I love pickles, I dont know if it is the salt, the vinegar, whatever it is, I love it. I attempted to make pickles before but the recipe that I had used either never turned out, or I just messed it up that bad. I finally found a recipe to try through Pinterest. I tried it, and low and behold they were amazing. Keep in mind, when I give you a recipe for something like this, I usually am just eyeballing the ingredients. However, I will give you the amounts they say to use.
The recipe is by Donalyn Ketchum, she gets the credit for the recipe, I just used it. Here is the link for the recipe that used, http://thecreeksidecook.com/refrigerator-garlic-dill-pickles/.
Alrighty then, enough chat, onto the recipe.
Refrigerator Garlic Dill Pickles by Donalyn Ketchum.
Ingredients
- 2 quarts of water
- 1 cup white or cider vinegar
- ½ cup pickling salt
- About 3 to 4 pounds of cucumbers - small pickling cukes are best
- 8 large heads of dill, or more if they are smaller
- 8 medium garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
- 1 tablespoon mustard seed
- 4 pinches red pepper flake
- about 20 black peppercorns
Instructions
- This will make about 4 quarts of pickles, so you need 4 1 quart jars with lids, or more if they are smaller. Canning jars aren't necessary, but they do need a lid. Wash in hot soapy water and rinse well [or run through the dishwasher].
- Measure the water, vinegar and salt into a 3 quart sauce pan and set over high heat - you want the salt to dissolve and the mixture to come to a full boil.
- Meanwhile, make sure your cucumbers are good and clean. Cut them however you like - the smaller the pieces, the more that will fit in a jar. I like spears, because they are pretty to serve, though if I end up with a lot of odd sized cucumbers, chunks may work better.
- In the bottom of each jar, place 1 large head of dill, or several smaller ones. You can also put in some of the fronds and stems. Then put 1 garlic clove in the bottom.
- Fill each jar with cucumbers - for spears, it might be easier to lay the jar on its side. You can really cram them in there tightly, but leave a good inch of headspace at the top, so that the brine will be able to cover the pickles.
- Top the cucumbers in the jars with another clove of garlic, as well as another large head of dill. You can just leave it at that, or for a little more complexity of flavor, add a scant teaspoon of mustard seed, a pinch of red pepper flake and 5 peppercorns to each jar.
- Carefully fill each jar with the boiling water/vinegar/salt mixture, making sure to get the cucumbers completely covered.
- Screw on the lids.
- Leave the jars out in the counter for 2 or 3 days, and then store in the refrigerator for at least two weeks before opening them.
- They will keep well for several months at least, so long as you keep them refrigerated. [Naturally, if anything looks or smells funky, discard them, but honestly, that happens very rarely.
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