I used to like it as a kid (in the ‘60’s, you could find it by the jellies and spiced apple at the grocery store). I’ve made it as an adult a few times for old times’ sake. It’s okay, but far too sweet for adult tastes. (The fleshy rind really has no flavor of its own, so it just picks up the flavor of whatever spices you add.)
It’s enoug vinegar and what comes to salt you can add it but why? Salt is itself a preservative. Use salt or use pickling.
Are you fermenting them? If you are, then you use only salt, and let the bacteria generate the acidity as lactic acid. If not, then you do need both vinegar and salt for preservation purposes.
That low vinegar:water ratio with no salt is likely to be unsafe.
30?!? Did you mean to type “3”? I make fridge “kosher dills” with pickling cucumbers, and 3-4 days in the fridge is all they need to get to their full flavor and consistency. I can’t imagine that they’d be edible after 30 days in the fridge, but they get eaten long before that anyway.
I have dills that have been in the fridge for more than six months and they’re perfectly fine.
Okay, wow! Ordinary fridge-pickle technique, where you just pour boiling brine over cucumbers and spices in non-hermetically-sealed jar and keep in fridge? Or are you doing hot-bath canning and sealing the jars to produce your fridge pickles?
I had always assumed that “fridge pickles” were by definition preserved only by refrigeration rather than by sterilization and vaccuum sealing as for shelf-stable preserves, but I am no canning guru and I may just have that wrong.
But I still can’t imagine that my own “regular fridge pickles” would be better after 30 days than 5, or even still edible by then.
I’m having a disconnect on this. Yes, we use a hot spiced brine but no canning bath. Putting the lids on right away provides a seal. The 30-day thing is actually for the hot-bath sweet pickles, so that’s my mistake above, but yeah, the dills keep fine.
Okay, ignorance fought, thanks!
Anybody have any opinions/warnings about reusing pickle brine for fridge pickles? That is, strain and re-boil it with fresh garlic, but don’t add more vinegar or salt?
I haven’t tried this but it seems a pity to waste the old brine. On the other hand, it would be even more of a pity to waste the fresh cucumbers by pouring off-tasting old brine on them, if the re-use would make it taste off.
Don’t reuse the brine for more pickles, but save it anyway. It’s the secret ingredient in all sorts of things I make. A splash of brine can make a Bloody Mary, and it really livens up sauces, dips and salads.
And it’s excellent for hydration during a long run on a hot day.
Thank you, because there is just no way in the world I would have known that fact from personal experience! 
Making a new batch right now, this time with carrots.
Also great for a hangover. Standard Eastern European (and I imagine other cultures) home cure. (Salt + water + acid is excellent in killing that hangover thirst.)
The refrigerator dill pickles that we make are fantastic. The brine we pour over the jars is the following: 3 qts of water, 1 qt white vinegar, 4 tablespoons canning salt (1 T salt for each qt of liquid). Between that and the fridge, nothing is going to grow in there.
We do 3 or 4 quarts each fall and they are gone long before they go off. But I’d expect top quality for six months or more.
Just made some half sours - no vinegar, just salted water. Similar but not quite like the NYC half sours that I love.
I make what I term “kosher pickles”, even if I have no idea if that’s accurate. I slice pickling or Persian cucumbers in half lengthwise, and put them into a solution of salt water, garlic slices, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Maybe a few mustard seeds, too. A couple of days in the fridge and they’re ready to eat with pastrami sandwiches.
I second the suggestion to try using cauliflower. Red bell pepper, too.
Radishes. Sliced radishes, carrots and jalapenos are a common pickle at Mexican restaurants.
Broccoli stalks make good pickles.