In spite of the early crazy weather, this has probably been one of the best years for cucumbers that I can remember. With some of the abundance, I wanted to make pickles. Traditionally, I’m not much of a pickle person. I’ll eat just about anything, but pickles were not high on the list. But, homemade is always better, right? So a little over a week ago, I made a small batch of fresh dill pickles, roughly based on this recipe. It’s very easy and very quick compared to many other pickling processes.
The quick and dirty version:
Mix equal parts water and vinegar, and add salt (approximately 1 Tbsp per 2 cups total liquid). I used two cups of each. Bring to a boil. Clean and cut cucumbers – I used seven (some of which were probably a little past their pickling prime, but still worked), and cut them into quarter spears. Put the cucumbers into pint or quart jars, then add (per jar), 8-10 whole peppercorns, a few slices of onion, a crushed or sliced clove of garlic, a hefty pinch of pickling spices, and a sprig or two of fresh dill. Fill the jars with the brine mixture, then cap and put in the fridge. For full flavor development, let it sit for at least a week.
Well, a week was up this past Friday, so we opened the first jar for a sample – all pickles are not created equal. Crunchy, dilly, briny. So. Good.
Dill Pickles – lifefromthegroundup.us
Refrigerator dills! Yes! The ONLY kind of pickle worth eating, in my opinion. Sadly, we have no cucumbers yet, and maybe won’t at all if this drought keeps up. I will have to search out pickling cucumbers, because a life without my refrigerator dills is no life at all.