7/12/15

After talking to my mom about this project, I've learned that she already had a pickle recipe that a friend had given her. So I changed my recipe a tad from the one I originally found. It is now;

4 lbs of pickling cukes ( substituted for mini seedless cucumbers)

3 tbsp salt

3 c vinegar

1 c fresh dill

28 peppercorns

14 cloves

Because I didn't have fresh cucumbers I have read that you should let them soak in cold water for 3-4 hours.

Since yesterday I broke a bone in my ankle, today was the perfect day to get these babies fermenting. With help from my mother (because it's hard to carry things while using crutches), I combined the vinegar, water and salt and heated it on the stove to a boil (this is the brine). Luckily we have a lot of canning jars because my family makes maple syrup. We put all of the jars in a pot of hot water to sanitize and seal. 

After reading a couple of websites like my humblekitchen.com and the food network, I learned that you should put either a bay leaf, grape leaf, horseradish, or black tea in the jar also because it makes them crisp. So in the bottom of the hot jar I put 3-4 peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, 2 fresh dill spears, and 2 cloves of garlic which I chopped in half. The cucumbers were too tall so I  cut them in half and then stuffed as many as I could into the jar. Then I poured the brine in over it all until everything was submerged and capped the jars. 

The jars are now sitting in my kitchen and supposed to be in 65-80 degree temperature. I am now waiting to hear the jar cap pop so I know they are sealed. Stay tuned!