Fire and Ice Pickles

This week I've been on a binge of all things pickled.  I've been scouring the internet for a good sweet and spicy pickle recipe and am planning on trying to make a few batches from scratch this weekend.  In the meantime, I decided to give this recipe a try for a quick week night version.  There is no photo for this recipe because Jeremy seemed to think that the mixture looked like puke in a jar, so I decided not to photograph it as to not deter anyone.  I can say that these pickles were GREAT, they were probably the best that I've had aside from homemade from scratch versions.  It's a great quick and easy recipe with and sweet and spicy flavors that I wanted.

Fire and Ice Pickles

From what I can tell this recipe was posted in a Taste of Home or Southern Living magazine roughly 40 years ago.  It is delicious, but the sweet/ spicy/ garlic combination will definitely ruin your breath for the rest of the evening, so I'd advise eating only around close friends or family.  These aren't hot at all, just a tad spicy, next time I will probably double the hot sauce in the recipe because I like things HOT.  I would also think that you could save the brine/ juice from a batch and use it to make another batch later with a new drained jar of dill chips (but don't hold me responsible if that doesn't work well).  I saw some recipes that used whole dill pickles and thickly sliced them before adding the sugar etc. mixture.  I just used what I had on hand though, and they worked great.

-32 oz jar dill pickle slices, drained and rinsed
-2 cups sugar
-2 Tbsp hot sauce
-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1 onion, sliced

In empty picle jar stir together sugar, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, and garlic.  Add in drained and rinsed pickles and sliced onion.  With lid on jar, shake vigorously until all ingredients are incorporated.  Stir in the fridge for at least a week before serving.  (I have to admit, I couldn't wait that long and started snacking on the pickles just hours later and they were delicious, but they get even more delicious with more time!).

Shannon