The Unconventional Cooking Method That Will Give You Homemade Pickles In Minutes

The trusty old microwave has been an innovative way to cook food faster without the oven or the stovetop for decades. But apparently, using the kitchen appliance's electromagnetic forces is a stellar way to make homemade pickles. Those tiny bites of cukes bathing in a brine of salt and vinegar always kick up the meal a notch. Fermenting a cucumber to reach its next stage of life as a pickle can take anywhere from a few hours to even a few weeks, depending on how flavorful you want them to be. But with the microwave, your burger will be calling for pickle slices within minutes.

Without the appliance, the standard method of producing the pickles involves stuffing a mason jar with the saltwater solution and letting the cucumber wedges stay submerged for prolonged periods of time. The brine also has to be heated in a skillet before adding it to the cucumbers in the jar. This extra step can delay the process of munching and crunching on delicious green sticks.

This easy and quick hack of manufacturing pickles in the microwave involves just a few rules. The most important thing to do is grab a microwave-safe bowl and add 1 cup of distilled vinegar, a helping of salt, a quarter cup of sugar, a desired amount of sliced cucumbers, and dill, mustard seeds, or peppercorns for tasting. Mix the blend (without the cukes) and cover. Pop it in the microwave and let it cook for about six minutes until the liquid is heated well enough. Next, drop in the slices and cover the concoction once again. Refrigerate the container for six hours or more, and once ready, you'll have sourly sweet pickle pieces for your next snack.

Another way to create the marinated fruit (yes, cucumbers are fruit) is to put the slices and the brine mixture all at once into the bowl and microwave at the highest setting for eight minutes until the pieces have become soft and squashy. Before eating, let the bowl simmer down so it is not too hot. You can store the pickles in the fridge or eat them soon after they have cooled.