Been awhile since I posted, but that might have something to do with the slow build up of pickles within my fridge. I chose to do these because they were quick and required no vinegar and only a brine of water and salt. There are two ways of doing these pickles: in spears and whole. I did both just to experiment, but the spears should develop their flavor and be ready quicker. All you do is leave them out for a couple of days allows for a bit for fermentation to occur.
-Brine: a ratio of 4 quarts of water to 6 tablespoons Kosher salt
-Kirby or pickling cucumbers
-Fresh dill
-Whole garlic cloves crushed, still in their skin
Basically you just heat 1 quart of water with the salt to dissolve it and then combine it with the rest of the 3 quarts. Pass your jars through a dishwasher or some boiling water before packing them. I did cut up spears in one jar and whole in the other (though I did score the bottoms of the cucumbers). I think these jars were around 1 quart and I added about 2 branch thingies of dill (descriptive, right?) to each along with 2 cloves of garlic and 2 teaspoons of pickling spice. Pour the brine over and loosely seal if using lids or cover with cheese cloth (I used a paper towel) and let sit out for 2 days for spears and 3-4 for whole cucumbers. Refrigerate when they are ready!
Mmmm, crunchy dill pickles alongside a sandwich-like the corned beef one I took hiking the other day which really cried out for one of your pickles. Is that a special SoCal variety of dill-the branch thingie ones? :-) You're becoming the headquarters of the A-1 Deli!
ReplyDeleteAnd isn't that beer about ready-just in time to help you study for finals??