bricks and baubles: How to Make Homemade Pickles

During my canning extravaganza this weekend I decided to make WD some pickles. He LOVES pickles.

You will need:

3-4lb of pickling cucumbers (the ones that look like cartoon pickles)

1/2 c canning salt

4 c (32oz) white vinegar

1/2 c sugar

4 c water

pickling seasoning or dill seeds.

Canning supplies, 6 pint jars & boiling water canner (really large pot)

yields 6 pints

1: sanitize your jars and lids (here are some instructions if you are new to canning)!

2. In a 4-5 qt pot, combine water, vinegar, sugar, & canning salt. Bring the brine to a boil.

3. Wash your cucumbers thoroughly, and remove any stems or blossoms.

4. cut your cucumbers into 1/4 inch-ish slices.

5. pack them loosely into sanitized jars leaving 1 inch head space (leave 1 inch of space from the top of the jar).

5. Add 1 tablespoon of pickling seasoning, or dill seeds.

6. Fill with boiling brine maintaining the 1 inch head space (usually where the glass lip for the lid part of the jar starts is a good estimate.)

Attach the lids and submerge in boiling water in the canner.

Process filled jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes (start timing when the water returns to a boil.) Remove jars from the canner and cool on wire racks.

Allow to stand at room temperature for 1 week before serving.

Pickles are good for 1 year.

I had only enough pickling cucumbers for 6 pints, and enough brine for 8 so I sliced 2 regular cucumbers like spears to use up the left over brine. I read somewhere that you can use the same recipe for regular pickles, you just had to make them spears instead of slices/chips.