That little vacation was longer then planned! After hiking, hunting and camping for a week.....we returned home with a nasty stomach virus....or a case of nasty food poisoning from a sweet uncle that dumped in a gallon of ten year old vegetable oil in everything! Whichever it was.....I hope to never revisit that experience and will politely decline the food....
On a much better note!!! It has been two months since I put up dozen bottles kosher pickles.....and after opening the first bottle... we have been flying through them!! Or rather I have.....they are a constant craving!
So I want to share the recipe...especially since bountiful baskets is still supplying (or was last week) pickling cukes and for those that are in warmer climates (it took me a few weeks to find enough cukes! Sad but true!! The recipes comes from my Aunt Diana...who is an amazing woman and a wonderful cook, and was like a mother to me!! I love that her daughter, Lisa, put together a recipe book from her recipes and many of my cousin's favorite. They are tried and true, and make dinner even easier to conquer and you know that they will be good!
Let me know what you think!!
KOSHER DILLS
For crisp dill pickles; it is critical to soak the cukes in ice water for at least two hours and ensuring the water is at a full boil when poured over the dills.
Wash the cukes and then let sit in the sink with cold water and ice, replenish the ice as needed.
Put about 1 1/2 inch of dill weed and 1 TBS of sliced/minced garlic in bottom of quart; arrange cucumbers on top. Pour 1/3 full of vinegar and finish filling with boiling water. Add 1 TBS of canning salt (not iodized) and 1/4 tsp alum and a small red hot pepper per jar (I had dried red peppers earlier on and just put about 1/2 tsp of the flakes in the jar.) The are purty! too!
Clean the jar rim and top with prepared lids and process in a water bath for 15 minutes. (Let age 6 to 8 weeks)
I had to hide the dills at the back of he pantry because the kiddos kept bringing them out and wanting to EAT them! But trust me, the wait is worth it! I kept the smallest cukes whole, but also sliced some and made some into spear....their all GOOD!!!
And.....when you make the pickles yourself....they do not have sodium benzoate in them. Something to think about!
Now if you excuse me....I need a snack!
Lover yer pickle eatin guts!
