden due to its front yard location," said Garden Coach Kim, "there is a lot of foot traffic in front of her home and someone pulled the plants out!" We hope Beth has an extra plentiful harvest to make up for her trouble!
Garden in a Box is a collaborative project of PRFC and University of Maine Piscataquis Extension, funded by the Quimby Family Foundation. You can sign up for the 2022 Garden in a Box waitlist by visiting this page.