Pickling in days gone by could be a long and tedious job. Today with so many choices on our grocer’s shelves, few people feel they wouldn’t know where to begin to make them at home. The following are a couple of easier and quicker ways to get good pickles.
Start with fresh produce. If you plant pickles in your garden, they will first be very small. Some people make fantastic sweet pickles with those. If they grow to medium size they make great bread and butter pickles as you slice them cross-wise. The medium size pickles – or cucumbers – are just the size to make dill pickles.
If they get quite large, those cucumbers are great for slicing fresh and putting with sliced onion, vinegar and sugar to eat immediately. They will keep several days if refrigerated.
Now on to making dill pickles.
Shade Tree Dill Pickles
3 qt. water
1/2 cup canning salt [comes in a bag, not regular table salt]
1 clove garlic or 1 tsp pickling spice [purchase in spice aisle] – I have used both – will each give different taste
Dill heads – this is fresh dill that you would find in the produce – or ask your grocer. You can also grow your own.
Quart fruit jars – enough for as many cucumbers as you have, sterilized in dish washer
Jar lids
Wash pickles, let dry and pack tightly into clean fruit jars with 3 large green dill heads per jar. DO NOT peel cucumbers. Slice them lengthwise before putting into jars.
Brine Mixture [this gives them the dill pickle flavor and preserves them]
Add 1/2 cup canning salt to 3 quarts boiling water. Pour brine over pickles and seal jars tightly.
Put jars outside under partial shade for 5 days and then bring inside. Do not let them outside longer or in too hot of sun. They will not taste good if you do. Let dill pickles set two weeks for best flavor.
Good luck and enjoy eating your dill pickles.
Sweet Dill Pickles
Pickles
1 cup canning salt
1 gallon water
Quart fruit jars – sterlized in dishwasher
Jar lids
Use small pickles if possible. Cut into chunks if larger pickles are used.
Soak overnight in brine of 1 cup canning salt to 1 gallon of water.
Next day: Drain and rinse pickles. Heat equal parts of water and vinegar – 1 qt. water to 1 qt. vinegar.
Simmer pickles in vinegar/water until the color of the pickles change to an olive color. Do not boil, just simmer.
Pack pickles in jar, bring the vinegar solution to a boil. Add 1 head of dill and 1 cup sugar to each quart jar.
Wipe jar clean. Use hot, sterilized lids and seal jars tightly. [You may need to use a towel to protect your hands because the jar lids should be taken from boiling water for safety.
When you put the sugar in the jars it will not all go in at once. Pour vinegar over sugar to dissolve the sugar and finish with the rest of the hot mixture until all is dissolved.
If some of the sugar is still visible after canning, turn jar around a few times to dissolve. Let pickles set a couple of weeks before eating for best flavor.
This is a family recipe.
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