Dilly Dilly Dill Pickles (and a couple B&B as well)

Today I revisited my childhood by making dill pickles using my grandmother’s recipe. I even called her this morning to get it and find out all the little tips and tricks I needed to know. When I was a little girl we mad a lot of dill pickles. The super crunchy, so sour they’re spicy kind. I remember being the one that stuffed the jars because my hands were small enough to reach in a fill all the pockets. And today, I made a lot of pickles again. Of course not with my mother and grandmother and aunts the way I remember, but by myself in my kitchen making a big old mess and enjoying the hell out of it.

I’ll share the recipe in a moment but first, a little story about making pickles. I got mine (all 25 lbs.) from the Gypsy Row Co, one of my favorite farms! They actually got a write up in the Everett Herald a couple weeks ago – well deserved I might add. I always look forward to saying hi, seeing what’s fresh, and getting the best lettuce in the county. We’ve also been enjoying squash, green beans, corn, cucumbers and basil from Gypsy Row. So anyway, I bought 25 lbs of pickling cukes and 7 stalks of dill from Gypsy - half on Wed and half this morning because I was worried I didn’t have enough raw materials – HA! Never plan food on an empty stomach.

Anyway, after two trips looking for quart jars and sending Mike out one more time for celery seed and mustard seed, I finally got down to it. And over the course of 3 hours, a WHOLE LOT of pickles and dill became 22 quarts of dill pickles, some sliced, some in spears and most whole and 3 pints of bread & butter pickles. Of the dills, 4 quarts are a spicy variation on the recipe with added horshradish and jalepeno – I only made 4 quarts because we never made them when I was a kid, so they’re a bit experimental…

Now I’m sitting here telling you about it, feeling really proud of myself and enjoying a well earned beer. Tomorrow night I pick up 15 broilers for the freezer and hopefully a passel of corn and green beans to freeze. Mike’s working long hours this week so I’m going to take advantage of that and put up some provisions – well, really I’m just finding that I really enjoy canning and freezing – it’s a feeling of instant gratification.

**********************************************

Grandma Leona’s Dill Pickle Recipe:
(adjust to the amount you want to make)

• 12 lbs pickling cukes
• 1 gallon apple vinegar
• 2 quarts water
• 2 cups pickling salt
• pepper corn
• whole cloves
• dill seed
• 12 quart jars and lids

1. Sterilize your jars and lids
2. Put a head of dill in the bottom of each jar, plus 10 pepper corns, 2 cloves and 1/4 tsp dill seed
3. Stuff with cukes
4. Bring the brine (all other ingredients) to a boil. Fill each jar and promptly put the lid on
5. Set aside to cool – they will self seal
6. Hot pickle variation: add a 1/4″ cube of fresh horseradish and 1/2 small jalepeno

Note: Yeah, I realize that these days all the books tell you that you have to do the hot water bath. But my family has been eating these pickles for 40 years and no one’s ever died from them yet.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Pucker Face
• The Dill Pickle movement..
• Tears of Joy.
• The Domestic Queen of Hazel Green: or how my pickles cost me $500.00