Homemade Dill Pickles and Bread and Butter Pickles

I don't know about you , but I'm a huge pickle fan and believe it or not , they're way easier to make homemade than you may have thought .

I'm gonna show you how to make two different kinds .

So you can load up your favorite sandwich or cheeseburger .

Sound good .

Let's cook to start .

You have to sterilize the mason jars that you've just purchased and no , you can't just wash them in the dishwasher .

So go ahead and go over to your sink and in some very hot water .

And of course , using some soap , you want to scrub the insides and outsides of the jars very , very well .

Please take time to do this .

Do not shortcut it .

Give it a good rinse , set it to the side .

And in addition to this , also , the lids and outer bands need a really good scrubbing as well .

So again , take the time to do all of these little parts of cleaning up these mason jars , set it to the side .

And then in the meantime , what we're gonna do is add a gigantic pot right to our cooktop .

We're gonna fill it up with water about three quarters of the way it needs to be deep enough to be able to submerge these jars completely by a few inches .

So make sure there's plenty of water in there .

Now , go ahead and set in a rack or if you have a calendar that fits in there .

Fantastic and simply add your jars submerge them completely .

Make sure they're full of water .

Crank that heat on high because we need to bring this to a boil .

But this is great timing because in a separate pot , go ahead and add in a little bit of water because we now need to sterilize the lids .

Add those in there .

We're gonna crank the heat onto high and we're gonna bring it to a boil once it is boiling , go ahead and turn the heat down and simmer it for about 10 minutes .

Take it off the burner .

Go over to a very , very clean towel and I like to face them sort of rubber seal side up , spread them out , let them dry out .

Now , head back over to that gigantic pot .

You can see that it's got a nice boil .

We're gonna let it boil for 10 total minutes at this point .

Go ahead and remove your colander or rack using some tongs .

Or if you have the mason jar tongs that's cool , too , dump out the water .

And then what we're gonna do is go right back over to where those lids are and simply place them there .

Let them dry out a little bit .

They are gonna be hot .

So please do not grab them with your fingers or you're gonna be cursing at me .

Now , this is great timing because let's go over to our pickles .

We've got a few different varieties here .

One is a simple pickling pickle known as a Curby .

It's a small version of a normal cucumber that you would grow in your backyard .

They're nice and short .

Got a nice tough skin on the outside , gonna be perfect for pickling .

Now , the ones that I personally like to use are the Persian cucumbers .

These are like mini English or hothouse cucumbers .

Love the flavor .

Great crisp .

The skin isn't as thick as the other ones , but that's OK .

That means it's gonna absorb a ton of flavor and very quickly .

So simply cut off the ends of whatever cucumbers you decide to use because we want them to fit into the jar that we're gonna put them in .

And by the way , we're using 16 ounce jars .

Go ahead and shove those in there , get them packed up tight now because these first ones are gonna be dill pickles .

I'm gonna add in some fresh sprigs of dill and then using some chopsticks or even just a wooden skewer , just jam it in there .

We wanna make sure that the dill is going on all sides for the other cucumbers .

I'm just gonna simply make spears this part .

Think about all the different cuts of pickles that you eat from the grocery store .

So there's those simple chips that go on burgers which are really just a very thin slice .

Next .

You've got those longer sandwich style pickles that I absolutely love .

Load them up in jars .

The same thing .

Put dill in them all around the outsides , jam them in there .

It's gonna provide a ton of awesome flavor .

Now , for the brine , I'm gonna add a pot to the top .

No , it's green just because it's green .

Not because I'm making pickles .

Go ahead and add in some water .

Some white vinegar .

This is just a simple distilled vinegar .

Don't go overboard and spend too much money with this .

Some finally minced garlic .

I'm gonna use a ton because it's really gonna add a lot of great flavor .

Some crushed red pepper flakes for a little bit of zest in here .

Next , I'm gonna be using sea salt .

I highly recommend using sea salt over any salt out there .

We're gonna bring it to a boil or until the salt has dissolved .

Give it a whisk .

Make sure everything is completely incorporated .

And at this point , we're heading right back over to where our pickles are and then using a ladle or if you have a funnel .

Fantastic .

Start ladling in some of that brine .

The goal here is to completely cover the pickles .

So add enough brine in there and you may even need to jam some of the other flavors in there , like the garlic and the crushed red pepper flake .

So again , using a chopstick or a wooden skewer , sort of mix everything around and you can even wait a few minutes and come back maybe after 10 or 15 minutes of them sitting there and mix them up .

And if those pickles are still hanging out of the top , op , put a little quarter cup , measuring cup in there , seems to submerge them perfectly and it's the right size that fits in there .

OK .

Now we've got all of our amazing dill garlic pickles .

It's gonna take about 60 minutes for these to completely cool down to room temperature .

These ones are my favorite , but these next ones have started to grow on me and they're bread and butter pickles and just like the other ones , slice them .

However you'd like , I always seem to see ones that are chips or those long sandwich style pickles when it comes to these , jam them into the jar , just like in the other ones .

And now for this brine , it's a little bit different .

Same pot .

Yes , I washed it .

Hit it with some vinegar .

This is all vinegar based on this one .

Next .

Some apple cider vinegar .

It's gonna provide a lot of great flavor and of course some color to these bread and butter pickles .

Next , we're going to pour in some sugar .

This is where that delicious sweetness comes from in these pickles .

Now , for some more aromatic and flavorings .

Some thinly sliced yellow onions , some garlic for a little kick , some salt because of course , we need to season everything up next .

We're gonna add in some mustard seeds because , well , they have mustard seeds , some celery seed maybe because I'm from Chicago .

I don't know .

Turmeric color and great flavor .

Last but not least .

Some whole cloves , bring it to a boil , make sure the sugar and the salt are completely dissolved .

Give it a whisk , combine all those ingredients .

Now , what we're gonna do is head back over to the countertop where the pickles are and using a ladle just like before .

Go ahead and pour all that delicious brine all over it .

It smells amazing you guys , seriously .

This thing is calling my name for a sandwich .

However , when it comes to these , you've got a lot of onions and bigger ingredients and they're not just spices .

So jam them in there , mix them around .

You may need to do it a little more vigorously than the ones at the dill pickles because , well , you're kind of moving a lot of ingredients around and that's just what you have to do .

Sorry .

And then if you wanted to can it , so it lasts a little bit longer .

Go ahead and put the lid on and then screw the outer band on just for a great point of reference .

If you push it down at this point , it will pop up back and forth .

So , head over to your cooktop where that big large boiling pot of water is put it in the calendar , drop it in .

We're gonna let it cook for 10 minutes at a boil .

What this is gonna do is help sterilize the vegetables in there .

So they are safe to sit at room temperature .

Now , go ahead and try to push the top .

It's not moving .

We know we're in great shape here .

These will last up to one year and can be kept at room temperature .

But for the other ones simply pop a lid on them and because , well , I'm a nerd , go ahead and take your trusty sharpie right out of your pocket and label and date everything .

So if you've got Dill Pickles , put that on there , make sure the dates on there or perhaps you've got your bread and butters .

These are going in the refrigerator and can be eaten within 4 to 6 weeks .

Check out these beauties .

So yeah , they're delicious .

Nothing else to say .

Be sure to like this video .

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