Those of you who know me understand how much I love pickles. For starters, I grew up eating a pickle with my lunch throughout grade school. It’s how I finished every meal. I love the taste of dill pickles. It’s salty and garlicky with a crunchy bite to make this a great snack. I’d go through multiple pickles a day and a whole jar in less than a week. That’s because I mostly ate them straight from the jar.
When I was in college, I started caring more about my nutrition. I read the ingredients on the label of my favorite jar of pickles: Claussen Pickles. I was shocked, but not surprised to find a bunch of preservatives and a large amount of sodium per pickle spear. You can find the nutrition facts here. After years of eating Claussen pickles, I got sick of the after taste it gave me. Do you know that salty taste left in your mouth when you eat potato chips? I had to drink multiple bottles of water afterward to get the taste out of my mouth.
I stopped eating pickles for a while once I started cooking my own food from home. The only jars of pickles that have all clean ingredients I’ve found at Whole Foods. These are at least $7 per jar. The amount of pickles you get isn’t worth the cost in my opinion. I don’t know why it took me this long to make my own at home. I watched my dad make whole pickles and it took over a month for them to finally finish. When they were done, they didn’t taste nearly as good as I was hoping.
It never crossed my mind to make pickles until I moved to Florida and all of my new friends love pickles as much as I do. The cravings I used to have came back. A bunch of my friends had birthdays recently, and I figured it would be the perfect gift for them on their birthday. What started with one test batch turned into the best dill pickles I ever had. The secretly not so secret ingredient is Everything Bagel Seasoning. Adding homemade vegetable stock elevated the taste by giving the pickles more of an aromatic flavor. Each recipe yields 2 jars of pickles. You’ll have to make these for yourself and taste exactly what I mean.
Ingredients:
2 English Cucumbers, sliced thin
½ white or yellow onion, sliced thin
A handful of fresh dill (I used ½ a container in each jar)
1 large bulb of garlic, peeled and halved
2 cups homemade vegetable stock
2 cups white vinegar
¼ cup cane sugar
3 Tbsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. mustard seeds
¼ tsp dried mustard powder
½ tsp celery seed
½ tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp. fresh black peppercorns or use freshly cracked ground pepper
1 Tbsp. Everything but the Bagel Seasoning
2 large mason jars
Directions:
1) Slice your cucumbers and onions thin with a knife or a mandolin. Cut the onion in half first before slicing on the mandolin.
2) Add all of your liquids, salt, and sugar to a saucepan. Bring them to a boil and remove from the heat. Keep stirring continuously until everything is dissolved. Let cool for 5-10 minutes.
3) Divide all of your spices and liquids evenly into two mason jars.
4) Add your cucumbers and onions. Stir to incorporate everything evenly.
5) Close the mason jars and store in the fridge for 1-3 days until the flavor is infused. Enjoy for up to a few weeks if they last that long.
** Note: You can use the same brine again with a fresh batch of cucumbers. I’ll use it for up to 3 batches. Make sure that you replace the used dill with fresh dill once it starts to go brown. I used a fork to get the dill out of the jar.
PS: If you live in the Central Florida area near Tampa, I’ll make you jars of pickles for your next party or for your own personal use. Contact me for more information.
