Oh, for the love of a baby. We missed strawberry jam season, peach picking season, applesauce canning season, and all the other stuff that goes into preserving the summer’s bounty.

So, when I have a hankering for some fresh pickles, I “harvest” my cucs out of those plastic shrink wrap packages from Costco. *sigh* And then because it is late in the day that was filled with, two trips to the doctor’s office, plenty of sitting in traffic, tons of temper tantrums (some of my own included) and moments of complete idiocy trying to figure out my new iPhone, I dumped in WAY TOO MUCH red pepper. I then spent the next thirty minutes trying to salvage this recipe.

Sorry no finished pictures. I was finished with the day by that point. But here is the the recipe I’ve developed for Kwick Korean Pickles…

1C rice vinegar

1/2 C white vinegar

1/2 C water

1C sugar (I used organic sugar, which gives the brine a bit of a brown hue…if you don’t like that, use white granulated sugar.)

1 t salt

1 large English cucumber (cleaned and sliced 1/8″)

1 T red pepper (you can use less if you are timid about all things spicy, and I use Korean red pepper flakes, but you can use the good old stuff from McCormick too.)

2 whole cloves of garlic

1/4 small onion sliced very thinly

1 Mason Jar (this isn’t real canning. I just like to keep my acidic mixture in glass.)

A. Bring vinegars, water, sugar and salt to a simmer over medium heat in a non-reactive saucepan to dissolve all granulated particles. Then remove from heat and add red pepper and onion slices. Let cool slightly.

B. Place all cucumber slices in mason jar. Leave a 1″ space at the top of the jar.

C. With tongs, place onion slices and garlic on top of cucumber slices. Pour the brine over the cucs. Cap with jar top and when cooled to room temp, place in the fridge.

D. Enjoy with grilled meats, rice, and grilled veggies. This will keep well in the fridge for up to two weeks.