Do you prefer flat pickles or ridged pickles?  Have you ever noticed a difference?  Well, a few years ago, my in-laws, who prefer flat pickles, had a semi-crisis when they realized you cannot buy flat pickles in the grocery store.  So they did what any good American would do: bought a 10 gallon bucket of flat pickles from a restaurant supply store.  We had our fair share, about 2 gallons, which took us close to a year to work our way through, and we were trying to eat them.

Now, the Food Snob and I don’t have a huge preference to flat or ridged pickles, so we weren’t too upset when we had to go back to store-bought ridged pickles.  I realized, though, the best way to get flat pickles without buying them in bulk is to make them yourself.  This quick pickle recipe is the perfect, easy solution to your flat pickle problems.

Quick Apple Cider Pickles (adapted from Everyday Food July/August 2012, Maker’s Diet friendly)

1 pound pickling cucumbers

2 tbs. + 2 tsp. salt

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup water

1 tbs. pickling spices

1 clove garlic

2-3 springs of fresh dill

Directions:

1. Slice cucumbers and toss with 2 tbs. of salt.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Rinse and drain cucumbers.

3. Mix water, vinegar, pickling spices, garlic, remaining salt and dill.  Add cucumbers and stir.  Put in a quart size canning jar, seal and chill overnight or up to one month.

The original recipe called for white vinegar and a tbs. of sugar as well, but I switched it up to make it Maker’s Diet friendly.

Pile them on a burger with some homemade ketchup too!

So what do you think, flat or ridged pickles?