Dill Pickles

Making pickles every year is a tradition in our family.  Here is our tried-and-true recipe for dill pickles.

Ingredients

8 Mason jars (quart-size)

small cucumbers (about 64-72 cucumbers)

8 stalks of fresh dill (seeds and all)

16 garlic cloves

3/4 cup pickling salt (not iodized, it must be a special salt for pickling)

4 cups white pickling vinegar (it must be pickling vinegar as it has more acetic acid than regular white vinegar)

12 cups water (we use bottled water as tap water can turn cloudy later in pickle jars)

Directions

1.  Clean your kitchen sink with a natural cleaner like baking soda to make sure it is very clean.

2.  Place cucumbers in the sink and fill the sink with cool water.  Swish them around with your hands to wash them well.  Drain the sink a couple of times and keep adding fresh water.  Let the pickles soak overnight in cold water in the sink.

3.  In the morning, drain the water out of the sink.  Put the jars in the dishwasher and turn it on for a cycle to make sure they are clean and hot when it is time to fill them.  Put the lids in a pan of water to boil (make sure they are new lids each time you make pickles).

4.  Combine salt, vinegar and water in a large pot.  Bring to a boil.

5.  While you are waiting for the pot to boil, wash the dill and peel the garlic.  Cut the tough bottom ends off the dill stalks.

6.  Using clean rubber gloves take a hot jar out of the dishwasher.  Place one whole stalk of dill in the jar.  Add two cloves of sliced garlic.  Pack the cucumbers into jars (putting the large ones on the bottom and the little ones near the top).  Sometimes shaking the jar helps to move them down.

7.  Using a liquid glass measuring cup, pour hot liquid over the cucumbers in the jar until the cucumbers are completely covered.  Seal with a hot lid.

8.  Repeat with the remaining jars.

9.  Let the hot jars sit on a kitchen towel until they are cool.  Then store them in a cool place.  I store my jars of pickles in an extra refrigerator because I do not have a cold room.  Let stand at least 6 weeks before using them.