here's info on refrigerator and FREEZER pickles ... I prefer the freezer ... this is from the U of Mo extension service and gives recipes from several other Extension Services

http://missourifamilies.org/features/nutritionarticles/nut62.htm

Thank you, the article says that fridge pickles will keep up to a month.

T

Just a side note from my recent refrigerator pickle experience. I used a similar recipe which did not brine and drain the cucumbers before the syrup was added; the salt was added to the syrup and poured over the cucumbers. The sweet and sour pickles were great the first week, then they started to get progressively more salty and less sweet as the weeks went on. I made four pints and we ate about one pint per week. My friend and I determined that the difference between her recipe (salt only in brining) and the one I used (salt in the syrup) was that as time went on, the salt in the syrup became more absorbed by the cucumbers. In my friend's recipe, the excess salt and water is drained off and the cucumbers are not sitting in the salt as they age in the refrigerator. The next time I make this recipe, I am going to brine the cucumbers and drain them before adding the syrup, and I'll omit the salt in the syrup.