If you are not up for fermenting, you can make summer squash fridge pickles in a vinegar based pickle brine. These pickles are very intense! This recipe is modified from one of my canning books.
Summer Squash Fridge Pickles
Ingredients
- 4 cups zucchini or summer squash washed and cut into "spears"
- 2 Tbsp pickling, kosher, or sea salt plus 2 Tbsp
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp pickling spices
- 6 peppercorns
- 1 Tbsp dill seed
- 2 cloves garlic halved
- Fresh dill optional
Instructions
-
Place summer squash "spears" in a large bowl and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp of salt. Fill bowl with water until just covered. Let this mixture sit for 2 hours to draw out excess moisture.
-
About an hour and 45 minutes later you can start prepping your pickle jar. Use hot soapy water to wash a 1 quart jar and accompanying lid (a wide mouth mason jar is ideal but any jar will do.) Rinse the jar well under hot water.
-
Next, add the pickling spices, peppercorns, dill seed, garlic and fresh dill to the bottom of the jar.
-
If it has been 2 hours you can remove the summer squash from the salt water and rinse in a collander. Let them drip dry for a few minutes and then tightly pack the summer squash into the jar, leaving about an inch of headspace at the top.
-
In a large glass measuring cup, combine the vinegar, water and 2 Tbsp of the salt to make the brine. Stir until salt dissolves. Pour the resulting brine into the jar, making sure that the brine covers all the squash.
-
Depending on how you pack the jar you may have a too much or too little of the brine and may need to make some more brine. Just be sure to keep the ratio of vinegar to water to salt the same.
-
Write the date on the jar and put it in the fridge. Wait at least a week for all the flavours to absorb into the pickles.
Recipe Notes
Use within one month.