Check out our family’s favorite dill pickles! Packed with garlic and fresh dill, these crisp dill pickles will add a boost of flavor to any meal. This Czech recipe has been passed down through our family for generations.
Reading: how to make pickles crisp ez pickler
As the summer heats up, cucumber plants produce loads of cucumbers, so making dill pickles becomes a frequent activity in our family for several weeks out of the summer.
Some of my favorite memories of visiting my Grandma every summer were the sights and smells of garden vegetables being canned in her kitchen. My grandpa would grow a huge garden throughout the year, and there were always things to be done to preserve the harvest. One of the largest crops were cucumbers! So, many summer days were spent packing jars with cucumbers for pickles.
Read more: how do you make whole pickles without canning | Family Cuisine
These pickles are packed with garlic and fresh dill! The brine in these pickles is more mellow because the vinegar to water ratio is lower. We prefer less sour pickles so that’s one of the reasons we like it so much.
Use small pickling cucumbers for these dill pickles. Pickling cucumbers are small and firm, and have very small seeds. As a result, this type of cucumber stands up well to pickling and stays crisp. Try Boston Pickling Cucumbers or Chicago Pickling Cucumbers.
Did you know that grape leaves help keep dill pickles crunchy?
We usually pick grape leaves off of local vines that grow wild in our area. Grapes leaves are important for making pickles because they release tannins which keep the pickles crisp. You can find fresh grape leaves on Etsy as well as other online grocers.
Read more: how to make raw sweet cucumber pickles | Family Cuisine
Garlic is one of the shining stars in this recipe. Make sure to use firm fresh cloves of garlic. We usually cut the garlic cloves in half which releases more garlic flavor into the pickles.
If you like dill pickles a little spicy, add ¼ to ½ of a fresh jalapeno to each jar. This is optional in the recipe.
You should also try my Pickled Okra! They’re crunchy and taste like pickles…without the sliminess!
