Summer Squash refrigerator pickles

Ingredients

 So my friend Dave calls up with a quandry.   He's just inherited an overflow of squash from a neighbor's CSA.   He wants to know if they can be pickled.   They can, says I, put its hot as balls and canned pickles often come out squishy.   What's to be done?   Well....refrigerator pickles.


I also wanted to ease Dave into the "mystery" of pickling....of course, the mystery is that its not that hard, and the actual canning sometimes is the thing that takes up the most time and requires the most precision. 

Chop everything up....

 So here's the recipe: stone-soup style we combined our resources and had plenty of everything.  Being someone who worships sour over sweet, and that vinegar/salt brine is the real preserving agent, I cut the sugar in half, but it was still pretty sweet.

Yield: 2 Quarts

7 cups thinly sliced summer squash/zucchini
1 cup thinly sliced onions
1 cup grated carrots
1 green pepper, chopped finely
2 cups sugar (we used 1)

Dave mixing

1 Table spoon dill seeds. (We used dill weed - seeds being hard to find in the store).
1 cup cider vinegar
1Tablespoon dill seeds
1 Tablespoon pickling salt. 

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix well, refrigerate overnight.
Pack the vegetables tightly into (clean, duh) quart jars.  Cover with brine.  (Have faith, if there's not brine now, there will be tomorrow morning).  Refrigerate.  These pickles keep well in the refrigerator for up to 3 months (!!!!).

-Pickles and Relishes, Andrea Chesman

This morning we packed the pickles into jars with plenty of brine to cover.   I added a little bit more vinegar to mine - we'll see if it mellows the sweetness.  Tastes a little bit like relish - a great condiment to have a t BBQ or whatever.

Mix everything well...

And there you have it: summer squash pickles.