We are a family who loves a good pickle. Dill, kosher, spices, half sour, you name it, we love them. A lot of our meals involve some sort of picked something, usually store or deli bought. We have talked about trying to make our own pickles for years, but have never got around to it....until today! With the unanticipated time on our hands, I decided to have the kids give me a hand and try to make some pickles.
I went with a recipe that was simple and a bit of a combination of a few that I have seen on the internet. The basic brine is made up of 2:1 vinegar to water, and then 2:1 sugar to salt. So for this try we went with:
2c white distilled vinegar
1c cool tap water
1/2c sugar
1/4 salt
To that we added some store bought McCormick picking spice which is a combination bay leaf, coriander seed, mustard seed, cinnamon, all spice, ginger, clove, red and black pepper, mace and cardamom. We added two tablespoons to our base brine.
I think that with all the “fall spices” in there it was a bit sweet, and I’ll probably make my own spice mix going forward, but I wanted to start with something easy. So to spice it up a bit I added about 5 whole garlic cloves, a slice of red onion, and some garlic powder to bring the brine down a bit in sweetness.
I brought the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes while I got the cucumbers ready for their bath.
I split the brine into two parts so I could make one batch regular for the kids, and the second batch spicy for me and Mrs. Dill. I figured I would throw two scotch bonnet peppers in there, seeds removed and cut into rings. I tossed them into the half of the brine I left in the pot and let them steep in the hot brine for about 3 minutes on the stove, then I removed from heat. I let the brine cool to warm while stuffing the containers full of half cucumbers and some fresh dill.
Once cool enough, I poured the brines over their respective cucumber containers. I came up a bit short on brine so I topped each off with a bit of water and a splash of vinegar. Wiped them both down and tossed them in the fridge to sit for a day or so before trying.
I’m looking forward to trying them later in the week. I don’t have high expectations, but I did learn the process pretty well and look forward to giving it another try once I see these results. I’ll pop back in after a few days and let everyone know how they came out. The process took me about 30 minutes and was really kid friendly. My 6 and 8 year olds had a blast helping me and measuring out the ingredients. For those of us with some time on our hands, make some pickles and tell us how they turn out!
I went with a recipe that was simple and a bit of a combination of a few that I have seen on the internet. The basic brine is made up of 2:1 vinegar to water, and then 2:1 sugar to salt. So for this try we went with:
2c white distilled vinegar
1c cool tap water
1/2c sugar
1/4 salt
To that we added some store bought McCormick picking spice which is a combination bay leaf, coriander seed, mustard seed, cinnamon, all spice, ginger, clove, red and black pepper, mace and cardamom. We added two tablespoons to our base brine.
I think that with all the “fall spices” in there it was a bit sweet, and I’ll probably make my own spice mix going forward, but I wanted to start with something easy. So to spice it up a bit I added about 5 whole garlic cloves, a slice of red onion, and some garlic powder to bring the brine down a bit in sweetness.
I brought the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes while I got the cucumbers ready for their bath.
I split the brine into two parts so I could make one batch regular for the kids, and the second batch spicy for me and Mrs. Dill. I figured I would throw two scotch bonnet peppers in there, seeds removed and cut into rings. I tossed them into the half of the brine I left in the pot and let them steep in the hot brine for about 3 minutes on the stove, then I removed from heat. I let the brine cool to warm while stuffing the containers full of half cucumbers and some fresh dill.
Once cool enough, I poured the brines over their respective cucumber containers. I came up a bit short on brine so I topped each off with a bit of water and a splash of vinegar. Wiped them both down and tossed them in the fridge to sit for a day or so before trying.
I’m looking forward to trying them later in the week. I don’t have high expectations, but I did learn the process pretty well and look forward to giving it another try once I see these results. I’ll pop back in after a few days and let everyone know how they came out. The process took me about 30 minutes and was really kid friendly. My 6 and 8 year olds had a blast helping me and measuring out the ingredients. For those of us with some time on our hands, make some pickles and tell us how they turn out!
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