Pickling Mania pt. 1: Cucumbers
- 8 pounds 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers
- 4 cups white vinegar
- 12 cups water
- 2/3 cup pickling salt
- 16 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
- 8 sprigs fresh dill weed
- 8 heads fresh dill weed
Directions
- Wash cucumbers, and place in the sink with cold water and lots of ice cubes (I’m not entirely confident this did anything). Soak in ice water for at least 2 hours but no more than 8 hours. Refresh ice as required. Sterilize 8 (boil the hell out of everything) canning jars and lids in boiling water for at least 10 minutes.
- In a large pot over medium-high heat, combine the vinegar, water, and pickling salt. Bring the brine to a rapid boil (boil the hell out of everything again).
- In each jar, place 2 half-cloves of garlic, one head of dill, then enough cucumbers to fill the jar (about 1 pound). Then add 2 more garlic halves, and 1 sprig of dill. Fill jars with hot brine. Seal jars.
- Process sealed jars in a boiling water bath (oh hey, BOIL everything AGAIN). Process quart jars for 15 minutes.
- good advice at this point is to let everything mellow for a few weeks, I usually can only wait a few days. what! I want to know if it’s good. and it always is.
