Fierce Fierke Pickles

For the past two years, I have enjoyed the most perfect pickle EVER at Stones Rising, thanks to the pickling genius of Eric F.  This year, he graciously consented to give me his recipe.  This weekend, I made my first batch of what I will now call my Fierce Pickles.  He said I should feel free to "add more peppers," so of course... I added the rest of the Tabascos that Justin and I grew and then froze, ditto for a couple of habañeros, ditched the jalapeños in favor of some serranos, and left in the poblano, just because I like the flavor.  I also added a TON of garlic, and lots of onions.

I didn't ask Eric what process he used, so I just winged it... chopped everything up, sprinkled with a bunch of sea salt, threw it in a ziplock bag and put it in the fridge for about 3 hours, mushing it around a couple of times.  Then I dumped it all in a colander and rinsed it very, very thoroughly.

I then packed it all in jars (this made 3 quarts perfectly), heated up the brine made with Eric's recipe, and ladled the boiling mixture over the vegetables.  These are just refrigerator pickles, as I didn't process them, but the jars sealed up tight and now I am going to have to discipline myself not to taste-test an entire quart before they're done!


Here's the brine mix:

9 cups water
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. peppercorns
1 tsp. dill seed
1 oz. minced fresh dill

And these are the veggies and proportions I wound up using (there was a LOT of brine left over, as I didn't use 1/2 peck of cukes as the original recipe called for):

12 pickling cucumbers, cut into 1" chunks
1 large Vidalia onion, sliced
1 cups garlic cloves, sliced thinly
4 serrano peppers, sliced into rings (I left the seeds and membranes in)
8 Tabasco peppers, whole
3 habanero peppers, sliced into rings (seeds discarded)
1 large poblano pepper, sliced into rings (seeds discarded)

I did taste-test one last night... it's pretty fiery and fierce already!  I seem to have managed not only to pickle the peppers, but also to have peppered the pickles!  Too awesome.