Season’s First Dill Pickles!
June 13th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Posted in Blog
Soon to be deli-style dills
I haven’t even planted my cucumbers yet. I’ve scheduled June 15 for seed planting. That’s when the cucumber beetles life-cycle ends in the Washington area. But I’m not holding off making pickles. I’ve got a ton of volunteer dill plants growing in my garden. So on Sunday I brought two pounds of pickling cukes home from Whole Foods and this morning started my brine.
These are fermented cucumbers, the kind you traditionally find in a barrel at the delicatessen. The formula is easy: 3 tablespoons pickling salt (or kosher salt) for every quart of water. Then add plenty of garlic, dill and a few peppercorns, or whatever flavoring you like, such as red pepper flakes if you want a bit of zing in your pickles. As I explain int this earlier post, it takes about five days of fermenting this time of year to get a mildly sour pickle.
Perfect with a reuben sandwich. Now you just have to make some pastrami.
oh they look fantastic i like to eat them fresh and dilled … that may not be a
word!!!??
Wow – DC cuke beetles can read calendars? I put mine out a while ago and so far so good. Maybe the Silver Spring aren’t as clever…
l’ve made daikon pickles with the recipe above but never cukes. Now I’m inspired to try.
Enjoy this cool weather for a change – and change it will!