I have been looking for a recipe for shelf-stable pickles for a long time. Sometimes the pickle was great, but only for a short time, or the processing destroyed the crunch, or the brine was too sweet, or the cucumbers were bitter. Finally, I figured it out: a pickled vegetable that stays crisp for two years is easy to make, as long as you can get really fresh cucumbers and you have an immersion circulator.

Most people who make pickles fail before they even begin the pickling process. If you buy pickles from the grocery store, you’ve already lost the war. To make good pickles, you need cucumbers that have been picked within the last 24 hours, ideally the same day, and have been kept cold. If you’re new to pickles, there’s a difference between your standard salad cucumber and gherkins, which are smaller, curved, and have lots of bumps on the sides. You want medium-sized, deep green cucumbers. Yellowing is not a good sign, and they should never be soft.

I grow them myself, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get fresh pickles. Most farms will package five or ten pounds specifically for pickles the day before the market. Go to a farmers market, buddy up with a farmer, ask if you can get cucumbers for the week ahead, and then make sure to call the day before. If you’re at the market, bring your cooler and refrigerate the cucumbers as soon as you get them. You can certainly try this recipe with less fresh cucumbers, but they tend to be bitter and not stay crisp. Five pounds of cucumbers will yield about 12 pint jars, but cucumbers vary in size so this can vary.

If you can't get pickles, make pickled green beans. They're great for Bloody Marys and charcuterie boards. I also love pickled beets, carrots, and kohlrabi.