What a Pickle!

Picked up about 10 pounds of pickling cuccumbers at the outdoor market a couple of days ago. I spent some money on a gadget that lets me get the jars out of the water bath without dropping them and a funnel so I can get the ingredients where I want them in the jar. Oh, and a rack that lets me lower 7 jars at once down into the water bath or raise them all up. Cool!

I finished 13 quarts of whole dill and dill spears. It feels good to have something accomplished that you can look at and say, "I made that." In a couple of weeks they will be cured enough to begin eating. I kinda got into this annual event after receiving a jar of pickles from a friend of our family who is a sort of gentleman farmer here in town. He had put up some jars of pickles and brought one by our house a couple of years back. Oh my gosh! I have never had a better tasting dill pickle in my life. Fortunately for me, David was willing to give me his recipe. Unfortunately for me, I have not been able to duplicate them exactly like David makes them. Still, they are pretty darn good. Here is the recipe though I have seen it or something very close to it many times on the Internet.

David's Pickling Recipe

Pickling cucumbers (also works well pickling beets)
Place 1” of chopped onion into the bottom of a one quart mason jar
1-4 cloves of garlic
2-3 shoots of dill

Combine:
2 c of water
1 c 5-7% acidity apple cider vinegar
2-3 T salt

Boil solution 10 minutes.
Place pickling cucumbers into jars which have been sterilized with boiling water and are hot, packing tightly. Use either small whole cucumbers or slice cucumbers as desired. Pour hot apple cider vinegar solution over the cucumbers leaving about ½” of space at the top. Place lid tightly onto jar and boil filled jars in water bath 5-10 minutes. Store in refrigerator at least 2 weeks before use.