July 6, 2026

Every July, National Culinary Arts Month honors the creativity, skill, and passion of professional bakers, chefs, and cooks. To celebrate this month, we are thrilled to highlight recipes, student stories, and unique courses from our culinary department.

Culinary arts and science is an interdisciplinary field that uniquely balances the concepts of presentation, flavor profiles, and food science while creating unique and elaborate dishes. Drexel’s BS in Culinary Arts and Science program is among the first of its kind in the United States. We uniquely blend culinary arts, food science, and hospitality management with an integrated minor in business, marketing, entrepreneurship, or other minors offered at the university.

Food is as much science as it is creativity—this recipe combines the art of both through the concept of pickling!

Chef Richard Pepino included this recipe as a fun summertime recipe to experiment with pickling and jarring in celebration of National Culinary Arts Month.

These homemade pickles taste great on burgers, sandwiches, and more! Alternatively, these can stand alone as a tasty snack or as a spear.

Prep time:

10 minutes (day before)

40 minutes (day of)

Yield: 5-6 quarts (based on size of Kirby cucumbers)

Ingredients by steps:

2567 g (5.5lbs.) Kirby cucumbers whole

1 T calcium chloride

1 gallon (128 oz.) water

*(24-36 hours before) soak cucumbers in calcium chloride brine. When removed from brine, cucumber should then be cut 1 ¼ centimeters.

1400 g distilled white vinegar

1050 g water

1000 g granulated sugar

900 g Spanish onions peeled and sliced batonnet

200 g red and green peppers deveined and sliced batonnet

150 g kosher salt

46 g brown mustard seeds

15 g garlic minced

12 g celery seeds

6 g turmeric

6 quart jars (when canning)

Preparation

1. In a large dry sauce pot, start to caramelize the onions. (Roughly between 10 and 15 minutes at medium heat.)

2. When the onions start to get a nice golden color throughout, add the garlic and sugar and let the sugar start to turn to caramel. (Between 7-10 minutes)

3. Add salt, mustard seeds, celery seeds and turmeric to caramel mixture and let simmer for one to two minutes.

4. Add vinegar, water, and peppers; bring to a simmer for five minutes and your brine will now be complete.

Cold Pack

1. Pour hot brine with peppers and onions over cucumbers, let them sit for two weeks, and enjoy.

Hot Pack

1. Place into sterilized jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Fill with brine, cap and seal.

2. Process for 12-15 minutes in a boiling water bath and let cool.