Easy Lemon Cucumber Pickles

thecoppertable.com
serves 8
What can you do with Lemon Cucumbers? How about some delicious quick pickles! This easy recipe gets loads of flavor from fresh Basil and Champagne Vinegar in the brine. They are the perfect complement to the flavor of these cucumbers!
Ingredients

• 3-4 Lemon Cucumbers (how many lemon cucumbers you use will depend on their size. They should fill one pint size jar with the fresh basil leaves, but not be too crowded in the jar.)
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1/4 cup Champagne Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
• 2 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Black Peppercorns
• 10 Fresh Basil Leaves
• 16 ounce glass jar with lid

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Preparation​​

1. Place 5 of the fresh basil leaves in the bottom of the jar.
2. In a small saucepan, add the 1/2 cup of water, 1/4 cup of champagne vinegar, 1 Tbsp of lemon juice, 1 Tbsp of granulated sugar, and 2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of black peppercorns. Bring to a boil.
3. Once the mixture is boiling, let it boil for a minute or two. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
4. While the brine cools, cut the ends off the lemon cucumbers and cut into 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch slices.
5. Place the slices in the jar, and add the remaining 5 basil leaves on top. The cucumber slices should fit snugly in the jar, but not be crammed in the jar or over stuffed to allow space for the brine. To allow space for the brine in the jar, the cucumber slices should not come all the way to the top of the jar, but be about a half inch from the top. Thanks to the displacement in the jar created by the cucumber slices, the brine should just cover the basil leaves that you place on top. If the brine doesn't come up to the top of the basil leaves at the top of the jar, you may need to remove a few of the cucumber slices until it does.
6. Pour the brine into the jar, screw the lid on tightly and place in the refrigerator for 48 hours. After this time, they ready to eat!

NotesAll of the lemon cucumber slices may not fit into the jar. If there are some remaining, they are great in a salad to use them up.
These will last up to a month refrigerated. For optimum freshness, they should be used within two weeks. After this time, they begin to lose their crunch.
It is important to note that if you have too many lemon cucumber slices to fit in one jar and you try to make two jars of pickles with the excess, you will not have enough brine for two jars without doubling the recipe for the brine, and doubling the amount of fresh basil leaves for the second jar.
When pickling lemon cucumbers, it is best to use the refrigerator method rather than water bath canning. The lemon cucumbers have a better flavor and crunch using the quick pickling method.
Because this recipe is for refrigerator pickles rather than canning, you don't necessarily have to sterilize your jars unless you choose to.
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