Recipe: Easy Garlic Dill Pickles
It's officially garden and canning season in our neck of the woods. We have already harvested beets, carrots, and our lettuce is done. We are getting ready to dry out our onions to store, this is our first year getting enough to dry and store for any amount of time, so I am learning as I go on that one. This is also the first year that we have had enough blueberries to speak of, and they are delicious. We haven't had enough to really work up but we have had lots of fresh ones to eat.
We found squash bugs on our zucchini and yellow squash a couple of weeks ago and I have been waging war on those pesky pests. I have been going out at least once a day and checking the plants for eggs and bugs. We peel the eggs off the plants with duct tape and squish any bugs we find. Y'all it is exhausting. And I am not really sure how much longer I can fight the good fight here. And did you know that these little boogers will move from your squash to your cucumbers?!?! Well I sure didn't so now I am having to try to save my cucumbers too! It is a huge pain. Seriously, and the heat index yesterday was 110. SO HOT!
Here is a look at the produce we harvested yesterday.
Cucumbers. We like to eat cucumbers mostly doused in Ranch dressing but, that still counts right? We plant a LOT of cucumbers and every year we make pickles. I grew up eating my Grandpa Norm's spicy dill pickles by the quart. I have modified his recipe and removed the spice because as cute as my kids are, they sure are wimps. I removed the jalapenos from his recipe and doubled down on the garlic and dill. Since we are in the middle of canning season I thought I would include it here. Canning isn't hard. I know what you're thinking, but Jenn I can't can. Yes you can can! (See what I did there?) If I can do it, you totally can! Promise. I'll walk you through it. It's crazy to me that people used to grow and preserve their own food all the time. Now we just run to the grocery store anytime we need anything. It seems like food preservation is a dying art. I am trying to learn more about it myself. Remember way back when I tried to encourage y'all to not be afraid to be a beginner every single day? Let's commit to being life long learners! You don't even need any fancy equipment. The only thing that would be nice to have but not necessary would be a jar lifter, but you can get them absolutely anywhere. Here is one on Amazon that comes with a jar funnel too for 3.99 Amazon.com: Ball Utensil Set, 3-Piece, Black: Home & Kitchen . It is just nice to have one of these to remove the jars from the hot water... Let's jump in.
Maybe I lied, you will need a pot that is deep enough to cover your jars with boiling water. I have a stock pot and a pressure canner that I just use without the lid when I can things in a hot water bath. That simply means that we are going to use a boiling pot of water to pressure seal our jars with. That's it. You got this!
To get started, wash and sanitize your jars. First you will want to wash the jars in warm soapy water and rinse well. (See how easy this is? You can totally do it!) We need to sanitize the jars so that they are sterile and free from any bacteria that could contaminate the food we are trying to preserve. To sanitize the jars simply submerge them into boiling water for 10 minutes. Pro tip: submerge them at an angle away from you so that the boiling water goes into the jars at a slower rate so it doesn't plop out and burn you when that last little bit jumps into the jar. And that is the hardest part. Good job! Make sure they are completely submerged and the water is boiling for 10 solid minutes. Set a timer.
While your hot water is boiling for your jars, mix together the pickling brine. This recipe calls for 2 quarts of water, 1 quart of distilled white vinegar and 1 scant cup of canning and pickling salt (all salt is NOT created equal, use the correct salt please.) Ok for real, why do old time recipes call for a "scant" cup of anything or a pinch or just to eyeball the amount of anything? I think it's because the truth is it just have to be close, not perfect. I use 2 heaping 1/3 cups here. Grandpa probably used tow handfuls and called it good. So just get close to a cup and you're golden. Mix all this together in a separate pot and bring to a boil, if this gets done before your jars, just turn it down to simmer.
Once your jars are sanitized, remove them from the boiling water and I usually pour off about half of the boiling water from the pot, but I usually ladle it off with a pitcher so that I don't have to move that giant burn hazard. Submerge your lids and seals in the boiling water that you sanitized your jars in while you "pack" your jars. Keep the water boiling.
To pack your jars, you will put in 2-3 whole garlic cloves and some fresh dill sprigs to the jar (1-2), then pack in your cucumbers as tight as you are able. Here is about how much garlic and dill I put in.
Once you have your jars packed. You need to pour the hot pickling brine into the jars leaving roughly 1/4" of "headspace" which just means leave it a little bit of space between the liquid and the actual lid. (Why does new terminology immediately make a task sound harder? )
Comments
Post a Comment