Sunday, July 18, 2010

I’m in a pickle

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="pickling cucumbers"]pickling cucumbers[/caption]

Last week I was sitting at a business meeting at a newly re-opened restaurant enjoying a veggie sandwich when I took a bite of what I thought was a dill pickle. My lunch companion noticed that I really didn't care for a bread and butter pickle cut up to look like a dill pickle.

"YUCK!" I said as I spit the pickle out. Not my finest moment but this gave me the opportunity to talk about my love of dill pickles, especially my Grandma's homemade pickles. My Grandma used to spend the summers canning veggies and sauce and making homemade jams. Each summer she'd make her famous dill pickles and they'd be all eaten up by the end of the week!

When I moved from Nebraska, I knew I would miss those pickles and fortunately for me, my 86 year old Grandma found an easy recipe  I could make without too much fuss. She calls them "Polish Sun Dill Pickles." Yes, you read that right, SUN PICKLES.

First, get yourself a large glass jar ... like the one you use to make sun tea with. Now, when I bought my sun tea jar, my husband was puzzled ... "you don't drink tea?" My response, "SUN PICKLES." He scratched his head last summer when I told him and was a little worried about my state of mind.

Wash your pickling cucumbers and place them in a jar with half a head of garlic and 6 springs of dill. I don't usually measure how many pounds I buy as I usually take the sun tea jar with me and fill it up at the store and then put them in a baggy.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="299" caption="Yes, that is a sun tea jar full of pickles"]Yes, that is a sun tea jar full of pickles[/caption]

Mix together water, vinegar, 1/2 cup of salt (I used kosher salt) and alum powder and pour over the cucumbers. Put in the sun for 48 hours.  Yes, they are THAT EASY.

Now, when they are done, I put them in jars with the pickle juice and store in the frig. My Grandma was telling me that I don't need to put them in the refrigerator but I just do it to be on the safe side.

Enjoy!!!

Polish Sun Pickles

6 1/2 c. water
3 1/4 c. white vinegar
4-6 sprigs dill
1/2 c. salt
1/2 head of garlic
1 tsp. alum powder

Wash cubes and put in large sun tea jar. Mix above ingredients and put int0 jar. Set in sun for 2 days.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="299" caption="Sun pickles chillin'"]Sun pickles chillin'[/caption]

16 comments:

Liana said...

So can you use the jar to make tea also, or does the residue/smell make it a "dedicated" pickle jar? (I guess you wouldn't know since you don't do tea?)

I am totally going to try that recipe. I love dill pickles as well. My dad pickles cukes but all I have left are 1 jar of dill, and a bunch of sweet/bread and butter ones. I'll be sure never to serve the latter if you're over for dinner.

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