A passion for pickles
My refrigerator is packed with quarts of delicious dill pickles, and I made every damn one of them. Just don’t ask me why. It’s one of those obsession things, and I have to remind myself, “It could be worse. It could be taxidermy.”
I don’t know what prompted my quest for pickle perfection, but it began in early June and intensified with the rising summer temperatures. It started out innocently enough. I stopped at a new produce market outside of Jonesboro and noticed they had pickling cucumbers, three for a dollar. I bought 12 and went home with no real plan as to what to do with them.
Even though I love to cook, I’ve never made pickles. My mama used to make pickles in the summer in my grandmother’s butter churn. It was a long process that sometimes produced pickles that were either tart and crisp and delicious or were mushy or sour or tasted like kerosene.
I remember one batch in particular that my sister and I referred to as her “killer salt pickles.”
I wanted to make pickles that were easy to prepare and tasted great. My quest for a recipe began.
I remembered seeing Adam Richman sing the praises of half sour pickles on the New York episode of Man vs. Food, so I thought I’d research the process involved in making them. I found out that half sours are cucumbers that are just barely pickled and still retain the distinct taste of a cucumber. I selected a recipe from one of the many I found online, and I made my first batch of half sour pickles. Then came the hard part.
After waiting for two days, it was time to taste the bright green spears that had been hanging around on my kitchen countertop. I opened the jar and tasted what I just knew was going to be a great homemade pickle.
I was wrong.
What I tasted wasn’t a pickle so much as a mushy, cinnamon infused cucumber. I couldn’t even finish it. My husband tried one and agreed. They were disgusting.
Now that I knew that half sours weren’t our thing and that the premixed pickling spices had way too much cinnamon, but I wasn’t about to admit defeat. I researched again and found a recipe for a copycat of Claussen dills. This recipe seemed easy and foolproof. I was back in the pickle business. Only one problem. Now I couldn’t find any pickling cucumbers.
The ones at the produce market were shriveled like prunes, and Wal Mart was out of them. I started scouring roadside produce stands, but my efforts were fruitless. I even resorted to begging for cucumbers on Facebook. I was one step away from standing on Main Street under the stop light with a “Will work for pickling cucumbers” sign dangling from my neck.
The ASU Farmers’ Market solved my pickle problem, and I was able to get plenty of cukes to try out my new recipe. The first batch was good, but they were still kind of mushy. After the discovery of Ball’s Pickle Crisp Granules, I made a new batch, thanks to a generous donation of pickles from a family member. I hoped they would be clones of those wonderful Claussen pickles that stay refrigerated by the lunchmeat at Kroger. I had to wait three days to find out if I had reached my goal.
Alone in the kitchen one morning, I opened a jar. If they sucked, I didn’t want anybody to witness my disappointment. The difference was obvious. I had made the perfect pickle and I couldn’t wait to tell people.
That night I posted it on Facebook, and I became flooded with requests for the recipe. Everybody clamored for my insights on this simple yet wonderful vinegary treat.
My biggest fan was my father-in-law. In the five years that I’ve been married to his son, the man probably has said fewer than 500 words to me. Suddenly, he’s all chummy with me because he’s apparently got a serious pickle addiction. My husband tells me that he constantly hears him sneaking to the refrigerator at work to fish his hand into the jar that I sent to work with Lanny just to have a little more space in the refrigerator. We gave him a quart of pickles for Father’s Day, and it was by far the best received gift we’ve ever given him.
So now, I’m the Pickle Princess of Northeast Arkansas. I’ve known some people who have competed for some pretty dubious titles before, so I guess this isn’t so bad.
I wish my mama had come across this recipe when I was a kid. These are much easier than the ones she used to make. I’ve made several batches now, and, so far, there’s no sign of the “killer salt pickles” that Rhonda and I still recall with a pucker and laugh.
Here is the recipe that I’ve developed from the one I originally found online. I don’t measure any of the spices, so I just estimated here. You can adapt it to your personal taste. One recipe should make around 4 quarts.
1 gallon of pickling cucumbers
1/2 c. dried minced onion
6-10 cloves of garlic, peeled
4-6 fresh dill heads or 1/2 c. dill seed
2 T. whole peppercorns
1-3 T. crushed red pepper flakes
Ball’s pickle crisp granules
6 c. water
2 c. cider vinegar
1/2 c. canning salt
Trim blossom end off cucumbers and slice lengthwise in half or quarters. Tightly pack in quart jars. Divide garlic, onion, dill, peppercorns and red pepper flakes into jars. You can add more pepper if you want spicy pickles. Add 1/4 tsp. of pickle crisp granules into each jar. Heat water, vinegar and salt until boiling and salt is dissolved. Carefully pour hot liquid over cucumbers and place lid on jars. Let sit on the counter for three days, shaking occasionally, then store in the refrigerator.
Tags: Appetizers, light, Vegetables