Pickles!

I went to the farmer’s market yesterday, hoping to make a huge haul of cucumbers to make pickles. I was only able to get 7 smaller pickles and one quart of blueberries. There were plenty of vegetables available, just not enough $$ in my pocket.

I forgot my wallet!

I got the blueberries drying in the freezer right away. They will be ready to bag up in a couple more days.

I made 2 pints of pickles today. Finished photo is above.

My recipe:

Take one washed grape leaf per jar and slice into 1/4″ to 1/2″ slices. You can shorten them and cut off the bad parts, but you need a goodly amount.

Wash the cucumbers before you cut them.

For spices, I added: peppercorns, fennel seeds, coriander powder (I didn’t have the seeds), celery seeds, and dill seeds.

I didn’t add powdered mustard in place of mustard seeds because the mustard I have is the hot kind and I didn’t want that flavor in my pickles.

I made a mixture of white vinegar and water 1:1 and added about a tablespoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. I brought this to a rolling boil.

I cut the cucumbers to fit the jars and mixed in the grape leaves. I put the spices on top (some people like the spices on the bottom below the cucumbers) and added the hot vinegar solution. I wiped the rims of the jars and added the lids.

In one jar, I added about a teaspoon of dried chopped garlic (makes kosher dill pickles). I added a piece of grape leaf to this jar on top of the cucumber slices to keep them below the level of the vinegar solution to ensure all the cucumber becomes pickles and doesn’t spoil.

I’ll let them cool and pop them in the fridge.

Leave for at least 7 days. The longer you leave them, the better they are.

I use grape leaves instead of chemicals to keep the pickles crunchy. Just make sure there are no chemicals on the leaves, and watch for insect damage.

Enjoy!