How to Make Dill Pickles: One Jar At A Time

There is nothing quite as satisfying as making your own pickles direct from your own garden. Unfortunately, unless you live in the country and can grow a large garden, it is difficult to gather enough cucumbers to make up a recipe. Here is a good recipe for making dill pickles one jar at a time - and you don't need any special equipment to do it.

Things You'll Need

• Wide Mouth Quart Jar (you can buy the jar complete with the lid and ring at most hardware stores, some grocery stores, and most Wal-mart or Target stores.
• Pickle sized cucumbers
• Dill (either 1 fresh head or 1 tablespoon dill seed)
• 1 clove garlic - peeled
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3/4 cup white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon canning salt
• optional if you want HOT dills: 1 habenero pepper (buy a jar of them from the pickle/condiment aisle of grocery store)

Instructions

1. Wash and sterilize jar, lid and ring. To sterilize, place jar upside down in a kettle containing about an inch of water. Drop the lid and ring alongside the jar and bring the water to a boil. Allow the jar to boil in the water to boil for five minutes. Turn the burner off. Carefully remove the jar and place right side up on a cloth on the counter. Keep the lid and ring in the hot water.

2. Thoroughly wash the cucumbers. I have found the best way to wash cucumbers is to put them in the clothes washer (not a front load washer) and run the rinse cycle on the gentle setting. Alternately, you can scrub them with a dish rag under cold, running water, but I have found that I get the best, crispest pickles when I use the washer to clean them. I know it's weird, but it works. Also, do not cut or break the stems off the top of any cucumbers that still have the stems attached as removing the stems at this stage will make the pickles mushy.

3. Heat the brine to boiling. Brine: 1 1/2 cup water; 3/4 cup white vinegar; 1 tablespoon canning salt. (Canning salt contains no iodine. If you use regular table salt, the iodine will cloud the water and make your pickles look ugly.)

4. 

   Stuff one head of dill into the jar or if using dill seed, put one tablespoon in quart jar (or 2 pint jars). Drop one peeled garlic clove into jar. If you want HOT dills, drop in one marinated habenero pepper plus 1/2 teaspoon of the habenero liquid from the habenero jar. Now, tightly pack the cucumbers upright into the jar pressing down firmly against the dill. Pack in as many cucumbers as you possibly can, and then... squeeze in one more. Force them as tightly into the jar as possible. Next, cover the cucumbers with the boiling brine. Next, run a clean rag around the rim of the jar. Retrieve the lid and ring from the hot water. Place on jar and tighten ring.

5. 

   Place jar into a kettle large enough that you can completely cover the jar with hot water. Bring the water to a boil and then turn the burner off. Let the jar sit in the kettle until the water cools enough to enable you to take the jar out of the water bare handed. If the lid has not already sealed, you will soon hear it "pop" as it seals.

Tips & Warnings

• You can make hot dill pickles by dropping one habenero pepper into each jar with the garlic and dill, but beware - this makes a truly HOT pickle.

• Let the pickles cure for about 6 weeks before tasting them.