How to Make Crispy Pickles

The easiest way to make a sandwich exponentially better is to add toppings. And the best toppings are fresh with some tangy zip, like pickles. Potbelly Sandwich Works has fabulous pickles. Whenever I get toppings on my sandwich from there, I always ask for lots of pickles. They are very thin with just a bit of sour taste and slightly crispy.




Wanting to duplicate the taste and texture, I did some research on how to make pickles. Did you know that there are two basic ways of making pickles, only one of which involves using vinegar? I thought the pickling process of cucumbers always used vinegar but I was wrong. Another way to make crispy pickles is to ferment them. Yes, fermenting, which is simply placing spices and cucumbers in a brine, then letting them sit and ferment.

After reading about fermented pickles I realized that this was probably the taste I was looking for. But, I am a coward and really did not want to eat fermented food {unless it was in the form of a drink}. Also the instructions for these indicated that one may need to scrape mold off of the top of the brine. I am not into eating moldy food. So I combined the methods and came up with delicious, crispy, tangy pickles in 2 days! Want to know how? Read on.





Tasty Quick Sandwich Pickles
4 medium thin skinned or young cucumbers
6 cups water
1 cup white distilled vinegar
1/3 cup coarse salt
2 tablespoon dried dill weed
2 teaspoon peppercorns
1 teaspoon dried minced garlic
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
4 bay leaves
2 16 ounce canning jars, sterilized

1. Rinse cucumbers and place in ice water for 2-6 hours. Replace ice as needed to keep cold. I read that this really helps to make crisp pickles. These were crisp, believe me.

2. Place water, vinegar and salt in pan. Bring to a boil. While water is heating, slice cucumbers. I love thin sliced and just pile them on sandwiches, but choose your thickness. Place half of the cucumber slices in each jar. To sanitize the jars, simply wash them in the dishwasher or in very hot water.

3. Pour the boiling brine over the sliced cucumbers. Evenly divide the dill, peppercorns, garlic, mustard seeds and bay leaves between the two jars of sliced cucumbers and brine. Secure the lids. Keep jars in refrigerator for at least two days before enjoying. Actually, my husband starting eating these the same day and loved them. I waited two days and they were fantastic!




These would probably be even better with fresh spices and herbs, but I had to use what I could find. I had a pickle craving and used what there was.

If you used whole cucumbers, you would want them to pickle a few days longer to soak up the flavor.

There are many different recipes for pickling spices, this is just what I came up with and thought it tasted great.