Garlic Dill Pickles

Full disclosure

We’ve been making pickles for years. Each year we’ve chosen the best ingredients, toiled over boiling hot water, tasted, mixed and fretted, just hoping for a batch or two of crispy, crunchy pickles, infused with fresh herbal flavor and just the right balance of brine.

Yes, we’ve brined, we’ve processed, and tried numerous recipes and methods. But, each year, when the jars were opened, weeks, or months after the hopeful effort was put-forth, the results have been disappointing. Sometimes, very disappointing.

This year, it dawned upon your author, oh splendid ones, the path to pickle success. After returning from her family reunion and receiving photos, via email, from her uncle; she remembered. Years ago at a family reunion someone had shared with her pickle perfection. The texture, flavor and the color were everything one would hope for in a pickle.

With this memory she realized why the homemade pickles she had been tasting all of these years were less than satisfactory. She realized the standard to which they had all been compared. With the highest of hopes, she quickly composed an email. To which she received a rapid response, with the charming opening line “well, color me surprised…”.

Seekers of Splendor, I share with you (with his permission)…but before I do, clarification is needed. Any recipe posted on Splendid Market has been tested numerous times to ensure that your results are as splendid as possible. The pickling process takes time, at least 2 weeks to be sure of the outcome. However, because we were so excited about the prospects of this pickle, and considering the source of the recipe, we feel comfortable publishing this now. Also, we made batches which we stored in the refrigerator allowing us to try them as the flavors penetrated the cucumbers. We’re one week into the process and they taste SPLENDID!! We wanted to publish this while pickling cukes are still available at your local farmers market. So, without further ado, here is the recipe (well, one more ado, my notes are in italics)..

Uncle Johns’ Garlic Dill Pickles

Ingredients:
3 qts. Water
1 qt. vinegar
1 cup canning salt
Pickling cukes, as fresh as you can find

Preparation:Pickling cukes – wash thoroughly. Pack in jars, as full as possible (John used quart jars, I used mostly pint jars). Add 1 yellow hot pepper. (I couldn’t find small enough peppers, so I used slices of jalapeno peppers), 3 cloves garlic and as much fresh dill as possible.

Brine – mix water, vinegar and pickling salt in a large pot and bring to a boil. (we found this to be enough brine for about 10 pounds of pickling cucumbers. We bought mostly small pickles, which we pickled whole — prick whole cucumbers with a fork before packing into jars. We also bought a few large pickles, which we sliced before pickling.)

Pour hot brine over jars of cukes, etc.. Fill as close to the top as you can and seal.

We sealed or processed our packed jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, with at least 2 inches of water above the top of the jars.

Store processed jars in a cool, dark place.

Pickles should be ready to eat in 14 days.

Okay, there you go, the great pickling recipe of all times. But before you pack a pint of pickles, following are a few more things to consider.

In addition to uncle John’s version, due to a love of tarragon, I wanted to try a French, cornichon style of pickles.

A friends garden features the healthiest tarragon bush ever. I biked over to harvest.

In place of the dill and garlic, I packed some of the cucumbers with sprigs of tarragon and slices of white onions. Shallots could be used instead of onions.

They are fabulous!

Once you start pickling and preserving, it is hard to stop. This is a wonderfully complex way to preserve the flavors of summer.

Before you start — jars need to be sterilized. This can be done by placing them in boiling water for 15 minutes (store them on a clean dishtowel until ready to use); or by placing them in a 225 degree oven until needed or running them through the dishwasher. Jars should be packed while they are still hot. Be sure to sterilize lids, clips and rings as well.

We’re always looking for interesting canning jars to use. The standard Kerr or Ball jars, with screw on metal lids and bands can be found at grocery stores (they are also available in Splendid Items on this site). These work well for our splendid market pantry. Ball also has an informative website with video instructions on canning and preserving. Click here to visit.

For gifts we like using the pretty shaped Weck jars from Germany (on the right side of the photo), which we have found at kitchen stores.

Glass-topped clamp close jars (on the left in the photo) are also attractive for gifts or home use. Le Parfait brand jars are from France and Fido brand clamp jars (or wire bail or gasket and lid jars) are from Italy. Many different sizes and shapes of these jars are available in Splendid Items on this page.

Other critical equipment to have on hand includes a large straight sided pot for sterilizing empty jars and processing filled jars in a boiling water bath. A “lifter” will allow you to safely remove and place jars in the hot water bath.