How to Make Your Own Pickles
My kids loves spending summers at YaYa and Poppy’s house (my parents), learning how to make your own pickles is just one of many life skills they’ve picked up on these past couple of months. They cook constantly, drive riding lawn mowers like go karts, consume as much Blue Bell as possible and this year they planted a vegetable garden.
The cucumbers have been growing like crazy, so YaYa suggested they make some pickles! My Mom is a natural cook, she’s just always been able to pull dishes together without recipes. She taught us at a very young age what flavors work well together, and how to adjust this or that if you add too much of one thing. So watching her just throw together a pickle recipe with ease didn’t surprise me one bit. She’s already planning what she’ll do different with the next batch. She’s adding a carrot and trying some new spices for a zesty version. Who just knows how to make your own pickles? Yaya does. She’s absolutely the reason I’ve always enjoyed cooking, and continue to create and share recipes with friends.
These would also make a really pretty gift for neighbors, something fun to drop on a friend’s porch with a cute little note, and it doubles as a simple recipe the kids can feel a part of putting together.
You can use as many jars as you like, in whatever size you like, just evenly distribute the ingredients. I found these cute jars at Home Goods. I actually originally bought them for homemade sugar scrubs (recipe for those coming soon!). They had all different sizes at Home Goods, but you can find canning jars just about anywhere these days. Here are some cute ones I found on Amazon.
Ingredients
- 4 Cucumbers
- 1 Carrot
- 1 Texas Sweet Onion
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 1 tsp Pickling Salt
- 5 sprigs Fresh Dill
- 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- 1/2 tsp Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Black Peppercorn
- 1/2 tsp Yellow Mustard Seeds
- 1/2 cup Water
Instructions
- Chop your onion, and crush your garlic with the side of your knife.
- Slice your cucumbers into spears, medallions, or both.
- Fill your canning jar with the pickles leaving about 3/4 inch space at the top.
- Add your vegetables and dill to the jar.
- Heat your water, vinegar, garlic, mustard, peppercorns, red pepper flakes, pickling salt, and sugar in a saucepan until simmering.
- Once your sugar is dissolved, remove the brine from the stove and let it cool for about 10 minutes until it's just warm.
- Pour your brine over the cucumbers in your jar and fill until they're covered. Put the lid on your jar.
- Refrigerate your pickles for a day or so to let the cucumbers fully absorb the flavors.