I never liked pickles, dill or otherwise. I have tried them every. single. time. I got one in a restaurant, and I never acquired a taste for them. Then my mother-in-law asked if I wanted to try some pickles she made, but cautioned me that they were a little too garlicky. Now, garlic is something that I love, so I am immediately intrigued. And, those pickles were amazing! Very garlicky, dill, and delicious! She has been making us pickles for a few years now and we love them.
This spring I bought dill to grow at home with the intention of asking her to teach me the skill of making my own pickles, and she did! These pickles are crispy, crunchy and you guessed it...garlicky. If you're looking for a great pickle recipe, well I am sharing this with you! Not, my pickles mind you, you'll have to get your own.
To start making our pickles, we got our liquid on the stove to get it to a boil. You'll need a good sized pot for this. Add in the water, white vinegar, tumeric, salt, and bay leaves to the pot and let it come to a boil.
While waiting for your liquid to come to a boil, you can get your jars set up. The recipe calls for you to put grapevine leaves in the bottom of the jar first.
After the grapevine leaves, add in the dill "heads" and the garlic. Dill "heads" are the flower parts of the dill plant. Our dill had flowered and gone to seed by this time in the year, but we used them anyway. Also, Betty (my mother-in-law) has used dill that you buy in the store and that worked just fine too. Next, you can start cutting up your cucumbers and placing them in the jar. We cut our pickles into spears, but you can also do chips if you'd like.
We used with cucumbers that she has grown in her garden. She also has used "pickling cucumbers" that you can buy from the store as well. Since you can find all these ingredients in the super market, you can make homemade pickles anytime of the year that you like!
This recipe calls for 14 cucumbers and is typically made in a gallon "pickle" jar. This time around we did use a few smaller jars and simply poured the liquid over our pickles. Just make sure your jars when added together will equal 1 gallon. After the cucumbers, we added in more dill and finally the grapevine leaves on the very top.
Here is what they looked liked before setting the grapevine leaves on top:
Back to that liquid on your stove top. Your liquid does not have to boil for any length of time, you just want it to come to a boil. Once, it is ready very carefully pour it into your jars, remember that liquid is hot!
Allow your jars to cool a bit, seal them and then you need to put them in the refrigerator. They have to set for 4-5 days before they are ready to eat and they must be stored in the refrigerator. We put masking tape over them with the date that they can be eaten on it. Enjoy your delicious pickles!
RECIPE:
14 cucumbers
7 heads of Dill
Several grapevine leaves
2 cups of white vinegar
6 cups of water
1/2 cup of salt (can be kosher). We found this to be too much salt and have cut our recipe back to 1/3 cup.
1/4 teaspoon of turmeric
2 big, Bay leaves
5 or 6 cloves of garlic (split)
In a large pot, add in the water, vinegar, salt, turmeric and bay leaves. Set on the stove and bring to a boil. Prep your jars by putting in your grapevine leaves, dill and garlic. Cut your cucumbers (spears, halves, chips...it's up to you) and place them in the jars. Add in more dill if you'd like, and finally place grapevine leaves on the top. Once your liquid is ready, carefully pour it into your jars. Allow to cool, seal and then refrigerate. Pickles must set for 4-5 days before eating.
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