COOKBOOK AUTHOR TED LEE doesn’t like green Thompson seedless grapes. It’s nothing personal, but by the time they make the flight from California to the market where he shops in Brooklyn, they seem to have lost some of their flavor. So he pickles them, along with red seedless grapes, because to him a jolt of vinegar and garlic and chili flakes and rosemary is just what a jet-lagged grape needs.  Pickling is so virtuous: It not only revives fruit but uses up things like watermelon rind that would otherwise go to waste. It also means that you can buy up all the summer produce you want, right now, and what you don’t eat can be brined and refrigerated to see you through the lean months.  Refrigerator pickles reward patience—their flavors improve after about a week—but they demand no particular expertise. I stumped Jean-Paul Bourgeois, executive chef of New York’s Blue Smoke restaurants, when I asked how long his watermelon-rind pickles last. The refrigerator protects them like canning does, so they’re good for months, maybe a year as long as they’re submerged in liquid—though Mr. Bourgeois always uses them up sooner than that.  You don’t have to fuss too much over the knife work, either—just cut the fruit or rind down to pieces that will fit into a Mason jar; grapes can be pickled whole. Even leftover brine has a purpose: Store it in the refrigerator for future vinaigrettes.  In terms of ratio of effort to outcome, it doesn’t get much better than cold-brined pickled fruit. Tart fruit pickles like to hang out with cheese, or brighten a salad, or sit, sliced thin, on a sandwich; cheese and bread are very happy to be livened up with slivers of pickled grape. Chef Tory McPhail of Commander’s Palace in New Orleans uses pickled cantaloupe for one of the restaurant’s signature cocktails, a riff on the gin-based French 75. For the Saint 75, he soaks melon in a gin mixture and then uses the boozy liquid as the cocktail base, topped off with cava and garnished with basil and cubes of the pickled fruit. The extra pickled cantaloupe his recipe produces lends a kick to prosciutto and melon, or goes into the freezer for more Saint 75s.  You can just put a few pickles in a little bowl when you want a snack, but I confess this strategy failed me when it came to those addictive pickled grapes. Half of them landed in my mouth before they ever reached the bowl.  Active time: 15 minutes Total time: 45 minutes Makes: 1 pint  1. Pack grapes into a glass jar or airtight plastic container. Pour vinegar and water into a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add salt, sugar, garlic, rosemary and chili flakes. Bring to a simmer and cook 1 minute.  2. Remove pan from heat and pour brine over grapes to fill container. Strain remaining brine into a measuring cup (you should have a little less than ½ cup left over) and reserve for making butter lettuce salad with pickled grapes, toasted pecans and soft goat cheese (recipe below). Transfer any garlic, rosemary and chili flakes remaining in strainer to container with grapes.  3. Cover container tightly, shake to distribute seasonings, uncover and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Cover again, and transfer container to refrigerator to chill further, about 15 minutes more.  —Adapted from “The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern” by Ted and Matt Lee  Active time: 30 minutes Total time: 2 days (includes marinating Serves: 6  1. Make basil syrup: In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine sugar and water, stirring to dissolve. Transfer to an airtight container. Add basil leaves to container and seal. Refrigerate 4 hours. Remove wilted basil. Return to refrigerator until ready to use.  2. Peel and halve cantaloupe, scoop out seeds and cut into wedges.  3. Make pickling liquid: Combine elderflower liqueur, gin, lemon juice and basil syrup.  4. Place melon wedges in an airtight container or Ziploc bag. Pour pickling liquid over fruit, filling container, or pressing as much air as possible out of bag. Refrigerate 24 hours before proceeding with Saint 75 cocktail recipe at left, adding to a salad or pairing with prosciutto.  —Adapted from Tory McPhail of Commander’s Palace, New Orleans  The white part of the rind isn’t as fibrous as the green part, so all it needs is a cold pickling solution, which yields a crunchy, not-too-sweet pickle. If you have the self-control, let the pickles sit in the refrigerator for a week to soak up all the flavors.  Active time: 30 minutes Total time: 1 week (to let flavors develop) Makes 4 pints  1. Cut watermelon in half, place flat side against cutting surface and slice melon into strips. Scoop out red flesh and reserve for marinated watermelon salad recipe (below). Trim away green part of rind and discard. Cut white rind into wedges that will fit in a pint container, about 2 inches wide.  2. Combine sugar and hot water and mix to dissolve sugar. Add ice to mixture to cool. Add mustard seed, celery seed, Aleppo and cinnamon stick.  3. Place rind wedges in jars and pour brine over to submerge fruit. Save extra liquid to use in a vinaigrette, or to make more pickles.  —Adapted from Jean-Paul Bourgeois of Blue Smoke, New York
Crisp, refreshing and unbelievably easy, refrigerator pickles make the most of summer’s fruit harvest. Recipes for pickled grapes, cantaloupe and watermelon rind are only the beginning. Here’s what you can make with the results.