Recently, a very dear coworker brought in some sweet hot pickles. It's a Southern thing, and we've adapted it for use on the farm. It's sort of a quick type pickle. The pickle company has already done all the hard work, you just make them sweeter and spicier and add a few extra veggies. It makes the perfect condiment for topping burgers or sandwiches, but one of my favorites is to have a bit on a cracker covered in cream cheese. YUM.
So you buy a jar of sliced burger pickles. We like the slightly thicker ones that are sliced at an angle, but you can use the regular burger sliced style. This recipe is for the large jar, I believe it's one gallon. Then some carrots, jalapeños, onions, and garlic. I used six peppers, three onions, and about a pound of carrots.
Take the pickles out of the jar, drain in a colander and discard the juice. You won't need it, it will make it's own again. Slice up the carrots, onions, peppers. You can discard the pepper seeds to reduce heat and the garlic you can either leave whole or chop into pieces.
Next, open a 4 lb bag of sugar. Yes, you'll use most all of it. It also helps to have all of your stuff lined up and ready to use.
Put a layer of pickles, onions, carrots, pepper and garlic in the bottom of the jar...
...then pour a layer of sugar over all of that. You kind of just have to eyeball it and when it's more or less a layer of its own, start on the next one.
Keep repeating and layering until you use up all the veggies and pickles and then top it off with sugar. Along the way, if you seem to be running out of room, just mash it all down with your hand or the bottom of a drinking glass. Clean the top and screw the lid back on.
For one week, leave it on the counter in a cool dark place and once a day, you turn it upside down. We put it on a foil lined baking sheet just in case it leaks. It didn't, but better safe than sorry.
After a week of doing this, it should be marinated nicely and the flavors developed and then you just put it in the refrigerator.
Initially it will look like this, kind of pale, but as the sugar dissolves and it settles in the jar...
...it will darken up a bit and look more like this. No other liquid was added, the sugar dissolves and interacts with the moisture in the veggies and creates more, kind of like maceration with fruits.
After a few weeks of maturing in the fridge, they turn sweet, spicy, and soft and just so good. I could eat them on their own (and have) but they are good on a burger or sandwich. As I mentioned earlier, another favorite way of having them is to put cream cheese on a cracker and a bit of this on top. The cream cheese cuts a bit of the heat and it enhances the sweetness of the pickles and other veggies.
Enjoy!
Interesting recipe. Is it necessary to use pickles or will fresh cucumbers work? I made a batch of refrigerator pickles yesterday using come of my cucumber harvest. I've started nibbling on some already and they are tasty.
ReplyDeleteThis recipe makes me wish I liked sweet hot pickles! It even looks pretty!
ReplyDeleteHow pretty! And I bet it tastes wonderful!
ReplyDeleteoh yaaaa baby!!! those look great! and i am sure that it will turn out just as good using fresh cucumber!!! looks deelish buddy - and thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteall of our best to you and 2nd Man always! your friend,
kymber
Not sure how fresh cukes would work. This is sort of a way to enhance already pickled pickles. You drain out the juice but then they make more. If you used fresh cukes, you'd just end up with sweet and not have the dill part. At least I think, it might be worth a try though.
Deletewow...these look great! i think i will make them for the shelter!
ReplyDeletejaz - i think the people at the shelter would love them. and thank you for all of the cooking that you do for the shelter - the world needs more people like you!
DeleteDITTO and AMEN to what Kymber said Jaz. You do amazing work. Keep it up, you help make the world a better place.
DeleteMy lost recipe of years ago is found. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! Don't remember where or from whom I got this recipe but it got lost. The mixture was so good tasting. Thanks so much for posting this recipe. M
ReplyDeleteI made these pickles 3 days ago and used 3 instead of 4 lbs. of sugar. So far, there is not enough juice to cover all the pickles etc. what should I do to get more juice? Can water be added?
ReplyDeleteSorry for delay in replying. Hmm, I didn't use the entire bag of sugar either. They should start generating their own liquid of sorts. Are you getting any yet? I bet you could use water but I might be tempted to just add a bit of vinegar. That might start the process. Or hey, you could buy a jar of pickles and pour some of the liquid in there? The sugar should start a process of drawing liquid out and sort of causing the veggies to push out their own liquid as well.
DeleteKeep us posted, hope it works, they are so good (the jar gets a big sticky, be forewarned, ha).
I thank you for this, I saw the comment about the liquid. Mine I thought might not have had enough either but it all worked out. This is an old recipe that I used to make all the time. You can do it on a small scale in a small jar, but we do the big one too because it just lasts longer since we eat them constantly. They are amazing on a burger!
ReplyDeletelove your blog by the way.