Pickle Post

Ok, I'm sure you're all getting sick of seeing my pickle posts, but this is going to be the ultimate pickle post! It seems like no one makes pickles the way our grandparents and great grandparents used to. So I am going to list out all the recipes I have made this season so they are all in one place and I can go back and reference them for years to come. We love pickles here at our house and they honestly don't last that long.

Some quick notes:
I don't "process" any of these pickles, and I usually get them to self seal with the use of a hot jar and hot brine.

When you are planting your cucumbers make sure to plant about 5 - 6 dill plants if you are wanting to can dill pickles throughout the season. I would also recommend not planting them near the cucumbers (they get choked out by those crazy vines).

I always grow my vines up a trellis for easy harvest.

As you pick them keep them in a big pot of water in the fridge to keep them crisp.

After you have filled your jars and sealed them well flip them over to give good contact with the lid to allow them to self seal easier.

Ice or Celery Pickles
Great Grandma Angela Russell-Ahern's recipe (my mom's dad's mother)

• Soak 3-4 inch cukes (sliced in quarters lengthwise) in ice water over night
  
• Boil together and cool 1 qt of vinegar, 1 cup of sugar, and 1/2 cup canning salt
• In the morning pack jars with sliced onions on the bottom cukes, celery, a few more onion slices on the top and then the cool brine and seal

*** I heat my jars with boiling water and fill them with veg and then top them off with HOT brine, seal, and flip over to hopefully self seal.

Dill Pickles
Grandma Mildred Koster's recipe (my dad's mom)

• 6 cups water (preferably well water)
• 2 cups vinegar
• 1/2 cup pickling salt
• 1/2 tsp alum (personal preference here - she never used alum for my dad b/c he liked them not as crisp) I don't really think the alum crisps them up that much.
• Bring the above to a boil
• Fill HOT jars with 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves garlic, the blooms of fresh dill, a pinch of red pepper for quart jars. Fill with brine, seal, and flip over

*** I use 4 or 5 cloves of garlic a lot of dill and some kind of hot pepper sliced open to expose the ribs and seeds.

Sweet Cucumber Pickles
Mom Pat Koster's recipe

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 1/4 cup canning salt
• 3/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp mustard seed
• 3/4 tsp celery seed
• Boil first six ingredients only until boiling point is reached
• 2 medium onions sliced thin
• 6 cukes
• Pour over cukes and onions which have been sliced and put in layers. Store in the fridge - good after one week.
  

Refrigerator or Ice Cream Bucket Pickles
Aunt Kris's recipe (my dad's sister)

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup canning salt
• 1 tsp alum (optional)
• 1 pint white vinegar
  
• 3 pints distilled water (I used well)
• Boil above ingredients
• 1st put dill, onion sliced, 5 hot peppers (I used Serranos this year), 8 cloves of smashed garlic, pack diced rounds of pickles tight, pour liquid into the bucket then leave the lid off for 3 days at room temp, cover, refrigerate, and enjoy.

*** I made them just as the recipe calls for and they were GREAT. I also just made some that I canned and refrigerated that I have not tried yet. I like to try and can and self seal them so you can enjoy them through the winter. I'll make any updates necessary after I try them.

I'm so happy I have all of my family recipes in once place now so we can enjoy them for many more years to come!!!!

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