Pickles

Last night my sister and I begin the season of preserving with our first annual pickle canning.  We had never done pickles before but after a night of it we decided it was definitely worthy of repeating.  It was so much fun... and they are delicious (and I'm not usually even a pickle person). 

Recipe from "Preserving Food at Home"

3 cups of white vinegar
3 cups of water
1/3 pickling salt (we used sea salt and it worked just fine... brine didn't get dark)
4 lbs of cucumbers cut into spears
6 heads of dill
3 cloves of garlic
9 peppercorns

Prepare jars and lids.  In a saucepan combine liquids and salt, and heat to boiling.  Pack cucumbers into hot, clean quart jars.  To each jar add 2 heads of dill, 1 clove of garlic, and 3 peppercorns.  Fill jars with hot brine, leaving 1/2 inch of headroom.  Adjust lids.  Process in canner for 20 minutes.  Cool jars and check lids.  For best flavor let mellow for a few weeks.

We made several adjustments.  First we doubled the recipe.  Second we used smaller jars so in the end we had 12 jars of canned pickles.  We still added the same amount of peppercorns and garlic.  Finally, I found the best canning lids (Tattler is the brand) at the co-op that are reusable and BPA free, which worked great.