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Making your own pickles is a true labour of love.

After shopping, processing and cleaning up, it can kill most of your day. And when a recipe isn't quite right, you often have to wait until next year to try it again. At times, it hardly seems worth the effort.

There are exceptions.

Some pickles, like these refrigerator dills, are not meant for long-term storage and don't require the time-consuming sterilization process that turns your kitchen into a sauna. It's as easy as boiling brine.

The first thing you need for dill pickles is pickling cucumbers. Since they have to be blemish-free and fresh from the vine, it's best to buy them at a farmers market. To fill a one-litre canning jar, you will need approximately six four-inch cukes that will stand up straight in the jar and two three-inch specimens that will be placed perpendicularly on top.

Since cucumbers grow on the ground, they are usually covered in fine grit that needs to be rubbed off under cold running water. If they are really dirty, they should be soaked in a bowl of cold water to loosen the grit.

It is believed that the flower end of the cucumber - which is a lighter shade of green - contains enzymes that will soften the cucumbers in the pickling process. To ensure crunchy pickles, slice a thin piece off the tip.

This recipe is for only one jar, but you can make as many as your fridge will hold. Always label the jars with date they were made and patiently wait three weeks for the brine to fully penetrate the cucumbers.

The pickles should be fine for at least three months after you make them, but I would be very surprised if they weren't eaten up in that time.

Refrigerator dill pickles

Yield: one one-litre jar

8 pickling cucumbers (six four-inch and two three-inch cucumbers)

2 cups water

2/3 cup white wine vinegar

1 tbsp pickling salt

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp dill seed

1 tsp mustard seed

1 tsp coriander seed

1/2 tsp fennel seed

Wash one one-litre canning jar and two-piece lid in hot, soapy water. Rinse thoroughly and dry. Wash the cucumbers thoroughly in cold running water and cut a thin slice off the flower end. (If the cucumbers are especially dirty, soak them in a bowl of cold water for 15 minutes to loosen the grit before washing.)

Bring the water, vinegar and salt to a boil.

Place the garlic and spices in the jar and pack with the cucumbers - stand the four-inch cukes upright and place the three-inch cukes perpendicularly on top. Pour the hot brine over the cucumbers, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Seal the jar and cool. Write the date on the lid and refrigerate for at least three weeks before using.