In which I try something new...

Job searching has its advantages. You end up with random pockets of free time. By Monday lunchtime I had finished off all my available job applications, and had no further commitments for the day. When I went out to fertilize the garden, I noticed that the cucumber vines were weighed down with heavy fruit. (I hadn't been out there for a while because it's been raining so much). So I decided on a whim to try making dill pickles. I've never really liked dill pickles, but did that deter me? Not for a moment! (I'm also the girl who thought it would be fun to grow aubergines, which I've always detested, just because they're pretty to look at. Now I have at least a dozen long purple fruits growing rapidly on our terrace. I've resolved to learn to like them, even if it means eating baba ghanoush every week from now till Christmas!)

I did a couple of google searches for recipes and pickling technique, but then decided to fall back on the ever-reliable Southern Living Cookbook. We had all the canning equipment on hand from our jam-making adventures, but pickling salt seems to be unknown in London. None of our local supermarkets carry it. A few more google searches revealed that rock salt with no additives is a good substitute.

The pickling process was really quite simple. I chopped the cucumbers into sticks and chilled them in cold water. Then I sterilized the jars and lids by boiling them in a large pot for 15 minutes. The next step was to make the pickling liquid, which consisted of water, white vinegar (almost a whole bottle of vinegar for 4 large cucumbers!), rock salt, and cloves of garlic. After removing the sterilized jars from the pot, I packed them with cucumber sticks and poured in enough pickling liquid to cover them. I gave each jar generous shake of dried dill, having no fresh on hand. Then the sealed jars went back into the big pot to boil for 10 minutes. That was it. No multi-day fermentation process, no weird additives, nothing. Remarkably civilized.

The jars had to cool for several hours, after which I chilled one for tasting. Anthony and I each had a tentative bite on Tuesday evening, but then tonight we served them to dinner guests, and the four of us ate the whole jar! I've now changed my mind about dill pickles. Next time, though, I'll try using smaller cucumbers -- apparently that gives them the best crunch.

My results, minus the first jar: