The Pickles

Charity canned some cucumbers today. Our prayer is that they will turn into pickles.

She’s canned them for the past four years with her sister-in-law. Growing up, we always had homemade pickles. Grandma made them every year and stored them in the basement.

There’s something about going to the basement and smelling the oil and gasoline from Grandpa’s workbench. I can still smell it.

There was a single light at the bottom of the stairs. The remainder of the basement was shrouded in darkness, so we were usually accompanied by a flashlight. We’d walk down the creaky stairs and turn left at the bottom to the shelves on the East wall. There on the shelves would be the home canned goods such as pickles, vegetable soup, and tomatoes.

We’d grab a jar of pickles and run as fast as we could to the top of the stairs. Somehow the stairs always reminded me of the story, Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Anyway, in my opinion, you can’t beat a good homemade pickle. You can do better than a disgusting homemade pickle, but I haven’t had one of those.

In case you need a pickle recipe, allow me to oblige.

The ingredients are as follows:

Dill weed. Yes, it’s called weed. We put about two sprigs per jar. You will also need garlic. We put two cloves per jar. Another ingredient we like to add is jalapenos or cayenne peppers. Peppers add a little kick. You will also need two tablespoons of sugar.

You will also need cucumbers. The most important part of making homemade pickles is cucumbers. Sure, you can have all the jars you want, fill them with water and vinegar, and boil the socks off them, but you still won’t have any pickles if there aren’t cucumbers in the jars. Mind-boggling, ain’t it?

After putting all the ingredients in the jars, you fill them with brine.

The brine is water, vinegar, and pickling salt. It is comprised of three cups of vinegar, six-and-a-half cups of water, and half a cup of pickling salt.

First, you boil the brine and then pour it into the jars that hold the cucumbers, dill weed, garlic, salt, and sugar. Then you wipe the rims and put the lids on the jars, finger tight. Don’t bear down on that lid trying to screw it on. Be gentle.

Then you put those jars into the water bath canner and boil them for five minutes. Then you pull them out, set them on dish towels on the counter, and leave them alone for at least 24 hours.

After they’ve set for that time, you check to be sure they are sealed, and then you store them away for those times when the family gets together. Or when you have those midnight snack cravings.

Then you pop open a jar and eat to your heart’s content.

And that, my friends, is how to make homemade pickles.

to the homemade pickle enthusiasts,
– Caleb