My best friend and her boyfriend have a sweet garden in their backyard, and she recently started pickling… Well, everything.

She made some insanely good pickled green beans, which got me thinking: why haven’t I tried to make my own pickles? As a Korean, I’m a huge fan of pickled anything, and I like my pickles on the spicy/garlicky side.

Pickling is actually pretty easy, and you can switch it up however you like.

I don’t have an exact recipe, but you’ll need:

• Mason jars
• Pickling cucumbers
• Jalapeños
• Garlic
• Peppercorn
• White vinegar
• Apple cider vinegar
• Salt

If you’re going to put your pickles in the fridge, you can just wash and clean your jars. If you’re going to leave your pickles out for awhile, sterilize your jars by putting them in a hot water bath or in your oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Get your ingredients ready:

If you don’t like too much spice, remove as many jalapeño seeds as you can. Quarter your cucumbers and leave your garlic whole.

Fill your jars with a mixture of cucumbers, jalapeños, and garlic.

Boil your pickling solution: water, vinegar, peppercorns, and salt. You need a 1:1 ratio of vinegar to water. I like using apple cider and white vinegar – the apple cider vinegar provides more flavor.

I would recommend doing this next step in the sink. One time, I poured the pickling solution into a jar and the entire jar cracked. Vinegar went everywhere and my kitchen smelled like pickling solution for a week. You have been warned.

Put your jars in the sink, and carefully pour the pickling solution over your ingredients. Fill your jars to the top, put the lid on, but don’t tighten them yet.

Wait until the jars have cooled down, and put them in your fridge. They’ll be ready to eat in about a week!