Dill pickles

  • 2018-08-14

My American wife prefers dill pickles. If you think that sounds weird, let me tell you pickle preference is a big deal in the US. You’re either into sweet pickles, tart dill pickles or bread-and-butter pickles (something in between sweet and sour). The extremes typically despise each other.

Unfortunately, to my wife’s dismay dill pickles are non-existing in regular Norwegian grocery stores. Consequently, I keep getting jabs about the poor selection in Norwegian grocery stores, in addition to keep hearing how gross sweet pickles are. Luckily, for everyone, dill pickles are super easy to make, and unpickled pickling cucumbers are around during July and August. And refrigerate pickles keep in the fridge for months. Happy wife, happy life.

We eat pickles alongside burgers, fish and chips, sandwiches, bagels and the like, any food that calls for an acidic and crunchy punch. And they’re great as simple snacks.

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Mark

  • This recipe is for refrigerator pickles, meaning you don’t need to boil more that the pickling liquid. The pickles will keep in the fridge for many months. If you prefer doing it the traditional way, do like this: Fill a pot with water that will cover the pickling jar with at least a couple inches. Boil the jar, lid and rubber for 10 minutes before letting the dry off on a kitchen towel. Arrange the pickles inside the jar and pour the pickling liquid over up to the neck of the jar. Put on the light, finger tight. Bring the jar back to the boiling water and boil for 1 hour, preferably with a grate or kitchen towel in the bottom to prevent the jar dancing around.
  • First time I made dill pickles 15 years ago I used small normal cucumbers. Don’t do that. They turn soft and squishy texture once the vinegar gets in. Pickling cucumbers are much firmer and stay crunchy when pickled.
  • A rule of thumb is to use a glass jar that has approximately twice the volume compared to weight. In this case I use a 2 L jar for 1 kg of cucumbers.

Ingredients

1 kg pickling cucumbers

3 ts salt

Pickling liquid

500 ml apple cider vinegar

300 ml white vinegar

250 ml water

4 cloves garlic, sliced

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp mustard seeds

4-5 twigs of fresh dill or 1 tbsp dried dill

1/2 ts chili flakes (may be skipped or adjusted)

2 ts sugar

6 bay leaves

 

Instructions

  1. Rub and clean the cucumbers, pat dry them or let them dry in a colander.
  2. Put the cucumbers in a large bowl, cover with water and pour in the 3 tsp of salt.
  3. Put all the pickling liquid ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil.
  4. In a large heat resistant bowl, arrange cucumbers tightly and pur over pickling liquid. Let cool until it reached room temperatur, approximately 30 min.  
  5. Pack the cucumbers tightly in the jar, putting the dill twigs in the middle so that they are prevented from floating up. Puor over pickling liquid up to the neck of the jar.
  6. Lid on and into the fridge. Let sit for 3-4 days, making sure the water is drawn out and replaced by pickling liquid.
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