Making Dill Pickles

Posted on | September 7, 2010 | 6 Comments

Over the long weekend I was a canning maniac. I made 15 jars of dill pickles and 8 jars of peach jam. I’ve never made pickles before but I figured I would give them a shot.

The process to make pickles is pretty simple. You first make a brine of vinegar/water/salt and then pour the concoction over sliced cucumbers. The jars get filled with pickling spice, fresh dill, dill seed, and garlic. Seal it up and your pretty much done. I used William Sonoma’s The Art of Preserving by Rick Field and Rebecca Courchesne as reference—Rick is the man behind the award-winning Rick’s Picks pickles out of Brooklyn.

On Saturday I made my first batch with cucumbers I picked up at my local farmer’s market. On Sunday when I was peach picking at Brooksby’s Farm I scored 5 more pounds of super green and bumpy cucumbers. To me these wonky looking specimens looked the pinnacle of dill pickles (see below).

The pickles have to ferment for 2 weeks before I can taste test. I’m hoping both batches are great! Maybe I’ll try bread & butter pickles next? Below photos of my pickle making adventures over the weekend. Photos of peach picking and jamming up next.

Comments

6 Responses to “Making Dill Pickles”

S@sha
September 7th, 2010 @ 12:56 pm
They look gorgeous. I’ve been making my own pickles for a couple of years now, and I love it because you can make them exactly how you like them– a little more garlic, a chile pepper? Whatever!
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erin, reading my tea leaves
September 7th, 2010 @ 1:06 pm
oh, pickle perfection. if they taste half as good as they look, they’ll be wonderful!
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Gina A.
September 7th, 2010 @ 1:28 pm
YUM! my mom makes the BEST raspberry jam using berries from her garden and I refuse to eat anything else! I love home canned goods! I think you may have inspired me to try my hand in pickling!
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chelsea
September 7th, 2010 @ 2:17 pm
oh wow! these look absolutely delicious and the photos are sublime.
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Rebecca
September 7th, 2010 @ 3:36 pm
Oh! you make this look like such a fun process!! And I bet they turn out sooo delish!
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Jessica
September 8th, 2010 @ 7:54 am
mmmm!! they look so yummy. :)
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