Pickles

This is how to make Dill Pickles using the Short Method. The recipe is from Ball's Blue Book.

Start with 30-40 pickling cucumbers. Wash them well. 

While the cukes are soaking (or the tub of water is filling), sterilize clean lids and rings. I did it the lazy way by covering them with boiling water. Remember, you can only use the lids once. Once you open a sealed lid, the seal is broken forevermore. Rings and jars can be reused until they get broken, chipped, rusted, bent out of shape, or lost to the garbage disposal.

Fill the clean jars with boiling water. Leave the boiling water in there. (It helps preheat the jars.)

Cutting the cucumbers into spears that will fit in the jars. The recipe suggests halves, but I prefer spears. 

The pickling spice. I didn't have cheesecloth, but I did have unfilled teabags, which worked great. Put 3 T. of pickling spice into one of them. I picked out as much cinnamon as I could, as I don't like cinnamon in my pickles. 

Make the brine. Put 3/4 c. of sugar, 1/2 c. salt (I used kosher), 1 quart water, and 1 quart vinegar (I used white, but apple cider is also good). Bring the brine to a boil, then remove the spice packet. Stir so the sugar and salt dissolves, and keep at a low boil.

Use your biggest pot for the processing. Make sure you have a rack that fits inside of it. Put an inch or two of water into the pot and bring it to a boil. Empty the sterilized jars into the pot and put the hot jars in as well. Try to fit them in snugly so they don't rattle too much (or flip over because they are empty and floating). 

While the broth is coming to a boil, put a head of dill into each jar. If you want some spicy garlic dills, add a clove of peeled garlic, a piece of dried red chili, a bay leaf, and half a teaspoon of mustard seed into those jars as well. Pack in the cucumbers on top of that. Then, pour in the hot brine, leaving a quarter inch of head room. Put the lids on top, then screw on the rings gently. (You can tighten them later. . . you just want them on enough that you can lift the jars by holding the rings.) 

The filled jars in their water bath. Add more water. Jars are better now, so you don't need to totally immerse them. Make sure the boiling water goes about halfway up, cover them, and let boil for fifteen minutes. Take them out of the water and set on a cooling rack. I topped mine with a towel to catch the drips. 

Gently tighten any rings that are loose. Let cool. You'll probably hear some loud pops as some of them self-seal. After a couple of hours, test the seals by gently pressing down in the middle of each jar lid. They should all be "down," but if one is up, push it down harder. If it stays down, good. If it pops back up, you didn't get the lid on straight and it isn't going to seal. Store that jar in the fridge. 

That's it! Pickles will be ready to eat in a few weeks.