PUCKER UP FOR PICKLES, YA'LL!!!

(BLOGGER IS NOT LETTING ME DOUBLE SPACE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS! SORRY!)


Are ya'll ready to make Mamaw's Spicy Pickles??? I finally got around to makin' 'em Friday night. This week's been busy. Okay, here's the ingredients: one batch is about 4 quart jars. sliced up pickling cucumbers - I don't know how many - I had about 2 1/2 gallon size ziploc bags full. onions - slices or quarters

fresh garlic cloves - about 2 per quart jar

celery - 3 stalks cut into 1" chunks

jalapeno peppers (or serrano if you want it spicier) - cut into quarters or smaller if they're big

apple cider vinegar - 1 quart per batch

1 pint water

4 c. sugar

1/2 c. canning salt

dill seed/fresh dill

Like on the jelly, I take my jars fresh outta the dishwasher, all hot & steamy - 4 quart or 8 pint jars at a time and set em on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Into each jar (I'm going with quart, if you use pint you'll use a little less of each of the veggies) put a couple of sprigs of fresh dill, 1/4 to 1/2 t. dill seed, several pieces of onion, 3-4 pieces of celery, a couple of cloves of garlic, a piece of jalapeno, and as many slices of cucumber as you can stuff and squeeze down in there and still get a lid on. (When that hot vinegar solution hits those cukes, they'll shrink up alot)

Oh yeah, before all this, remember to wash your lids and bands, and put them into a pot of water on the stove, bring to a boil, and then simmer and keep steaming hot to seal your jars with.
Ok, see in the above picture, I've got my jars all packed & ready with the funnels for the vinegar solution. Here we go:

In a large stockpot, put your quart of apple cider vinegar, 4 c. sugar, 1/2 c. canning salt, and 1 pint of water. Add 1/2 t. dill seed to this solution and heat on medium high heat. Stir and get all the sugar and salt melted and bring the solution to a full rolling boil. Open the windows and turn on the fans!!! It'll open up your sinuses for sure, peel the hair off your head and make your eyes water worse than onions!!! Keep your face out of the steam! Hey it's a great way to run your kids outside if you're tired of 'em being underfoot! Mine used to scatter to the four winds.

Sorry, I got carried away with the vinegar stench... It gets to me sometimes... After your solution has boiled a couple or three minutes, turn it on low, get you a cup with a spout on it to scoop, and start scoopin' the vinegar into the jars & use your jar funnels if you have em. Go ahead and fill all the jars to within 1/4 inch or so of the top. Wipe off the mouths of the jars, and get your tongs or your nifty magnetized lid and band picker upper and put the tops on and then screw the bands down real tight. I always use a couple of wet, squeezed out dishrags to handle the jars. They'll be VERY hot and sticky. I invert the jars and set em on the cabinet for awhile and then turn em over later when they've cooled a bit.

Here's my disclaimer again - This is the way my mamaw taught me and I've always done it like her and will continue to do it like her. Some people at this point may want to put the jars in a canning bath and that's fine. But we like our pickles crispy and if you do the canning bath, they cook some more and get kinda soft and floppy. It's probably not by govt. standards but I figure the vinegar takes care of the pickling. We've always eaten em this way - no problem.

That's up to you. (As you can see, I had enough cukes to make 2 batches.)

You can eat em the next day, but the longer they SET, the better they'll be. I usually go open a jar about 2 weeks after or so, and they're great. They won't last long. I've got scads more cucumbers getting ripe, so I'll make some more. And with the big green ones that are too big to slice, well they're getting made into sweet pickle relish. I put up some green tomatoes like this, and they were good, too.

Good luck! Let me know if you make some - hope you like em!