Flavorful and crisp, these homemade dill pickles are easy and delicious!

10 quarts of cucumbers*
10 cloves garlic
10 sprigs of fresh dill, washed
10 fresh grape leaves**

Brine Ingredients:

3 quarts water
1 quart vinegar (5% acid)
1 cup canning (non-iodized) salt
1/2 teaspoon powdered alum

1. Heat washed cucumbers with brine until heated through well and turned a dark green in color, but not boiling.

2. Have jars hot in a canner, and lids hot in a pan of water on the stove. Pack hot cucumbers into hot jars with one clove of garlic, one sprig of dill, and one grape leaf in each jar. Set jars back into hot canner as they are filled, to keep hot.

3. When all the cucumbers are out of the brine, bring the brine to a boil. Pour brine into jars of cucumbers to 1/2-inch from top. Screw hot lid on, and set jar aside to cool. No further processing needed!

*Smaller cucumbers make the best dill pickles!

**The fresh grape leaf in the jar reportedly produces crisper pickles!

Photo shown above wasn't taken by me. However, I (and others) agree that it looks exactly like the dill pickles this recipe produces!

Read more about open-kettle food processing here [1]. This method is no longer considered a safe method of processing high-acid foods due to lower acidity of newer types of produce. Therefore, I cannot recommend this method of preserving food, although I myself use it for some foods.

This is my mom's tried-and-true garlic dill pickles recipe. She has canned hundreds of quarts of these dill pickles, and anyone who is the recipient of a jar of these pickles raves about "Linda's dill pickles". I have seen people single-handedly finish off a quart of these pickles when we serve them with meals. The garlic clove inside was always fought over among my siblings and I when I was younger, since there's only one, and we all wanted to be allowed to eat it (it's pickled and tastes just like a dill pickle!). To top it all off, this is a really easy recipe, and produces great-tasting, crispy homemade dill pickles. My rating: 10/10