Garlicky Dill Pickles

Update 2:  The second batch has great dill flavor (apparently) but the garlic is mild.  This batch has only been fermenting for about 2 weeks now, while the first batch has fermented for nearly a month.  Tai liked the crispness of this second batch, so I am canning both of them today; with the second batch, I will add in some of the garlic cloves from the brine, so that they can continue to infuse garlicky flavor to the pickles.  For the next (third) batch, I think I will keep the garlic at about 1 head, but only ferment for 2 weeks. 

Update: Tai just sampled this batch and said “HOLY GARLIC, BATMAN!”  He said they were excellent (actually, what he said was “wicked good”), but just barely on the verge of too much garlic (as if such a thing existed).  So, for the next batch, I’m taking out 3 big cloves of garlic and adding in another bunch of dill.  Stay tuned….

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Have you ever grown cucumbers?  Last year, when I embarked on the Great Tomato Experiment ‘08, Tai asked me if I would grow a cucumber plant or two so that I could make him pickles.  Being the forge-ahead-and-read-up-on-things-later type of girl that I am, I ordered two types of cucumber seed from Seeds of Change: Northern Pickling and Sweet Marketmore.  Never having grown a thing before, and never having eaten a whole pickle (bleeecccchhhh), I did not realize that you’re only supposed to pickle the “pickling” variety cucumbers (Kirby, Gherkin, etc, the small, squat, bumpy ones), not the “field” variety of cucumber (i.e. the ones you eat).  Sweet Marketmore is a field cucumber; we also get them from our CSA.  Last year was apparently an excellent cucumber year; we ate cucumber, tomato and feta salads nearly every day.  Ah, well; live and learn.

This year, I was a whole growing season wiser.  I planted some of last year’s Northern Pickling cukes, and also ordered Double Yield pickling cuke seeds from Seed Savers Exchange for variety.  Apparently, what with all the rain and cool temps, this year is not an excellent cucumber year (at least not for me).  My plants are sadly pathetic; whereas last year at this time they were 6 – 8-foot vines, with huge, dinner-plate-sized glossy green leaves, this year they are decidedly anemic-looking; pale green leaves, not much bigger than my hand, and vines that are only 2-3 feet long.  It could be the weather, or the fact that I direct-sowed this year instead of growing seedlings indoors, or a combination of both, but the plants are pretty sad and I’m not confident that they will produce much fruit.

Have I mentioned that Tai loves pickles? I mean Loves them, with a capital L.  I think making pickles last year may have been the best thing I’ve ever done for him.  So, when I saw Kirby cucumbers at the farmer’s market on Saturday, I simply had to pick up a bunch and start a batch o’ pickles brewing.  Because, really, when it’s this easy to make someone happy, how can you not?

This recipe makes a nicely spiced, not overly salty, but quite garlicky pickle.  Adjust the amounts of spice, salt and garlic to your liking, although do not lower the salt as you need a degree of salinity to encourage the fermentation. I generally have 2 or 3 big bowls brewing in the garage over much of the summer; the recipe does not need to be exact, and if your cucumbers are faring better than mine, you can add a few here and there to the brine as they come off the vine.  I try to “rotate my stock” and stick the newer cukes down toward the bottom of the bowl, and then start a new bowl when I’ve filled one up.  Along the way I usually have Tai taste-test a few to make sure I’ve got the salt-spice-garlic ratio perfect. The cukes can stay in the brine, in my experience, for anywhere from 3 – 8 weeks without issue; when I have enough for a batch, I can them up and store them away for the winter – keeping a few in the fridge for Tai to swoon over!

Adapted from Deli Dills in The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, J. Kingry and L. Devine

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Garlicky Dill Pickles

INGREDIENTS

• 3 to 4 lbs pickling cucumbers (Kirby, Northern Pickling, etc), washed and ends trimmed
• 2 bunches fresh dill
• scant 1/2 cup pickling spice
• 8 cups filtered water
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 2/3 cup of Kosher salt (or 1/2 cup of pickling or canning salt)
• 1 head garlic (about 12- 16 cloves), cloves peeled and left whole

METHODS

Pickling

1. Add water, vinegar and salt to a medium stockpot and bring to a boil over high heat.  Stir to dissolve salt; remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
2. Wash (make sure to get off all the spiky spines!) and trim blossom ends (about 1/8-inch) from cucumbers; blossom ends – the end without the stem – contain an enzyme that can soften your pickles, so must be trimmed. I usually trim both ends for aesthetics.
3. In a very large bowl, crock or clean plastic pail, add half the pickling spice and half the dill.  Add cucumbers and garlic. Pour cooled pickling liquid over cucumbers to cover.  Place the remaining dill and pickling spice on top.  Weigh down cucumbers with an inverted, clean plate; you can use clean quart jars filled with water to weight the plate and keep the cucumbers in the brine if the plate alone is not heavy enough.  Cover bowl with a clean kitchen towel or with cheesecloth.  Let stand at cool room temperature (70 – 75 degrees F).
4. Every day or two, check your pickles and skim off any scum that rises to the top of the bowl. The pickles will bubble as they ferment; when the bubbling ceases, after about 3 to 4 weeks, fermentation is complete.

Canning

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids (quart jars work best).
2. Drain pickles, reserving the brine.  Strain brine into a large saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes.
3. Pack pickles into hot jars with a generous 1/2 inch headspace.  Add 3 or 4 of the pickled garlic cloves to each jar if you wish.  Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover pickles, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Yields 3 to 4 quart jars of pickles.

OPTIONS

1. Pickling or canning salt is the best to use in this recipe as it does not contain any anti-caking agents (which can cause the brine to become cloudy) or iodine (which can cause pickles to become discolored).  I can never find pickling salt locally and I can’t bring myself to pay $10 to have $1 worth of salt shipped to my house… hence, I use Kosher salt.  Last year my pickle brine was cloudy but it did not affect the taste or texture of the pickles.
2. If canning, do not include whole spices in the brine during processing; they will darken and/or discolor the brine and your pickles.  If refrigerating, whole spices may be left in, although pickles may darken slightly over time.  Do not use ground spices with either storage method, as they will discolor the pickles.
3. Most old pickle recipes do not call for any boiling water processing; you simply jar the pickles and you are done. Presumably the assumption is that the vinegar makes the pickles & brine acidic enough to eliminate worries about botulism, but without a pH meter, I have no way of knowing . I’ll say again; botulism is not something I want to experience.  This is likely the overly cautious route, but I processed last year’s batch of pickles, and they were still tasty and crisp.  I recommend refrigerator storage if you do not want to process your pickles. 

STORE

If canned, store in a cool, dark spot for up to 1 year.  If refrigerated, store in brine for up to 3 months.

SEASON

Summer.