Pickles!

Pickles are a polarizing food. Lucky for me every eater currently in my life hates them. I love pickles unabashedly. I always have, ever since I was little. This is something that I share with my dad. I remember him making this sharp smelling concoction of white vinegar, onions, and radishes. He still makes it, though not as often as he did when I was little. I never ate it, since radishes frightened me. I still don't like them. But cucumber pickles, those I loved, in all their forms. Kosher, dill, bread and butter, spears, whole, chips, it doesn't matter. I will eat them.




Another pickle memory: my mom made my lunch for nearly all of my school years, and my lunch usually contained a double bagged dill spear. In high school I played volleyball, and I would come home from practice craving pickles. I'd eat a whole jar in a matter of minutes.

My ex-boyfriend's mother taught me how to make pickles one Easter season. The memory is vague, but I recall us using whole cucumbers packed into large mason jars. We boiled the vinegar, water, salt, and spices, including alum, then poured it over the cucumbers and popped on the jar tops. I don't remember processing them in any way; we just left them on the counter. It was a fun thing to do together. She also taught me how to drive a standard transmission, taking the ex and me out on the Arkansas back roads in an old Jeep Wrangler. I didn't stall out once.

It's a hazy web of memories and feelings, all brought on by pickles. I guess people get this way about things like cake, or cookies, or their grandmother's pot roast. And I love all those things too. But really good pickles make me feel like I'm small again sharing some with my dad.

This recipe makes two batches of pickles, each with its own flavor. The first is a white vinegar base, with a traditional dill seasoning. The second uses cider vinegar and sate seasoning because I was curious.

Ingredients:

2 English cucumbers, sliced and divided
5 whole cloves garlic
1 large shallot, sliced
2 fresh jalapenos, sliced
fresh dill
5 whole cloves garlic

Brine 1:
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
1 Tbs kosher salt, divided
1 Tbs pickle seasoning
1 Tbs dill seed

Brine 2:
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
1 Tbs kosher salt
1 Tbs sate seasoning

Directions:

In a large saucepan, bring  white vinegar, cups water, and  salt to boil. Add pickling spices and dill.

Arrange the slices of one cucumber, 1 jalapeno, and 1 shallot in a glass bowl or your final container. Pour the boiling brine over the cucumber mix and let cool for one hour.


Repeat recipe with cider vinegar,  water, salt, and sate seasoning. Pour over the other cucumber slices. I added jalapeno to this batch too, removing the seeds to tame the heat a bit.

Taste your brine after it's cooled. If it's too salty, add cold water. The pickles will last about 10 days in the fridge.