Cool cucumbers

It's a bumper crop year for cucumbers in my garden. I've been picking 6 to 8 a day for the last few days. That's a lot for two people to eat, especially when one of them is not really fond of cucumbers. Luckily, I love pickles! These are easy to make, small batch pickles, for when you have a few too many cukes in your garden. 

Refrigerator Pickles

1 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar (or cider vinegar)
2 teaspoons pickling salt (kosher salt or sea salt work, too)
4 sprigs fresh dill (or 1 tablespoon freeze dried dill)
4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
4-5 small to medium sized cucumbers, cut into spears
1 quart canning jar (or reuse an old pickle jar or pasta sauce jar)

Clean jar well with very hot soapy water, rinse well, and dry. Put dill, garlic, and peppercorns into jar. Pack in cucumber spears. Combine water, vinegar, and salt in a saucepan or microwaveable dish (a large glass measuring cup is ideal, the spout will make pouring easier later). Bring to a boil on stovetop or in microwave, stirring to dissolve the salt into the vinegar mixture. Pour the hot vinegar mixture into the jar, filling to the bottom part of the lip (leaving ½” to ¾”space on top. Depending on the size of your jar, you may not need all of the mixture.)  Put on cap and allow the jar to cool to room temperature, and then move into the fridge. Allow at least 2 days in fridge to pickle before serving. Pickles will keep in the refrigerator up to two months.