Pickles!

We made pickles!



We do not buy pickles at the store very often, so we were very happy to be able to make our own this year.





We began with the best ingredients:

  • 40 pounds of organic cucumbers

  • Fresh dill from the Farmer's Market

  • Heinz Distilled White Vinegar (I was taught not to buy the cheap stuff!)

  • Ball Preserving and Pickling Salt

  • Whole garlic cloves

  • Mustard seed

I had lots of great help!






Here is the recipe:



1. Boil on the stove:

  • 4 cups vinegar

  • 4 cups water

  • 6 T Pickling Salt

2. Fill your jars with cucumbers (we left the small ones whole, but halved and quartered the bigger ones).



3. Then to each quart jar, you add about 1 1/2 tsp. mustard seed, a large clove of peeled garlic, a large head of dill and fill with the pickling juice leaving about a 1/2" headspace.



4. Then process for 10 minutes (begin timing as soon as the cans enter the water).



{I have it on good authority that these are the best pickles - my boys say so! Thanks to their dad for this recipe!}





We made 18 quarts with 40 pounds of cucumbers.



We also pickled veggies - cauliflower, zucchini chips, and carrots, using the recipe above but with a ratio of 4:4:4 (4 cups vinegar, 4 cups water, 4 T Pickling Salt).







They are not even ready, but we have already eaten 2 small jars and given 2 away. I have to hide them!!



This was last week. Today, I made cherry jam and still have about 15 pounds of Flathead cherries to preserve! I hope to share pics when I am all done. :-)

3 comments

  1. WOW!! If I had an ounce of your energy and motivation in this area I'd feel like I was accomplishing so much--but you are simply amazing in your efforts to preserve, can, put away and store!! I so enjoy reading about all that you do in these areas! I could learn so much from you!

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  2. Mmmmm. Dill pickles!! I don't think I've ever had homemade. No, I take that back. My mother made some yummy dill relish two or three years ago that I thought was good (she gave me some--yay!). But, as far as whole pickles, it seemed like everyone was into making sweet pickles when I was a child, and I HATE sweet pickles.

    Those LOOK good. So, are they crisp? Or would they become that way when cold? I like them crisp. I have been buying pickles from the store. I think they are Woodstock Farms--the baby dills. I don't like them until after they're refrigerated, and then they crunch up. Yum!

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  3. My dh wanted to be a chef so he loves to cooka nd can and all that. I do some canning also.
    He canned beets before we left for vacation and they are super yummy!

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