8.26.2013

Dill Pickles Are My Friends

I've been meaning to make some pickles for a long time. Not only do I really love pickles, it just seems like it would be a fun process and it's super easy. So once I got blessed with 5 or so pounds of cucumbers, I knew what I had to do.

On a nice sunny and breezy Saturday morning, make sure all of your windows are open. Put on some nice jazz. Pour yourself a tall glass of apple juice and get started.

Boil some jars in a huge big ol' pot. You can use random jars, whatever you find, since these are quick pickles and not the fermented kind where you have to seal the jars like a pro.  Its actually kind of fun boiling jars, as long as you don't burn yourself.

8 parts water to 3 parts white vinegar, 1/2 cup of kosher salt - brought to a boil. Lots of garlic (I LOVE pickled garlic), piles of fresh dill, peppercorns, celery seeds go into the jars in a cute manner. Then you get all rustic with it and use some cucumbers whole, some you half and some you quarter - but all of them you chop off the ends of. Stuff them into jars like you saw people do on Youtube and in real life. Pour the boiling hot brine into the jar, leaving a good 1/2" of air on top.

Give them a few days to get full flavored. I had one the very next day and it was a mild delicious vinegary crunchy salty yum yum. Go pickle!





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