Well it meets the bare minimum for canning an unapproved recipe given the 1:1 ratio of water to vinegar but the brine has to be heated to boiling first and hot when it goes into the jars. Then you can process pints for 10 min. in BWB. if you don't boil the brine first then canning them wouldn't be considered safe and the processing time required would turn the cukes to mush.

But the recipe is for only 1 jar so is it really worth processing? Just put them in the fridge.

Dave

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the reply. I will make those changes. I have used the recipe for refrigerator pickles before. I scaled it down to a single jar because then I can use it no matter how many cucumbers I have on a particular day. I usually make many jars, but not necessarily the same number as the last time. The end up taking up a whole shelf in the fridge so I would like to can them so I can put them in the cabinet. Right now, I have about 5 lbs of cucumbers to pickle.

Do you think there would be any concern about canning the same recipe but using zucchini instead of cucumbers. I usually make those as refrigerator pickles too and people like them even better than the cucumber pickles.

Thanks again for your help!
Best,
Jay

Do you think there would be any concern about canning the same recipe but using zucchini instead of cucumbers.

Please understand that this is already a do-at-your-own-risk canning recipe since it has never been lab tested. It is walking a real fine line when it comes to safety as is so by modifying it even more by switching to zukes you narrow that margin of safety even more. Zucchini are more low-acid than cucumbers.

If you were using an approved and tested recipe with more vinegar then it wouldn't be an issue but as these sit on the shelf the water is drawn out of the cukes diluting the vinegar even more and raising the pH of the contents over time. As that pH rises, bacteria can begin to grow.

So it's your choice. Personally I would change the ratio of vinegar to water to 2:1.

Dave