Pickles

I was a little surprised at how easy pickles are. I didn’t think I liked pickles because my family only bought dill pickles growing up and I just didn’t like them. But as an adult I had sweet pickles. I don’t even remember when I first tried them. They changed my opinion of pickles forever!

When I was pregnant with my first child I didn’t understand what all the hype about pregnant women craving pickles was about. I wanted rot kohl. Long story. But anyway, that was before I knew about sweet pickles. With my second pregnancy all I wanted was pickles. Luckily we had cucumbers growing in our garden. I started out just doing refrigerator pickles because I had it in my head that long term pickle canning was a big process.

When the cucumber production picked up to the point that my fridge was full and I was out of friends to give pickles to, I decided to look into what it would take to can them. Turns out, it isn’t that much harder than what I was already doing.

Here is the short version (then I will give more details):

• Get some cucumbers
• Prepare Jars, lids and rings. Disinfect your jars. I always do more that I think I will need, just in case.
• Wash cucumbers
• Prepare brine (see recipe below)
• Slice cucumbers
  • After the first couple batches we went out and bought a mandolin slicer, it makes the cuts more uniform and saves time if you are going to be doing more than one batch. But that is optional.
• Pack sliced cukes into jar as tightly as possible
  • You can also add onions or peppers at this point
• Put seasonings into jars
  • You could also do this before you pack the cucumbers in but I am not always good at predicting how many jars I will fill. So once or twice I ended up with spices in jars that I didn’t fill and I was annoyed, so I started putting spices in last.
• Pour hot brine into jars
• Process in hot water bath or steamer 15 minutes

See! Not too bad.

You can totally do this. And if you are intimidated by the processing part, just leave it out and make some refrigerator pickles. They will last several weeks in the fridge. And I have found that people love them as a gift. Especially pregnant people. (he he)

Recipe

Here is my sweet and spicy pickle recipe:

Brine: combine ingredients and bring to a boil and dissolve sugar

• 3 cups apple cider vinegar
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• If you want to add more spice to your pickles you can seep a few spicy peppers (like a habanero or super chili in the brine as it is coming together).
  • This is usually enough for 7 pint jars, but if you run out just make a little more. It is a 3:3:1 ratio, if that helps.

Spices for each jar:

• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp celery seed
• 1/4 tsp Ball pickle crisp granules
• 1/4 tsp mustard seed
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional, but they are pretty and they aren’t usually that spicy)

Get Some Cucumbers

Just about any type will probably do but we have really enjoyed the ones designed for making pickles. We bought the seeds that said on the package that they were good for being made into pickles. We can also eat them just in salads. They are yummy cucumbers, but you can only eat so many plain cucumbers.

If you are growing your own cucumbers this part is fairly simple. I find that I need to pick my cucumbers once or twice a week once they start producing. Otherwise they get really big. If you want to do whole cucumbers you should try to catch them small. I have not had much success doing that. If you are buying cucumbers or helping a friend use some you might not have as many choices to make.

However you get your cucumbers, I have had the best success from using them right away. Which may contribute to my larger cucumbers. I wait to pick them until I have time to can them. But I don’t mind them that way as pickles. As soon as you pick them they start to get soft.

Prepare Jars, Lids, and Rings

I like using pint sized jars for pickles because I am usually the only one in my family that eats them. They last several weeks in the fridge once you open them but this is still a better size for me. I found some people in the classifieds that were moving and wanted to sell their canning jars. Bonus!

Wash Cucumbers

I usually fill a big bowl with water and scrub them with my hands. I like to get all the little bumps off. I forget what they are called but if you have picked cucumbers you know what I mean.

Slice Cucumbers

You want to slice your cucumbers as evenly as possible. I bought a mandolin slicer for this. I like to use the wavy cutter for cucumbers but that is entirely personal preference. You can definitely do this with a knife. You will develop your knife skills for sure! But the mandolin slicer makes it a pretty quick job. I set mine to the thickest slice possible, which is 6mm.

Prepare Brine

Mix the vinegar, sugar and water in a pot and bring to a boil until sugar is dissolved. If you want to add a little more spice to your pickles you can add some spicy peppers to the brine. We have used habanero and “super chillis” with good success. You could also use jalapenos, but we usually save those to pickle on their own. You will be adding crushed red pepper flakes into each jar, so it just depends on how spicy you want your pickles. You could also add a pepper to each jar. Up to you.

Pack Jars

This one is pretty important, you really have to pack them in. Get as many cucumber slices into each jar as you can. If you don’t fill them full enough you may need to make more brine. It doesn’t hurt the final produce if you push pretty hard on them.

Add Seasonings (and pickle crisp)

The first time I tried pickles I put most of the spices in the brine. But it was hard to make sure each jar got an equal amount. I figured out pretty quickly that it was easier to add the spices to the jar. Also, as I mentioned earlier, this way you can just slice up all the cucumbers you have and see how many jars it makes. You might need to make more brine but it is pretty easy to do. If you only have one or two extra jars you can just stick them in the fridge. Give it a few days and they will be great.

Another trick I learned is Ball pickle crisp. I have tried pickle recipes that call for soaking the sliced cucumbers in salt overnight in the fridge. I just didn’t notice a difference in the final product, and it was a pain. I tried the Ball pickle crisp and got a lot of compliments on how crunchy my pickles were. So I just keep using it.

Pour Hot Brine into jars

Pretty self explanatory. If you need to, make a little more brine. Since the brine is 3 parts vinegar: 3 parts sugar: 1 part water, it is pretty easy to cut down the recipe.

Process

Wipe the rim of each can and put a clean lid and ring on. For this part you will need a water bath canner, a steam canner or a pressure canner. I have a steam canner and I love it. Whatever you have use safe manufactures procedures when processing your produce.

Wait

You should probably wait a day or two at least to let the flavors marinate before opening these up. I personally have a hard time using anything I have canned until at least 4 months later. So I like to make sure I have plenty of un-canned pickles in the fridge so I can still get my pickle fix.

I hope you try this. Let me know how it works for you!