Sun Dill Pickles

My friend Mrs. M is crazy talented.  Not only does she have two big kids and baby Kaleb (who you've seen here numerous times), but she goes to school full-time.  She has a huge house and is an amazingly crafty woman.  Oh, and did I mention that she's an Air Force wife whose husband is often away serving our country?  On top of all that, she is a really good cook.  So, when she offered to show Buttercup and me how to make her fabulous Sun Dill Pickles, we jumped at the opportunity. 

Have you ever tried to make your own pickles?  Mrs. M's dill pickles will make you a fan of pickles.  Seriously!  They're crisp and tangy and remind me of the pickles that we used to be able to buy out of a barrel at the grocery store.  The best part?  They are super easy.

So, without further ado, here is the recipe for Mrs. M's Sun Dill Pickles.  This recipe makes one gallon of pickles.  (Mrs. M picked 23 pounds of pickling cucumbers for us on Saturday - wasn't that sweet? and that made 5 1/2 gallons.)

4 pounds of pickling cucumbers, washed and patted dry, with stem ends cut off.
1/2 cup of salt (non-iodized)
3-4 stems of dill

2 tablespoons of pickling spice
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup of apple cider vinegar
water

Instructions:
Put 1/4 cup of salt, 1 tablespoon of pickling spice, 2 cloves of garlic in the bottom of a gallon-sized glass jar with a lid.   Fold 2 dill stems and add to the jar.  Add half the pickles, packed tightly.hen top with 1/4 cup salt, 1 tablespoon pickling spice, the rest of the garlic and one cup of apple cider vinegar.  Fill to the top with water.  

See how Buttercup is just putting those cucumbers on top of the stuff?  She just pushed down on the stalks of dill and really packed them in. 

She had quite the assembly line going, didn't she?  She and Mrs. M had quite the system, so I just played with baby Kaleb.  It was a win-win all around, don't think?

Once you have half the cucumbers in the jar, add the rest of the dill and the garlic.  Then put in the other half of the cucumbers.  Top with the remaining 1/4 cup salt, 1 tablespoon pickling spice, the rest of the garlic and one cup of apple cider vinegar.  Fill to the top with water and seal.  Mrs. M adds plastic wrap before she puts the lids on a) to seal better and b) to protect the lids from the corrosive action of the vinegar.  (She's very smart, isn't she?)

After that, you shake it up really well...you want all the spices mixed around in the liquid and put it in the sun for three days, then refrigerate your amazing pickles. That is all there is to it!  Amazing pickles are just a few steps away. This is our jar.  Isn't it beautiful?  (I'm fibbing.  I don't know if that is really "our" jar...I just called it our jar.  Honestly, it was just one of the jars we made that I snapped a picture of after the water had been added and before the plastic wrap and lids had been added.)

These are all the jars we made with our assembly line.  That is a lot of pickles! 

I'm just so tickled to know how to do this myself.  Freshly made pickles from freshly pick cucumbers.  Too cool.  (Guess what we're adding to our garden next year?)

Stay tuned...Mrs. M said she'll show me how to can tomatoes next.  I can hardly wait!