Our garden has done amazing this year! It’s been several years since we had a garden, so it’s been a lot of fun with the kids to go out every day and see what is ready to pick. But even with six of us here there’s no way we can keep up with all that produce! So this year for the first time I decided to try pickling!

I played around with several different recipes and came up with one I really like. I am a dill pickle gal - I do not like any hint of sweetness a pickle. So many recipes I found had a ton of sugar, which was not for me. After a bit of trial an error I came up with this combination that has really worked well. It does have a some sugar which I think just helps balance the flavor, but no sweetness at all.

I’m pickling everything together, I love having a mixed jar of pickled stuff, it’s like a snack plate in a jar! This brine is working well for everything I’ve used so far - cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, onions - also in a variety of shapes and sizes. I love them with lots of fresh dill and garlic.

Ingredients for the brine:

• 8 cups water

• 4 cups white vinegar

• 3/4 cup pickling salt

• 1/4 cup sugar

Combine all the brine ingredients in a pot and simmer until the salt & sugar are dissolved. You can adjust the quantities up and down depending on how many jars you are making. I did quart jars and this was enough for 6-7 jars.

For the pickles:

• cleaned and cut up veggies - cucumber, zucchini, carrots, onions, etc.

• several sprigs of fresh dill for each jar

• 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic for each jar

• pickling spice - 2 tablespoons per quart size jar

Once the brine is ready - put a couple tablespoons of pickling spice in the bottom of each jar, along with several sprigs of fresh dill and several pieces of garlic - I like to take the whole cloves and slice them in half. Then fill each jar with a variety of veggies - cucumbers, carrots, onions, etc. Then fill each jar with the warm brine, all the way to the rim. Put on a lid and then in the fridge.

These taste great after just a few days, and they are really amazing if you have the willpower to let them sit for more than a week.