Dill pickles are a fabulous snack, easy to eat and fun to make. Kids love them as an after-school treat, and they are the perfect complement to any sandwich. If you've got a little room in your garden, you can easily grow enough cucumbers to make jars and jars of dill pickles. Add peppers, onions and some slaw, and you can make dill pickles with some fun extras, which is always a fun way to show off your gardening and pickling skills.
If you do grow your own cucumbers, make sure you pick them before they ripen too much. Pick them before they turn yellow, while all sides are deep green and the cucumbers feel firm to the touch. If the cucumber is soft at all, forgo pickling that one. Choose ripe, but firm cukes for the best dill pickles. Pick them on pickling day, if possible.
Once you've determined how many cucumbers you want to pickle, fill your bathtub (or large sink) with cold water and ice. Soak your cucumbers for two hours in the ice water, adding ice as necessary. You want those cucumbers to be as cold as you can get them without freezing them. This will make for crisp pickles.
This recipe will pickle six jars (one quart each) of cucumbers. Try to pick cucumbers that are three to four inches in length.
Recipe for Dill Pickles
Ingredients You Will Need:
Approximately 6 pounds of cucumbers
8 cups water
½ cup pickling salt
3 cups white vinegar
12 cloves garlic, peeled and slightly mashed
6 sprigs fresh dill weed, just going to seed
12 hot banana peppers, de-stemmed and sliced
24 peppercorns
Make sure you sterilize your jars and lids in boiling water while your cucumbers are soaking in that ice water bath. You'll want to make sure you've boiled the lids and jars for 10 to 15 minutes.
Sliced cucumbers will pickle faster than whole pickles, so decide how quickly you want to be able to eat these pickles. Whole pickles require eight weeks of storage before eating; quartered pickles can be eaten in six weeks. If you wish to eat them sooner, quarter your cucumbers.
Bring your water, salt and vinegar to a rolling boil in a large pot.
While the brine is coming to a boil, fill each jar with as many pickles as you can pack in. Add two slightly mashed cloves of garlic, a sprig of dill weed, a tablespoon of banana peppers and four peppercorns to each jar of cucumbers.
Pour the boiling brine into each jar, filling it to the top. Seal the jars as instructed, and process jars of pickles in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes each. Your pickles should be ready in 6 to 8 weeks.
 | Pickles require specific measures. To create a great batch of pickles, make sure you use the proper ingredients and tools. Though vinegar and salt are used, pickles still must be boiled in an open water bath to kill the enzymes that cause spoilage. Earmark hollow or odd-shaped cucumbers for relish and use only pickling cucumbers. |
 | If you want to make homemade pickles, you'll want to check out this refrigerator pickle recipe for details on how to make crisp, delicious pickles without bothering with canning. |
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