Today I revisited my childhood by making dill pickles using my grandmother’s recipe. I even called her this morning to get it and find out all the little tips and tricks I needed to know. When I was a little girl we mad a lot of dill pickles. The super crunchy, so sour they’re spicy kind. I remember being the one that stuffed the jars because my hands were small enough to reach in a fill all the pockets. And today, I made a lot of pickles again. Of course not with my mother and grandmother and aunts the way I remember, but by myself in my kitchen making a big old mess and enjoying the hell out of it.
I’ll share the recipe in a moment but first, a little story about making pickles. I got mine (all 25 lbs.) from the Gypsy Row Co, one of my favorite farms! They actually got a write up in the Everett Herald a couple weeks ago - well deserved I might add. I always look forward to saying hi, seeing what’s fresh, and getting the best lettuce in the county. We’ve also been enjoying squash, green beans, corn, cucumbers and basil from Gypsy Row. So anyway, I bought 25 lbs of pickling cukes and 7 stalks of dill from Gypsy - half on Wed and half this morning because I was worried I didn’t have enough raw materials - HA! Never plan food on an empty stomach.
Anyway, after two trips looking for quart jars and sending Mike out one more time for celery seed and mustard seed, I finally got down to it. And over the course of 3 hours, a WHOLE LOT of cukes and dill became 22 quarts of dill pickles, some sliced, some in spears and most whole and 3 pints of bread & butter pickles. Of the dills, 4 quarts are a spicy variation on the recipe with added horshradish and jalepeno - I only made 4 quarts because we never made them when I was a kid, so they’re a bit experimental…
Now I’m sitting here telling you about it, feeling really proud of myself and enjoying a well earned beer. Tomorrow night I pick up 15 broilers for the freezer and hopefully a passel of corn and green beans to freeze. Mike’s working long hours this week so I’m going to take advantage of that and put up some provisions - well, really I’m just finding that I really enjoy canning and freezing - it’s a feeling of instant gratification.
**********************************************
Grandma Leona’s Dill Pickle Recipe:
(adjust to the amount you want to make)
- 12 lbs pickling cukes
- 1 gallon apple vinegar
- 2 quarts water
- 2 cups pickling salt
- pepper corn
- whole cloves
- dill seed
- 12 quart jars and lids
1. Sterilize your jars and lids
2. Put a small head of dill in the bottom of each jar, plus 10 pepper corns, 2 cloves and 1/4 tsp dill seed
3. Stuff with cukes
4. Bring the brine (all other ingredients) to a boil. Fill each jar and promptly put the lid on
5. Set aside to cool - they will self seal
6. Hot pickle variation: add a 1/4″ cube of fresh horseradish and 1/2 small jalepeno
Note: Yeah, I realize that these days all the books tell you that you have to do the hot water bath. But my family has been eating these pickles for 40 years and no one’s ever died from them yet.
*****
Possibly Related posts (newest to oldest):
Your pickles look great - thanks for sharing your grandmother’s recipe. I make Sweet Ginger pickles from a recipe from my aunt - they take longer - they sit in brine for four days, then alum for one, then their canned (jarred!). I’d be happy to share the recipe if you are interested.
Katie, I think we’re full up for pickles for this year. But I’d love your recipe for next year when I’ll hopefully keep my dill pickle craze in check!
Wow! Great pictures. I’m jealous… no time to can this year.
Instant gratification? Maybe, in a way… but isn’t the point of canning LATER gratification? Mmmmm, pickles in winter!
I have just been enjoying fresh cucumbers here: that’s MY instant gratification!
hi, i just found the recipe and it looks great! i’ve been really interested in learning to make pickles since i had some delicious ones when i was in germany a few weeks ago. sure beat the store bought ones. i was wondering how long the pickles have to sit until they are done? thanks! can’t wait to try these!
I made a small batch of these last night (4 quarts). I’ve never made pickles before so I’m making a bunch of different kinds to see what we like. I went ahead and did the water bath, though - I moved too slow and didn’t think things were quite hot enough to be safe (or seal well) when I was done. Thanks for sharing!
In Step 2, how much is a head of dill in the bottom of each jar?
Those pickles look lovely! And sounds like they are some tastey too :o)
If anyone is looking for more detailed instructions on how to can pickles I just did a post on making pickles step-by-step. I was mainly thinking of my dd’s as they start to move out and decide that they want to learn how to can them. Complete with pictures and recipe. (Why they never want to know these things when they are living at home…!!)
I was canning convenor at our local fall fair for years and canning judge for a couple too. I promise it’s a good recipe!
Enjoying your blog!!!
our Kirby harvest has been miniscule, but I wanted to try this recipe this year — so I just made the world’s smallest batch: 1 quart jar.
I think it was 7 or 8 medium cuucmbers. It seemed kind of ridiculous, but on the other hand it wasn’t like we could eat that many cukes fresh before they went soft. And next year we’ll get better at keeping the bugs under control.
[...] Mike nor I is a fan of canned veggies, but we’re both pickle fiends. The ones I made last year have been such a big hit that I thought I’d try my hand at pickling some asparagus as [...]
[...] aside from things like About Us and the Dark Days Challenge and other pages, is this one about my grandmother’s dill pickle recipe (so good!). It consistently comes up in the top 20 posts every day. Who would have [...]
[...] dilly beans, 5 half pints and 3 twelve-ounce jelly glasses of pickled onion rings and 5 quarts of dill pickles. It was a bit hectic and not the wisest decision on a day that went past 90 degrees, but oh well, [...]
[...] A burger with homemade bun, local beef, Tillamook cheese, and homemade mayo and ketchup. Crisp fries and more ketchup, and a dill pickle from Laura’s recipe. [...]
[...] in Mia’s family’s cabin yesterday, she and I filled 27 quart and 8 pint jars with dill pickles and dilly beans. The 20 pounds of organic pickling cukes I got at [...]
[...] But last Friday made it official with pickle time. I made a large batch (mixed whole and spears) of Laura’s dill pickle recipe (I’ve had the chance to taste test these myself and they are fabulous). I also made a batch [...]