In a Pickle

So those who know me well know that I can’t just relax over a long weekend. No…no…I need to absolutely fill it to the brim with fun and projects! So in addition to grilling, merry making and fireworks at the farm over the 4th, my “little” side project was making pickles!

Making pickles is something my Grandparents used to do. I remember as a child the aroma of dill coming from the giant barrels in their root cellar. Ahhh…love that smell…maybe you have to be at least part Slavic to understand that… :)

Anyway, I thought it would be really fun to make homemade pickles and it is fun! But it is also a very time consuming process that (if you are me at least) creates a kitchen that looks like a hurricane whipped through it.

There are many different kinds of pickling methods and different kinds of pickles you can make. I made dill pickles and bread and butter pickles. Here are the steps I followed…

First, I sliced some of my larger cucumbers into spears and slices (I left the small ones whole). Then I placed them into bowls, covered each first with salt (I use coarse salt) and then with cold water (mixing to dissolve the salt). I put a plate over each mixture to “seal” it and placed the bowls in our root cellar to sit for 12 to 18 hours (if you don’t have a root cellar, any space slightly cooler than room temp will do).

The next day I drained and rinsed my cucumbers and prepared my jars and lids. I always boil the jars and lids separately. This is the same basic prep that I do for canning anything.

Then I prepared my dill and B&B mixtures using prepared pickling spices (which I bought), white vinegar, water and sugar (for the B&B’s). I brought my mixtures to a boil and then kept hot.

Once my jars were ready, I lifted them out and began filling them. For the dill, I added a clove of garlic and some fresh dill sprigs to each jar and then started filling with my cucumbers. It helps to tip the jar to the side and fill the sides of the jar first, finishing in the middle.

I then placed a wide-mouthed funnel over the mouth of the jar and filled it with my hot pickling liquid (leaving a ½ inch at the top).

To seal the jars I first wiped the rims of the jars clean and then applied my sterilized lids. I placed each jar back into the boiling water for about 15 minutes to seal.

After removing the jars I tested the lids by pressing the tops of them. If the lids flex at all, then they are not sealed and you must reseal. Fortunately mine were sealed first time.

Finally, I labeled the jars by simply writing the type and date on each lid. I could have made pretty labels, but this isn’t a Martha Stewart contest and I had a Masterpiece Mystery recorded that I wanted to watch.

Yep, that’s right – making homemade pickles and watching PBS – it’s gettin crazy up in here! ;)

Not a difficult process, but it does make a mess! Most bloggers would clean up and then take a “staged” picture of their completed pickles jars, but would I lie to you? :) This was the aftermath plus a “thumbs up” from my son :).

By the way, I got most of my pickling supplies from Ace Hardware (believe it or not) and I found their prices to be the best.