Dill Pickles

I pickled some cucumbers today. Yesterday I got 2 big shopping bags full of cucumbers from a friend. Actually, I picked some of them myself. Some were small and the right size for pickles and some were medium sized for Bread and Butter pickles. They are for my wife. I don't care for sweet pickles, but she loves them. So today we made 12 quart glasses full of pickles for me and about the same number of Bread and Butter pickles for her. It is a lot of work but well worth the effort.

The reason I make my own pickles is that don't care for most commercially made pickles. They are usually too sour for me. I got this recipe from the same friend's wife and I love them. They are just right, not too sweet and not too sour.

Here is the recipe:

Note: This makes 14 quart glasses. We only made 12, so we had some liquid left over.

18 cups of water
  6 cups of white vinegar
1 1/2 cups of sugar
  1 cup of coarse salt
Dill and dill tops
1 clove of garlic cut in half for each jar.

Sterilize jars. Fill with cucumbers, garlic and dill. Boil brine, pour over cucumbers. Seal jars with sterilized lids.  Put jars in pre-heated oven (225 - 250 F) for 30 minutes. Let cool and make sure lids of jars have popped, which means the jars are sealed. Wait a couple of weeks and enjoy.

Of course, with fewer jars the brine has to be adjusted accordingly.