Kosher Dill Pickles

Tis the season when the garden starts erupting with a plethora of vegetables. When there's only two of you in the household, it's often difficult to keep up with the harvest. So I've dabbled in canning here and there. Last year I made pickled peppers from our "Big Jim's," "Anaheim," and "Jalapenos" which have been delicious on sandwiches throughout the year. Just recently our cucumber plants have exploded.

As a kid I could eat an entire can of Clausen Kosher Dill pickles. There was something so delicious in the peppery flavor and crisp texture of the pickles. I could honestly care less about any other brand of pickles. Bread and Butter specifically make me want to gag...too sweet! So this year I tried my hand at Kosher Dills. These were actually super easy to make, since you don't do a hot bath to them as long as you have the refrigerator space. Apparently the hot bath makes them lose their crisp. 

I went to the garden and grabbed all of my big cucumbers. There were about 5 or 6 that were good and ready. Once inside, I cleaned them up and then quartered them. I then eyeballed a heaping tablespoon of pickling salt and placed the cucumbers and salt in a bowl. I covered them with ice water and let them sit for the majority of the day in the cold bath (about 4 hours.)

After about 4 hours, I cleaned and sanitized two large canning jars. Thank goodness my husband is a home brewer, so we always have sanitizer in the house. You definitely want the jars to be hot because you will be placing hot liquid into them and a glass explosion is not my idea of a fun afternoon clean up. As the jars were soaking, I peeled 8 cloves of garlic. I love garlic and probably could have added more, but I was sick of peeling the cloves. I figured 4 cloves per jar would be nice. I gave the cloves a little crack with my palm to help release some of the juices. I pulled out the peppercorn, dill seed, celery seed, mustard seed, and pickle crisp from the spice cabinet. Lastly, I yanked some fresh dill sprigs from the fridge. Our spice garden is in the works on being refinished so I have no herbs this year. 

In a sauce pan I heated to a boil 1 cup of water to 1 cup of white vinegar with a teaspoon of pickling salt for each canning jar. (So in total, 2 cups water, 2 cups vinegar, and 2 teaspoons salt)

Next I pulled out the soaking jars and drained the sanitizer from them. In each jar I placed 4 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of peppercorns, 1 teaspoon celery seed, and 1 teaspoon mustard seed, 2 tablespoons of dill seed, and a bunch of sprigs of fresh dill. Then I shoved the cucumbers in tight to leave a half inch head space. Finally I poured the boiling vinegar mixture into each jar and placed a heaping 1/4 teaspoon of pickle crisp onto the top of the pickles. Once you make sure all the air is out, you can put on the lid and throw in the fridge for a minimum of 5 weeks so the flavors can seep into the cucumbers.

Here are what the jars looked like before entering the fridge.

Voila, now we must wait for them to be ready. They sure do look a lot like Clausen Dills. I'm pretty excited. When we get more cucumbers I will be making another set. Now to figure out what to do with the overload of green beans...

Recipe (per canning jar):

cucumbers (enough to fill jar)

pickling salt (1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon)

fresh dill (a few sprigs)

dill seed (2 tablespoons)

mustard seed (1 teaspoon)

celery seed (1 teaspoon)

whole peppercorn (1/2-1 teaspoon)

garlic (2-4 cloves)

water (1 cup)

vinegar (1 cup)

pickle crisp (1/4 teaspoon heaping)

Refrigerator space and 5 weeks processing time.