Pickles

Yowza, I haven't blogged in a while.  So very sorry about that.  Not like I haven't been cooking or anything.  My family would have a fit if I wasn't!

This summer, my garden overfloweth with cucumbers.  Of course, I now am having a cucumber beetle infestation, but that's okay.  We have been picking 10-15 cukes a DAY.  What do I do with them?  Glad you asked!!

I found a "Claussen Kosher Pickle" copycat recipe online and tweaked it just a bit.  These are very garlicky and pretty salty, but we love them.  If you're more a Vlasic fan, you probably won't like these as much.

These are the seven jars I made
a few days ago...and a couple
jars of leftover brine ready to go!

Cucumbers (of course!)
Sliced onions (1/2 an onion or so??)
One head of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
1 Tbsp mustard seeds (not powdered mustard or mustard you find in the condiment aisle!)
1 bunch of fresh dill (very flexible - just split what you have between your jars)
1 1/2 quarts ice water (that's six cups)
2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup salt (I usually use kosher, but this year I used canning salt and used a little more than 1/3 cup)
jars (I like wide-mouth quart size, but you can use whatever you want)

Bring cider vinegar and salt to a boil.  This stinks.  Put on a fan and do not put your nose over it.  Whew!!  While it's coming to a boil, clean your jars (I just wash them) and prepare your cucumbers.  I clean them, slice off the ends, then cut them in half length-wise, then in half again, then half again (so...eighths, right?? I hate public math!).

Stuff the jars very tightly with cucumbers, a few slices onions, and a handful of dill, up to the top, leaving some room for the brine to flow around the cukes.

When the vinegar boils and the salt has dissolved, remove from heat, add the garlic and mustard seeds, stir, then add the ice water.  The original recipe had you boil the water with the vinegar, and pour the resulting brine over the cucumbers, but I found that made the pickles soft.  I like crispy pickles, so I changed it up.

Pour the brine into the jars over the cukes.  Make sure you get a few cloves of garlic and some mustard seeds (usually around a teaspoon) in each jar.  Fill right up to the top, put a lid on it and let it sit on the counter for three days.  Label the top with a permanent marker so you don't forget!  THEN REFRIGERATE!!  They are still edible if you happen to forget, but I think they're much better after only three days.

Enjoy - and we eat the onions and garlic when we finish a jar.  They've become so deliciously pickle-y, even the kids eat 'em!