Pickle Party!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Last weekend I was invited to a Pickle Party.  Considering my obsession with pickles I was more than a little excited to come! I cant believe I had never thought of doing this before, it was so much fun! On a side note... it was a little bit of work. Half way through a store bought jar of pickles was looking pretty appealing. However we kept on going and I must say the end result was totally worth it! I tried to get the recipe that my friend used, however I guess it's a top secret family recipe so I used the best one I could find online.  Enjoy!

This was the most important part... Pickle martinis to get us in the picklin mood!

And then you need the ingredients...

10 canning jars

2 Pounds pickling pickles (side note, make sure they are specific pickiling pickles, apparently it makes a big difference!)

3 3/4 Cups water

3 3/4 Cups white vinager

6 Tablespoons pickeling salt

15 heads of fresh dill (You can use dill seed if you need to. If so use 7 tablespoons)

1 Tablespoon of mustard seed

Then you'll clean and prepare your pickles. Don't forget to cut off a slice from each end.  We also used asparagus, celery, green beans, okra, and onions. You can pickle lots of things!

Next step you'll get the brine ready. Combine the water, vinegar and salt in a saucepan and heat until it boils.

Pack the cleaned cucumbers loosely into hot, clean pint canning jars, leaving a 1/2-inch at the top. Add 2 to 3 heads of dill or 3 to 4 teaspoons of dill seed and 1/2 teaspoon of mustard seed to each jar. Ladle the hot brine over the cucumbers. Wipe the jar rim with a clean, damp paper towel. Any food on the rim prevents a perfect seal. Position a prepared lid and screw band on the jar and tighten. Place each jar into boiling water of a water-bath canner as it is filled. The jars should not touch. Cover the canner. Process filled jars in the boiling water for 10 minutes. Begin counting the processing time when the water returns to boiling.

Necessary dance break while our pickles were in the boiling water!

When the jars have cooled, press the center of each lid to check the seal. If the dip in the lid holds, the jar is sealed. If the lid bounces up and down, the jar isn't sealed. Unsealed jars should be stored in the refrigerator and used within 3 days (which was just fine with me cause it still tasted great!) And then you have your pickles! You're supposed to wait around 2 months until you open them... if you can ;)

xoxo

-Jenny