Mary Queen of...Pickles?

Pickles????

Yup. I brought a jar of pickles I made to my niece's end of year preschool BBQ, and they were a huge hit. Pickles! They were gone in like 2 seconds and I found myself collecting play date cards so I could email the recipe! 

I love pickles! When I was a kid, all the other kids walked around the grocery store with cookies. I sat quietly in our cart with a pickle wrapped in wax paper. Our old neighbor, Big John, he made THE BEST pickles.  He grew up on an Onion Farm in Pine Island. When my parents moved in across the street (from the BRONX) Big John had a turtle hanging on the line to make soup.  He had the most amazing garden and he and his wife canned and jarred everything. So all the country things I know (the difference btwn poisonous plants and plants you can eat, and how to hook a worm) I owe to Big John. And every time I make his pickle recipe, I think of him, and the stalks of dill by the front door that grew over my head, and the brown paper bag of green peppers and kirby cukes he'd leave at our door early on summer mornings. 

I thought for a while before I emailed out the recipe. I thought about NOT giving it out. Then I thought... How many people even can and jar things from their garden anymore? Or make turtle soup? Isn't this the self-sufficient life yuppie parents dream of? Well, for Big John and Babci, it just was, it was what they did, not because it was cool, green, trendy, or making a political statement about the conspiracy of corn syrup... And I honestly think it would be an injustice if I kept this recipe to myself...So here it is. Just do me a favor, while you're making them, give Big John a nod. 

You will need:

24 oz. jar sterilized in boiling water

4 kirby cucumbers

Small stalk of fresh dill

2 garlic cloves

A few black pepper corns

3/4 c. white vinegar

4c.hot water

2 tablespoons Uniodized Salt

Cut cucumbers and garlic cloves into slices. 

Combine warm water and vinegar and stir in salt until dissolved. 

Layer cucumbers, dill, garlic cloves and pepper corns, tightly packed 

and pour salt/water/ vinegar mixture until cukes are fully covered. 

Close jar tightly and store in a cool dark place for 3 days. 

And then come back and tell me that these are not the best pickles you've ever had. 

You're welcome!