“Guess what my first act as a retired person was,” said Corvallis’ beloved former city manager Jon Nelson as we chatted over glasses of wine at an event last summer.

I couldn’t. Although I was pretty sure it was something quirky and food-related or he wouldn’t have brought it up.

“I made my yearly batch of Jan’s Bread and Butter Refrigerator Pickles.”

“Why Jon, I didn’t even know you pickled!”

He nodded, a big ol’ Cheshire cat grin spreading across his face. “I made them on August 5, which was literally 24 hours after walking out of city hall. First I bought 10 pounds of pickling cukes from Davis F. Farms. Brought them home and got to work. Two-and-a-half hours and a couple of gallons of cukes later, my fridge was loaded with pickling cukes and I was good to go.” Then he rattled off the list of lucky recipients who were slated to receive a portion of his treasured cache. It was quite impressive.

Obviously, I agree with Nelson wholeheartedly. Making refrigerator pickles is an amazing and simple thing. I don’t know if it’s the fact that you go from neutral veggie to potent condiment without breaking a sweat. Or the fact that homemade pickles, when appreciated by the right people, become the culinary equivalent of REI gift certificates. But the fact is that for very little effort on your part — in the context of kitchen messes and psyche stresses that can occur with other forms of preserving — you can create a bona fide culinary treasure.

Indeed, it’s a great way to pickle. I start by scrubbing and trimming huge quantities of pickling cukes (working in 10-pound increments like Nelson is not unheard of).

Then I simply tumble them into large containers, throw in handfulls of sliced fresh garlic, fresh dill heads and red pepper flakes, and pour on my spicy, salty, boiling-hot vinegar and water brine.

The final stop? The refrigerator. No fussing with little canning jars and lids, and boiling water canners.

The activity is so stress- and mess-free, and produces such a marvelously flavored and textured pickle, I will never go back to processing — unless all refrigerator rights in my folks’ garage refrigerator suddenly are revoked. Which is unlikely, since they too have become refrigerator pickle fans. For every party, picnic and football tailgater throughout the year, Mom really loves dipping into “our” garage pickle supply.

Good thing I always figure on about 15 gallons.

In case you haven’t gone this route yet, here’s my helpful-hints list, subtitled, “Variables to consider for dynamic refrigerator pickling”:

• Containers. This is where refrigerator pickling shines. You don’t have to worry about canning jars and two-piece lids. Plastic works just fine, as long as it’s food-grade. Select whatever size and shape suits your refrigerator; the bigger, the better. I use Rubbermaid’s 1.3 gallon capacity “Servin’Saver” canisters, because they’re deep, so the cukes stay nicely submerged in the brine. If you do go with jars (they don’t have to be “canning”), just make sure the lids seal well and that the undersides aren’t reacting with the vinegar over time (actually, if they are, just replace the lids with fresh ones). When it comes around to the gift-giving phase, you can always transfer portions from the big tubs or jars into pretty little jars.

In 1997, Ball and Kerr stopped making 2-quart mason jars, mainly because the U.S. Department of Agriculture does not provide guidelines for canning with this size of jar. But they are still a wonderful size for refrigerator pickles since a single 2-quart jar is a convenient size for refrigerator storage. So if you encounter 2-quart canning jars at garage sales, or inherit them from a relative or friend, don’t overlook their potential in this area.

• Cucumber size. Obviously, the smaller the pickling cuke, the crisper the pickle will be. Plus, “baby garlic dills” look so cute and snazzy in their jars. But now that I’m into real high volume refrigerator pickling, I have grown to appreciate the advantages of working with mid to large cukes as well, which is a good thing, because small cukes are much more difficult to find. I usually cut any cukes larger than 3 inches into rounds or mouth-sized chunks prior to packing them in their containers. When cut, you can pack a lot more cuke into each container, so there’s much less wasted space.

• Cucumber quality. The fresher the better. If you have access to a u-pick field, lucky you! If you can track down a supply of cukes that’s only been out of the field for 24 hours, you’re off to a good start, even if you weren’t in on the initial picking. Just nose around the farmers’ markets to get a line on who’s producing pickling cukes. Also, local markets that support local growers typically are stocking pickling cucumbers this time of year.

Refrigeration and humidity are important factors, too. Cukes really are sensitive critters. Throw in a little heat or dryness and they deteriorate in quality (texture and flavor mainly). If you must purchase your pickling cukes from a supermarket, do so only if they’re firm (no shrivelling at the tips) and you’re positive that they’ve been under constant refrigeration.

• Make sure to rub off the blossom end of each cucumber when you’re washing them. There’s an enzyme lurking at the blossom’s base which can lead to softening in the pickle.

• Vinegar selection. Of the commercially-prepared varieties, white distilled vinegar imparts the most robust flavor. Cider vinegar has a milder taste, but may discolor your light-colored vegetables, such as onions and cauliflower. However, I consider it the vinegar of choice for my Damn Good Garlic Dills.

Of course, any number of vinegar styles may be used, as long as they are at least 5 percent acidity. Just don’t experiment with any of the trendy homemade flavors since it would be difficult to verify that they are 5 percent acidity.

• The brine. While we’re on the subject of vinegars, I’m going to pass along another great tip: I make up large batches of the brine (see “Jan’s Damn Good Garlic Dills” recipe as an example) and store it in the refrigerator so that when I get my hands on a box of great pickling cukes, there’s no down time. I simply pack the cukes into containers, heat up the brine and pour it over the cucumbers.

• Salt. Although any food-grade salt can be used, pickling/canning salt is recommended. Iodized table salt contains an anti-caking agent, which gives a cloudy pickling solution, and iodine, which darkens the vegetables as they pickle. Read the label of your salt package carefully; I’ve even encountered “Canning” salt that contains an anti-caking agent, which undermines the reason for using it in the first place.

• Recipes. You can turn any “fresh pack” pickle recipe into refrigerator pickles simply by refrigerating them instead of processing them in a boiling water canner. A fresh pack pickle is defined as one that is pickled with vinegar instead of by fermentation.

So that’s just about it. Have I inspired you? Pickling season in the Northwest is underway and will hopefully continue through mid to late September.

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