pickles

Last year we grew our cucumbers in large pots and there were enough to make a few pints of dill pickles. Anne made them and they were amazing.
With those garlicy dills in mind, this year I planted heaps of cucumbers so I could can lots of pints. Those little hills of seed have become a mini jungle, thick with flowers and the constant drone of bees working away. It seems I just turned my back for a moment and, well... Let's just say it will be a good year for pickles.
Sunday I picked enough for 8 pints, the comfortable limit of my enamelware waterbath canner. Anne sent me a link to the recipe she used, from Ashley English.

The recipe calls for 6 pounds of cucumbers. I had slightly more than that and so ate the largest in a salad. Mild, sweet, summer in a mouthful.
Next step, wash well, remove a slice off each end, cover with water and salt (the brine solution) and refrigerate over night.

The dried dill seed shown here is from our garden. I also used fresh dill greens, and not shown here peppercorns I purchased at the Spice House in Evanston, Illinois. It is a Malabar pepper called Tellicherry.

The next morning after draining and rinsing them well, I packed each jar with spears cut from 2 cukes, and then added the pickling liquid before processing. There was a scant half cup of liquid leftover, so the recipe is pretty much spot on in the amounts listed.
This morning I see there are enough coming on in the garden to make another batch in a day or two. The hardest part of the process will be waiting the couple of weeks for them to cure before opening a jar.