How to make Dill Pickles
Making your own pickles is a tasty way to use your home grown cucumbers. It's important to use sterilised jars and lids or the pickle can spoil or even give you food poisoning. Now that's the scary stuff out of the way - the rest will be fun.
Ingredients
- Approx. 30-40 chopped Cucumbers
- 12 cups water
- 4 cups white vinegar
- 2/3 cup pickling salt
- 20 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped in half
- 60 sprigs of Dill Weed
Equipment
- 1 large non metallic pan
- Jars (quart size recommended but not essential)
- Lids
- Rings
- 1 pan of boiling water
- Tongs
One of the tricks to getting a crunchy pickle is soak them ice water for 2 hours after you've washed them thoroughly. Don't leave it any longer than this. If the ice melts add some more to keep it cold.
Take the water, white vinegar and pickling salt. Add into a large pan and bring to the boil.
Meanwhile sterilise your jars. Wash in hot, soapy water or in the dishwasher. Then put along with the lids and rings (if using) into boiling water for ten minutes. It's important that you don't touch the jars or you will need to sterilise again.
Remove the jars using sterilised tongs. Now put 2 sprigs of Dill weed at the bottom of each jar. Also add in one clove of Garlic chopped in half. Add you chopped cucumbers. Make sure they fit and do not touch the lid. Get as many in as you comfortably can. Add the brine and a couple more springs of Dill along with some more halved Garlic. Make sure the brine is boiling when added - this helps with crunchyness. You need to leave about 0.5 -1cm free at the top of the jars. This stops the vinegar reacting with the metal lids. Give the jars a gentle nudge. This will release any trapped air bubbles. Give the jar rims a quick wipe with a clean cloth.
Seal your jars and add rings. Lower back into the water used for sterilisation. Bring back to boil for ten minutes. Leave the jars for 24 hours making sure they are not touching.
Your pickles will be ready in 8 weeks! They should keep for about 2 years. Once you've opened a jar make sure to keep it in the fridge.
