Pickled Okra, Pickled Pickles, Pickled EVERYTHING
Let’s Make Some Pickles
It’s no secret that I love pickles. I have been obsessed with them since I was 3 years old. I’ve spent most of my life with one hand reeking of dill and vinegar and a few pickle stains on my shirt. I go through a jar every couple of days, and that would be a very expensive habit if my grandma hadn’t taught me to make my own as a young kid.
The easiest pickles are refrigerator pickles. You can toss any veggie in this brine, but my personal favorites are cucumbers and okra. Add some jalapeno’s for a kick if you like that sort of thing.
Refrigerator Pickles:
1 1/2 cups water (If you use city water, make sure to use filter, or leave it sitting on the counter for 48 hours first so chemicals can evaporate out)
3 tablespoons white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher or pickling salt* (any non-iodized salt will work, we don’t want iodine for the same reason we don’t want city water chemicals, they can kill the good bacterias we want)
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
5 cloves garlic, peeled
6 large sprigs fresh dill
(optional) 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more/less to taste
A large cucumber from the store, or a bunch of weird shaped pickles that I grow, cut into as similar sized pieces as possible, or just make pickle rounds by slicing them.
Lacto Fermented (Kosher Dill) Pickles
5 Tbsp. Salt (non iodized, sea salt, pickling salt…)
2 quarts chlorine-free water
4-6 grape, oak, horseradish, or bay leaves
6-9 cloves garlic, peeled
2 large heads of dill
Spices to taste: black peppercorns, red pepper flakes, mustard seeds, horseradish
Enough pickling cucumbers to fill a ½-gallon jar
For instructions on lacto-fermentation, see this article I wrote, and watch my video on YouTube (coming soon)
For Simple Canning Instructions, see below. I would like to make a video on canning pickles, but because I go through them so quickly, and because my garden struggled with vine borer beetles so much this year that I was only able to keep up with my summer’s pickle demand and not put any away for winter (GASP), this shall have to do for the moment.