Grandpa Hughes' Dill Pickle Recipe

Dill pickles were a BIG DEAL on the farm. We canned everything under the sun, but there was something special when it came time to do up our pickling cukes. It was my grandpa, Bob Hughes, Sr. who taught me this recipe. It has been many years since I last made a batch of pickles, and even longer since I stood at grandma's kitchen sink, stuffing pickle jars full of cukes, helping grandpa to prepare the ingredients and then finally, watching him measure precisely the amount of pickling salt onto each jar for sealing. Whether or not the pickles really need to be shaken for forty days and forty nights needs to be seen, but I will keep on the tradition by putting it in the instructions, just like grandpa taught me.

Bob Hughes’ Dill Pickles

Wash and cut stems off medium and small sized pickling cukes.
In washed 1 qt jars place a layer of the cukes so they fill 1/2 of the jar.
Into the jar place:

• 2 to 3 cloves of peeled garlic

• 1 dried red pepper (more for a hotter batch, Grandpa would mark these with ‘X’s to denote hotness)

• 1 to 2 dill flowers, weed and stem

Fill up the rest of the jar with pickle, stopping before the pickles just reach the neck of the jar. Pour 1 tbs + 1 tsp pickling salt in each jar. Fill up the jar with cold water*, making sure that the pickles are completely covered.

Seal with lids.

Shake the jars twice a day for at least 2 weeks. Grandpa always said 40 days and nights, but that may be a little overkill.

*A note about water: These were always made with very cold well water. When trying the recipe on city water, the pickles never came out correctly. If your home has treated water, try using spring or mineral water to fill the jars.