Dill Pickle Recipe
My mother-in-law shared her dill pickle recipe with me.
Now, I get to share it with all of you and hope you too will agree that this is an ancient recipe of awesomeness!
For this recipe you will need:
- Quart wide-mouth Mason jar
- cucumbers (Boston Picklings)
- 4 cups water
- 4 cups distilled vinegar
- 1/4 cup canning salt
- 1 whole garlic clove
- 1 diced garlic clove
- 6 peppercorns
- Spring dill or seed
After we picked our cucumbers and dill, we washed them and laid them out on paper towels to dry. (Make sure you scrub all the dirt off your cucumbers).
While the cucumbers are drying, place the jar(s) in a large pot of water bring water to a boil. Let the jars get nice and hot. They need to stay hot while you are packing them, so don’t take them out till you are ready to pack them. Put the water, vinegar, and salt in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Make sure the salt fully dissolves. You also need to have another large pot with boiling water in it to put the jars in after you pack them.
When you are ready to start packing your jar, carefully remove it from the water. Place it on its side on top of a paper towel. Place your peppercorn garlic and dill inside the jar. Now, you can start packing the cucumbers; carefully place them tightly into the jar. We normally use a few different sizes to fill the jars. You will want to pack it pretty tight..just be careful. If you push on them too hard, they can bust. And, if by chance this happens, do what my husband does… laugh and say “I was made too strong to can cucumbers.” Make sure they stay underneath the neck of the jar.
Once you are done packing the jar(s), pour the water mixture over the cucumbers. Make sure the cucumbers are covered. Before sealing, make sure there are no bubbles. You can take a knife around the edge to get rid of the bubbles. Take a damp paper towel and whip rim before sealing.
This helps with a tight seal by removing any debris that could be on the rim.
Now it’s time to put the lid on. Make sure the lid is on good, but not too tight. Carefully Pick the jar up and place it in the large pot. Let them sit in a roiling water bath for about 5 minutes.
Whenever placing or removing hot, sterilized jars, we use canning jar lifter tongs.
After 5 minutes, carefully remove the jar(s) from the pot and place them on the counter. We cover them with a towel while they cool. You don’t want them to cool too fast. Once they are cool, place them in a cool, dimly lit area. They need to set for about six weeks. Once the six weeks is up along with what is left of your sanity due to patiently waiting and hiding behind a grit toothed grin, place them in the fridge so they are nice and crisp before you eat them.
Now its time to open them up, enjoy, and regain your sanity!!!
