Originally Posted by
krystian
Kosher Dill Pickles
14 cups water
2 cups white vinegar
4 large cloves of garlic thinly sliced
3/4 cup KOSHER salt
sprigs and stems of fresh dill
pickling cucumbers
If you want whole pickles cut a half inch off each end of the
pickling cuke, or you can half or quarter them. Put some pieces of
dill and garlic on the bottom of the jars being used then start
packing the pickles in it. Add more garlic and dill as you keep
adding more of the pickles.
Put the water, vinegar and kosher salt into a large pot and bring
to a boil, boil for one minute, stir and then immediately pour the
brine solution over the pickles. Save some extra brine as the levels
might go down after a couple of days.
Keep uncovered and unrefrigerated for 3 days then cover and
refrigerate overnight. Eat and enjoy!
*Make sure you only use kosher salt, and only use the pickling cukes as the regular cucumbers have a harder skin and don't taste as good. I like to add a little bit more garlic and a tiny bit more salt.
I usually only make a half recipe at a time which is enough to make a big gallon jug and a couple of little ones but it depends on how tightly you pack the pickles. You can even throw in halved green tomatoes, sliced Hungarian hot peppers or if you're daring enough some those really hot little red peppers, just cut the tops off of them.
I harvest my own dill from my garden and I like to break the top half off the dills plants so that the bottoms will keep growing...and you can use all of the plant, the top seed heads, foliage and especially the stems, just cut them into 4" pieces and pack them all around the pickles in the jar.
Keep the jars in the sink while pouring the hot brine over them as once in a blue moon a jar make crack on you. I do not pour directly from the pot, I just keep refilling a large measuring cup, seems to protect them against the jar cracking.