Preserving your summer harvest may be one of the most rewarding things about gardening.  I love that my family can enjoy our homegrown produce all winter long!  Once the garden starts producing, it seems at times we have so much produce, we don’t know what to do with it!  Step in pickling!  If you’ve got an overabundance of cucumbers, try turning them into crunchy yummy dill pickles!  The nice thing about this recipe is that you can make a couple of jars at a time as your cucumbers become ready.  The brine recipe can easily be doubled, or tripled, as needed.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

Pickling cucumbers
Fresh picked dill
Garlic
Coarse salt
Vinegar
Water

Directions

Start by washing your cucumbers, and remove any dirt or blemishes.  Keep them whole, or you can slice them in half, or in quarters, lengthwise.   Peel and chop the garlic, and remove the big stems from the dill.  Next, prepare your jars.  Wash and sterilize them (I keep the jars in the oven on low so they stay hot when it comes time to jar the cucumbers, and the rings in lids go in a small saucepan on the stove with water on simmer to keep them hot).  Time to make the brine: 32 oz of water, 16 oz of vinegar, and 1/4 cup of coarse salt.  This brine recipe usually makes 2-3 large jars of pickles.  You can adjust this recipe to the amount of cucumbers and jars you have.  Put the water, vinegar and salt in a saucepan and put it on medium-high heat until it starts to simmer and all of the salt is dissolved.  Once your brine is simmering, take your jars out of the oven, and pack them with 1-2 cloves of chopped garlic, a few handfuls of dill, and the cucumbers.  Make sure to put as many cucumbers in as possible!  Next, pour in the brine until there is 1/4″ headspace and then put your hot lids and rings on the jars.  Within the next few hours, you should be able to hear a “pop” sound of the jar sealing.  Store your jars in a cool, dark place, and enjoy!  *Note: please use proper canning and pickling techniques.  We are not professionals, and it’s important to ensure all jars are sealed so food is preserved properly and safe to eat.