Sun Pickles

[Granny Smith]

I started these last Sunday, but didn't get to try them until yesterday. They're really good!

I left the last line of the instructions as written by the original author. It kind of makes me wonder what happened that made it necessary to put that in the recipe.

Sun Pickles

You need a gallon glass jar with a lid and pickling cucumbers to fill jar.

Wash cucumbers well & prick with a fork.

In the bottom of the jar, place a large stem & head of fresh dill (available in fresh produce aisles of the grocery store usually, if you don't grow your own) and 1 or more peeled garlic cloves, according to your taste.

Pack the cucumbers into the jar.

Mix together well:

6 1/2 cups water
3 1/4 cups white vinegar
2/3 cup pickling salt (not table salt)
1 tsp. alum

Pour the above mixture over the cucumbers. Seal the jar and place in the sun from approx. 5 days. Once opened, refrigerate. It is best to always remove the pickles with a clean fork.

[Valerie]

Let me ask you about that dill. When it says a head of dill, does that mean the part with the seeds? I'm thinking it does. But all they sell here is the leafy part. I used that in a pickle recipe once, and it was definitely not right.

That is funny about the clean fork. Don't want any double dipping going on in the pickle jar!

[Granny Smith]

It means the flower or seed head, but I used leaves, since that's what Kroger had, and they were fine. I used a whole pack (they were fresh, but they came in packs instead of bundles) for 1 gallon of the biggest pickling cukes you ever saw. I could only fit 12 of them in a gallon jar!

[Valerie]

OK, good! All they ever have here are the plastic packs of the leaves. I might try these. I have been known to mess up many a pickle, but since these don't actually cook on the stove, maybe they would be OK. Did you leave it outside at night or bring it in?

[Granny Smith]

To tell you the truth, I didn't even put them outside. I put them in the kitchen window in the morning (east window) and moved them to the window over my desk in the afternoon (west window). When the sun went down, I put them on the kitchen table till the next day.

[Valerie]

I might better put mine outside. We don't have east and west windows here big enough to sit a jar in. The porch rail would be good if the cat wouldn't knock it off! Maybe I better sit it on a bucket instead. Now we'll see if we can still find pickling cukes this late in the year!

[Valerie]

Dang! I was looking for this recipe back in the early summer when my cukes were producing! I couldn't remember what it was called or where it was! Well, missed it for this year; hopefully I'll remember it next year!