This Years Pickles

Can you tell which one is sour dill and which one is bread and butter?

I will make more, no doubt about it. The only problem is that my grocery store doesn’t have any pickling cucumbers. Mom found some at Farmer’s Market yesterday so she bought 2 pounds. Ha. That made 2 jars. Next week I’m hitting them up big time and getting a bunch. We love us some home made pickles. So these recipes, and there is one for sour dill pickles and one for bread and butter pickles, are for 1 quart jar each. You can adjust the amounts accordingly.

Sour Dill Pickles
1 pound pickling cucumbers sliced
1/2 cup white onion sliced
3 garlic cloves rough chopped

1 tablespoon kosher salt (don’t use table salt, the iodine will make your pickles dark)
2 cups crushed ice

1/2 tablespoon kosher salt (don’t use table salt, the iodine will make your pickles dark)
1 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
2-3 sprigs fresh dill
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes

1 quart jar with lid and ring, clean
1 sauce pan (for brine)
1 large pot filled with boiling water

Place sliced cucumbers, onion, garlic, 1 tablespoon salt and ice into a large bowl and toss together and set aside for an hour.

Make sure your jar and lid and ring are clean. Start water boiling in the large pot. Place fresh dill into jar and set aside. In sauce pan combine 1/2 tablespoon salt, water, vinegar, chili flakes, celery seed and chili flakes. Boil for 5 minutes.

Rinse off the cucumbers and onions and garlic and pack into the jar with the dill. Carefully pour the hot vinegar mixture over the cucumbers. Make sure there is 1/4 inch of head room between the top lip of the jar and the liquid. Place the lid on the jar and tighten the ring. Place in the pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove jars from water with jar tongs (or you can ladle out the hot water and when the jars are mostly out of the water you can use pot holders to take the jars out) and let cool on the counter. Lids will pop after a couple minutes. If they don’t in an hour you can press your finger to the middle of the lid and it should go down and not come up. If it does pop back up, even when it’s cool, put the jar in the fridge and use it from there. If it doesn’t pop back up you can store it in a dark cupboard for a long time. Not sure how long since we tend to use them pretty fast but at least a year if not longer.

Bread and Butter Pickles
1 pound pickling cucumbers sliced
1/2 cup white onion sliced
6 garlic cloves rough chopped

1 tablespoon kosher salt (don’t use table salt, the iodine will make your pickles dark)
2 cups crushed ice

1/2 tablespoon kosher salt (don’t use table salt, the iodine will make your pickles dark)
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder

1 quart jar with lid and ring, clean
1 sauce pan (for brine)
1 large pot filled with boiling water

Place sliced cucumbers, onion, garlic, 1 tablespoon salt and ice into a large bowl and toss together and set aside for an hour.

Make sure your jar and lid and ring are clean. Start water boiling in the large pot. In sauce pan combine 1/2 tablespoon salt, water, vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, chili flakes and tumeric powder. Boil for 5 minutes.

Rinse off the cucumbers and onions and garlic and pack into the jar. Carefully pour the hot vinegar mixture over the cucumbers. Make sure there is 1/4 inch of head room between the top lip of the jar and the liquid. Place the lid on the jar and tighten the ring. Place in the pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove jars from water with jar tongs (or you can ladle out the hot water and when the jars are mostly out of the water you can use pot holders to take the jars out) and let cool on the counter. Lids will pop after a couple minutes. If they don’t in an hour you can press your finger to the middle of the lid and it should go down and not come up. If it does pop back up, even when it’s cool, put the jar in the fridge and use it from there. If it doesn’t pop back up you can store it in a dark cupboard for a long time. Not sure how long since we tend to use them pretty fast but at least a year if not longer.

Quick Pickles

I’m a sucker for pickles. For almost anything pickled really. Pickled beets, eggs, beans, cucumbers, I’d probably even like pickled radish even though I hate radishes. So when I’m dying for pickles and I’m out (like now) I’ll throw this together and in 15 minutes, Ta-Da!!! Pickles!

Ingredients
2 cups sliced cucumbers, english cucumbers work best
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion (optional)
1 cup water
3/4cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon spices (use what you like)

Mix everything together in a jar with a lid. You don’t have to refrigerate it but if you can it’s good. Or throw a couple ice cubes in the mixture so it’ll be cold and the cucumbers will still be crunchy. Give the jar a gentle shake every 5 minutes or so and serve when dinner is ready. If they are going to sit for more than an hour you might want to cut back, a lot, on the vinegar.

As for spices dry or fresh dill is good, sliced garlic, red pepper flakes, mustard seed, dried or fresh thyme, black pepper…whatever you like. 🙂