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Homemade pickles are the best! They are nothing like the ones you get at the grocery store. Here is a recipe I came up with through trial and error (I did start with a family recipe). I canned several test jars until I got the recipe just the way I like it. I hope you enjoy it.
My grandmother swore that adding grape leaves helped to ensure the pickles came out crisp. I’m not sure if it’s an old wives tale or not, but I continue to add the grape leaves. My pickles come out crisp and I don’t want to risk them not turning out that way by skipping any of the ingredients.
Ingredients:
- 10 lb of cucumbers (I had about 40 small cucumbers)
- 4 cups Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/2 cup Pickling Salt
- 12 cups of water
- Fresh Dill (2 sprigs per jar)
- Garlic (2 cloves per jar)
- Grape Leaves (1 per jar)
Wash and cut or pack whole cucumbers into wide mouth sterilized quart-size canning jars. (pack jars full)
Add 2 cloves of garlic, fresh dill and one grape leaf to each jar.
Boil water, cider and salt. After it starts to boil and all the salt is dissolved fill the jars of cucumbers with the liquid until it reaches 1/2 inch from the top.
Add lids and boil in canner for 20 minutes.
Pickles will be ready to eat in 3 weeks. Enjoy!
Grape leaves is the only way to can pickles!!!!! I can pickles every year (well not this year because last year I canned 100 lbs) and the best ones are canned with grape leaves. Alum leaves a tin taste to the pickles so avoid it! Also, don’t forget to score your garlic and if you like spicier pickles, experiment with different peppers. We’ve added jalapenos, ghost peppers and mystery peppers (my hubby picked them from the same farm we picked our cucs). And if you like, can your cucs sliced into wedges (they turn out really good too and they’re ready to go when you open your jar). Happy canning!
These sound very good, but doesn’t seem like much vinegar. Most recipes I see have 1/3 to 1/2 the liquid as vinegar.
Just double checking before I try these.
Oh my goodness, you are right it should be 4 cups cider. Thank you!
Grape leaves or raspberry leaves. They have tannin in them, which keeps them crisp