It has been a regular pickle avalanche around here. I put-up a batch of dill pickles at the beginning of the week and mid-week a batch of the
signature crispy-crunchy sweet pickles. Ordinarily,
everyone gets a pint
of dill or sweet pickles during the holidays replete
with a festive bow on the lid. There's also homemade tomato juice, salsa, pickled beets, dilled green beans and raspberry jam. This is a medium-sized batch - 7+ pounds of pickle cukes yields a dozen pints of finished product..
Begin with
a sink-full of freshly-picked, scrubbed and rinsed
pickle-size cucumbers.
Slice
your cukes. The use of a mandolin
makes the job go fast and results in uniform slices. I like the
crinkle cut. Take care with the fingertips as the blade is
sharp!
Toss your cuke slices into a five gallon food-grade plastic bucket
filled with a couple
of gallons of cold tap water.
Everyone
should have a five gallon bucket. My recollection is hazy
but there is a possibility my bucket originally held cat
litter. It also appears to be food-grade
as it doesn’t stain or absorb odors I’ve used it to brine
meats and fish, haul butchered venison and assist in pickle-making. I
even made sauerkraut in it one year. In a pinch you can sit on
it in your deer stand and keep your thermos, lunch and toilet
paper inside where it won't get wet. Like I said - they're
indispensable. The secret to really crunchy pickles is
liming them.
Combine one cup of pickling lime with
the two
gallons of cold water and mix thoroughly. If
required add to the
bucket additional lime and water as
you want your cuke
chips float freely and
uncrowded in your
pickle barrel. Cover the sliced cukes with a dinner plate, snap-on the lid and let it set overnight.
The following morning drain your
limed cuke chips in the sink. They'll be nice
and crispy but you have to soak them to remove the excess
lime. Fill the sink full of slices with cold tap
water and drain. Repeat three more times.
Leave your slices to soak in cold water until noon -
3 to 4 more hours. Next - make your brine.
This is
easy peasy. In a non-reactive pot combine
equal parts of sugar and vinegar. For a dozen pints of pickles figure on 12 cups of sugar and 12 cups of distilled white vinegar - stir until dissolved. Add
a single 1 ½ oz
bottle of pickling spice and a couple of tablespoons of kosher
salt. Heat to a
boil. Add your pickles slices, cover the pot, turn-off the heat and
allow to rest on the stove top for five more hours.
Following dinner
return to the stove-top and return the pot to a boil.
Since this is a hot-pack method of pickle-making keep a low
fire under your pot and your lids should seal just fine. When
in doubt process in a boiling water bath for an additional 10-15
minutes.
Ladle
slices into sterile pint jars. The use of a canning funnel will
facilitate a no-mess operation. You might use a tablespoon to organize
the slices in your jars but don’t cram them too tightly. Top each jar
with
additional brine leaving a half-inch of head space. Add a lid and a
band and set aside to cool. When
the lids 'pop' your jars are sealed and your cukes are
officially pickles.
These pickles are awesome. You're going to
want to put these on top of almost any sandwich you make.
Particularly a crunchy peanut butter, toasted cheese, burger, hot dog
or a tuna sandwich.
Want to spice them-up? Add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
to a jar.
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A word about the jars and lids. Sterilize your jars by
immersing them in boiling water or running them through the
dishwasher on the 'sanitize' cycle. Lids are easy
- in the microwave heat a Pyrex measuring cup full of water
to a boil. Drop your lids in the hot water. Fish them
out with a sterile tongs.
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