Best Homemade Pickle Recipes

How to Make Dill Pickles, Bread and Butters, and Pickle Soup

© Kathy Jackson

Sep 23, 2009

Pickles are favorite snacks for many generations. A store bought dill doesn’t come close in comparison to one made fresh from cucumbers harvested and prepared immediately. Making dill pickles is easy with the right equipment and the right pickle recipe. Start by harvesting the cucumber crop and deciding which type pickle recipes to begin with.

Favorite Dill Pickles Recipes

Good dill pickle recipes begin with the best brine. Make sure the jar is ready and will hold the pickles you plan to make.

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

Pickling Brine:

• 6 cups water
• 2 cups vinegar
• 1/2 cup canning salt
• 1/2 tsp. alum (optional)

Heat Brine to a Boiling point

Dill Pickle Ingredients

• Cucumbers to fill a 1 gallon jar
• 1 large bunch fresh dill weed
• 1 large onion
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 clove chopped garlic

1. Wash cucumbers.
2. Place whole, unpeeled cucumbers, onion, cloves and garlic and dill in gallon jugs.
3. Make layers of the items until reaching the top
4. Pour Brine over the top.
5. Leave on counter for 3 or 4 hours.
6. Refrigerate for 4 days before eating, ready to eat in 2 to 4 days.

Dill Pickle Ingredients

• 1 dill sprig
• 1 hot pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp. alum

1. Put above items in bottom of glass jars.
2. Pack jars full of cucumbers

• 13 c. water
• 1 1/2 c. vinegar
• 1 c. pickling salt

1. Boil all items and pour over cucumbers.
2. Pour hot solution to 1/2 inch from top.
3. Put on lids and adjust.
4. Put in hot water bath for 5 minutes.
5. Let stand undisturbed for 2 weeks.

Urban legends say bread and butter pickles were named because tough economic times dictated meals as simple as these pickles, wedged between the two elements of the name making a Bread, Butter, and Pickle sandwich. In tough times now, perhaps a freezer version of the bread and butter pickle can reenergize the story and bring back the sandwich of days gone by.

Ingredients

• 2 quarts thinly sliced cucumbers
• 1 lg. onion, sliced
• 1 1/2 tbsp. salt
• 1 c. oil
• 1 c. vinegar
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. dill seed

1. Mix cucumbers, onions and salt in large bowl
2. Let stand for 2 hours.
3. Drain and pack in plastic freezer containers, leaving one inch room at the top.
4. Mix oil, vinegar, sugar and dill seed together.
5. Pour mixture over pickles in containers to cover.
6. Seal and freeze.

Most vegetables form a soup dish of some type. Cucumbers are no exception with a variety of choices based on the raw vegetable. The less known version of soup based on a cucumber is Pickle Soup. Pickle Soup typically begins with a brine or left over juice from the pickle jar combined with other liquids. This version is a Cream pickle soup but other varieties are available.

DILL PICKLE SOUP

• 3 TBS butter
• 1/4 onion chopped in small pieces
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/3 cup plus 1TBS all purpose flour
• 5 cups chicken stock or water
• 1 1/2 cups juice from Dill Pickle jar
• 4 large dill pickles chopped or cut julienne
• 2 tsp dried dill weed
• Whipping Cream or Half & Half
• Salt and pepper

1. Melt butter in large pot
2. Add onions and sauté until soft.
3. Add wine and cook until almost all liquid evaporates.
4. Reduce heat and stir in flour forming a rue
5. Combine Chicken Stock and pickle juice and wisk into the rue
6. Increase heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until soup thickens.
7. Add pickles and dill.
8. Stir in whipping cream
9. Add salt and pepper.

Making Pickles is Easy With a Good Recipe

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