"Semi" Homemade pickles?

[Sue_CT]

Lately I have been enjoying pickles occasionally. I happen to like Vlasic Kosher Dill Spears. Unfortunately, they seem to be another victim of the COVID crisis. Can't find them anywhere and haven't for months. So, I just finished a jar of the same pickles in the "stacks" cuts, which are not plentiful by any means but a couple of jars can occasionally be found here and there at a local store. So I decided to keep the pickle juice in my current jar, and I have two more jars in the cupboard that I just bought (last two in the store). Do you think I can make my own using the left over pickle juice? What would I have to do? I was thinking if I could find some pickling cucumbers locally I could cut them into spears, bring the juice to a boil and pour it over them in a canning jar. I have never made pickles, just an occasional quick pickle of a veggie or two to use the same day. Would I need to go through a full canning process? If I just left them in the fridge to pickle how long would they they take to turn into the pickles I like, and how long would they last? Is there any reason I shouldn't try it?

[karstopography]

https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/easy-refr ... es-recipe/
Lots of no cook refrigerator pickle recipes. We used the one above but bumped up the vinegar content.

[SQWIB]

I reuse our store bought pickle juice, like to give the cukes about 4 weeks in the brine.
I sometimes add a Dill flower head to each jar. The pollen in the flower really adds a nice flavor.
If my cukes start coming off more than one at a time, I'll start Lacto fermenting them.

[Sue_CT]

Thanks. I am not actually looking for no cook pickle recipes. A quick pickle is easy enough. I was just wondering if I could duplicate the taste of the pickles in the jar by heating and reusing the brine, and to do it safely.

[pondgardener]

[mention]Sue_CT[/mention], you might do a search on YouTube...here is an interesting one that I am thinking about trying with baby carrots and I may look at doing some jalapeños as well. And I would think you could cut the cucumbers to make spears...

[pondgardener]

Reheating the pickle brine may make the pickles too soft...but here is a link that does just that. And regarding canning using leftover pickle juice, recipes use carefully tested ratios of vinegar to salt to ensure the pickles actually gets preserved. The pickled cucumbers which get the first-time-brine treatment, will absorb some of that vinegar and salt, which means once used, the brine no longer has the right ratio for safe pickling and you shouldn’t try to use it for longterm canning.

https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_to ... ckle-brine

[MissS]

Well it should be safe with the vinegar and the brine. I have done this myself by just adding fresh cuc's to Claussen pickle juice jars without issue. Of course Claussen pickles are refrigerator pickles and so the brine was made for non cooked pickles.

[Sue_CT]

That is interesting, Pondgardener. That is really what I was hoping to do, what is on the video. I just didn't know if it was safe without reheating the brine. Miss S, how do you know Claussen are refrigerator pickles? How would I know if the Vlassic are also? Any thoughts on how long I could keep the brine and just keep adding more cucumbers to it?

[MissS]

The jars label of the Claussen pickles says that they are refrigerator pickles and you buy them out of the cooler at the store and not off the shelf with the other pickles. These pickles are crisp and white unlike those that you buy off the shelf. Vlassic pickles are bought off the shelf and have been 'cooked' as are any pickle that is kept unrefrigerated.

[worth1]

I prefer the term processed.

[MissS]

I don't. You go through a process to create a pickle. All pickled cucumbers are processed cucumbers. Pickling is processing.

[ddsack]

Darn! I just watched the video Pondgardener posted above, I threw out a jar of used purchased pickle juice yesterday. I already have a gallon of pickles that has been fermenting for a few days, but the cucumbers keep coming and it would have been a good test to re-use the brine for refrigerated pickles.