Recipe for pickles

Pickles!

Ingredients: fresh vegetables, vinegar, water, sugar, salt, garlic clove, spices

Preparing: Bring to a boil a half vinegar/half water solution with some sugar, salt (I use 1 cup water to 1 cup vinegar to 1 tablespoons sugar to a huge pinch of salt) and some spices (e.g., coriander seeds, bay leaf, red hot pepper flakes, whole cloves, allspice). Meanwhile, clean and cut your fresh vegetables (e.g., radishes, green beans, cauliflower, cucumbers, zucchini, fennel, beets, jalapenos, etc.) to desired pickle size and fill a sterilized jar with them and a garlic clove or two, some herbs (e.g., thyme sprigs, dill, shiso leaves) and more spices, if desired. Once the vinegar solution has boiled, pour it over the vegetables and fill it about 1/4 inch from the top. Seal the jar. You can either store the jars as (a) refrigerator pickles (allow the jars to cool and then leave in the refrigerator for at least a week to pickle nicely) or (b) processed pickles (while the jars are still hot put in a boiling water bath for at least 10 minutes, depending on the size of your jar - or see this website for some basic instructions on canning).

Eating: This is one of our go-to snacks we put out with cocktails.

Dish history: This is based off of an Alice Waters simple recipe. We love radish and jalapeno refrigerator pickles the best.