Cucumbers, Pickles

This is the second time I have had gobs of small cucumbers on hand and very little, or no, dill. The last time this happened, a few years ago, the poor cucumbers mostly went to waste, so they are part of our abundant compost now.

Because the dill that we planted did not do very well this year in the garden, a few days ago I went on a mission to find dill. I went to Super Saver, the discount grocery store in town, knowing that they were my best bet for finding some. They often have outstanding, unusual produce, and I recalled seeing dill there at some point in the past. I was in luck. They had two large bunches of dill that had seen better days, but were not quite past pickling quality. That, along with the single large sprig I got from our garden, was enough to can eight quarts of cucumbers.

Our grape vines are crazily prolific this year, so we have tons of grape leaves. I have read that adding a grape leaf improves the flavor of the pickles a lot. I have never made them without grape leaves, so I can't attest to their importance, myself. The pickles that we make are always quite good, so I'd say it's worth putting the leaves in if you have them handy.

Many cookbooks have recipes for cucumber pickles, including the Joy of Cooking and The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics, and there are always new books coming out about pickling, canning and preserving, like Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It and Other Cooking Projects (by Karen Solomon; Ten Speed, 2009), which I looked at the other day and liked a lot. It's always great to look at new books coming out because they always offer something new--a new take on things, a new voice, a new hand. I do not own this one, but it's on my wish list.


Despite the dozens of pickle recipes that I surely have in my cookbook collection--even without this book--I use an adaptation of my mother-in-law's recipe, the one my husband grew up on. Here is our version of it:


Claire Gardner's Pickles (Regular Type) (Dictated 2003)

Pickling cucumbers
Canning salt
Garlic cloves, peeled
Dill
Grape leaves, fresh (optional)
Hot peppers (aka chilis), any kind, dried or fresh (optional)

Use quart, wide-mouth canning jars with metal rings, and always use fresh lids. Clean the jars and rings very well, preferably in the dishwasher with a heated dry session. Do not wash the rubberized lids in the dishwasher.

Begin boiling a few quarts of water in pots or tea pots. Then begin heating some other water in a low-sided pan, so that you can simmer the lids and rings. They should come right out of simmering water before putting on the jars.

Begin boiling a few cups of white vinegar in a pan.

Rinse the cucumbers very well in a bowl of water and then under running water. As they are rinsed, put them into absolutely clean bowls. Also rinse the grape leaves and/or chilis, if using, also under running water.

Peel 2 to 3 cloves of garlic for every jar you'll be filling. Rinse them well in running water after peeling them.

Place one grape leaf (if using) and one chili (if using) in each jar. Then put in a wad of dill (I only use the fronds, not the stems) and add 2-3 peeled garlic cloves. Put in 1 tablespoon of canning salt (do not use regular table salt and certainly don't use sea salt, or you'll have cloudy brine). Then start to stuff the jars--not packed too tightly--with cucumbers. Try to leave a little room at the top and don't have cucumbers sticking all the way up so that they will touch the lids when they are upright.

Then put a butter knife in the jar to diffuse some of the heat, so the jars don't crack, and pour in 1/2 cup of boiling white vinegar. Then fill the rest of the jar with boiling water, leaving 1/2 inch at the top.

After filling each jar, wipe the rim with a very clean, wet dish towel.

Then, using tongs, pull out a lid from the simmering water and place it on the top of the jar. Do not touch the lid with your fingers. Then pull out a ring from the simmering water, using the tongs, and carefully screw the lid on. Be careful not to screw it on too tightly--just tight enough to be completely screwed on, but not beyond that at all.

Write the canning date on the top of the jar in Sharpie.

Then turn all of the jars upside-down on a clean counter top and leave there for 8-12 hours. Then turn them upright and store in a cool, dark place, but not the refrigerator. You can eat them in 3 months, but they will be better after 4 or 5 months, and good for a year, at least. I don't know how long after canning these pickles I would trust eating them, but 2 years would be my own, unofficial limit, if for no other reason than possible deterioration of quality after that point.

You can add other seasonings to these pickles if you wish, like cloves or allspice, I'm sure. But I have not experimented with that. The hot pepper version is very hot. We usually just make them plain, with dill and grape leaves only.