bonjourhan

Or, “Dad’s Guinea Pig Christmas Present”

I have a deep love for pickles, and I got it from my dad. I found this nifty recipe on the Homesick Texan blog and just HAD to try it out… but I didn’t test it on myself first. Good thing they turned out delicious, or else my poor Dad would’ve had a pretty disappointing Christmas. 😉

Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the finished product, but I’ve got step-by-step pictures at the bottom!

Ingredients

Here’s my version of the recipe.

• 6 Kirby cucumbers (or however many will fit in your jar. I used an empty pickle jar and was able to fit 5), washed, and halved lengthwise. You can use whatever small cucumbers are at your store. I think mine were called “garden cucumbers” or “pickling cucumbers.”
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 2 Tbs salt
• 1 Tbs black peppercorns (I didn’t have peppercorns, so I just used about 3/4 Tbs ground black pepper)
• 1 Tbs coriander seeds
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced (like I’ve said before, if you don’t have one of these, go get one now – it will change your life)
• 1/2 cup fresh dill (I used a little less than 1/4 cup dried dill)

Directions

They have to sit in the refrigerator for one week before you can eat them, and then they last for about a week after that. I think. Dad ate all his in 2 days.

1. Dump salt, peppercorns, coriander seeds, garlic and dill in a clean (sterilized) glass jar. You can use a mason jar, but like I said, I just used an empty pickle jar that I washed.
2. Pack the pickles into the jar, leaving 1/2″ at the top. Pack them pretty snug, but not so tight that the vinegar and seasonings can’t get between them.
3. Pour in the vinegar. Fill the remainder of the jar with water and put the lid on.
4. Shake the jar for about 1 minute. Refrigerate the pickles for 6 days, shaking for 1 minute daily.

I did find that since I used dried dill and not fresh, you had to rinse off the pickles before eating them, or else they had a layer of dill stuck to them. No big deal. Dad graciously allowed me to have one (just to see if the recipe turned out ok, of course…), and oh my goodness, they were delicious!

Here are some pictures to show you how easy it was:

I know it looks gross, but it was SO delicious!