How to Make Dill Pickles

I showed your our garden here. We have been getting A LOT of cucumbers, so many that we can’t eat all of them.(We only got a few tomatoes so far.) I am going to show you how we make pickles. I have only made them a couple of times, so I am not an expert by any means. Actually, I helped my 12 year old daughter make this batch of pickles.

First we got together several canning jars. We use these for drinking glasses and to store other food items in our pantry also.
We washed all of the cucumbers in water and Shaklee Basic H2. I clean all my fruits and vegetables including lettuce and berries (Home grown lettuce has a lot of dirt on it and this works great.) I use this safe non-toxic cleaner for everything. I don’t want to use anything that is not safe for my family.
We cut the cucumbers into wedges. They could be sliced thin or left whole, also.

Then I put them into the jars. We put in as many as we can without bruising them.

We use fresh garlic. Separate the cloves, and ……peel them.   I use a Zyliss Garlic press. I use a lot of garlic, all the time, and this is an easy one to use. I bought mine at a Pampered Chef party years ago. You could get them several places now.
Put the garlic in and then just squeeze. I scrape the garlic on the side of the jar. We added 2 cloves to each jar. We then add 2 tablespoons of Celtic Sea Salt. This is unprocessed salt which is way better of you. We buy the 22 pound bag, which lasts us a long time.
  We also grew dill in our garden for the first time. I had no idea what part to use from the plant. I think you could use any and all of it. Does anyone know or have experience with this?
At first I just used the feathery part that is attached to the stem but then I added some of the top part. The flavor was delicious!
The last thing was to add filtered water. Water has so many unwanted containments that it’s important to use a good quality water filtration system. (This one is even certified to take out up to 99% of lead for only pennies a day!!!) 
Just fill the jar until it is about one half inch from the top. 
Put the lids on tight and let the jars sit at room temperature for two days. (I actually, gently flipped the jars back and forth to mix all the ingredients.)  If the cucumbers are whole it will probably take three days. Slices may only need one day. Then put the jars into the refrigerator. They should last for several months, but not in our house. lol!   And that is it. So easy and the family loves them.
Dill Pickles
4-5 pickling cucumbers
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of sea salt
1 cup filtered water

A bunch of fresh Dill or 1 tablespoon dry Dill

Have you ever canned pickles? How did they turn out? What ingredients do you use?

Do You can anything else? If so, what do you can? I would love to know!

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