Elm Farm

Family owned & farmed in Marshfield, MO

Pickles

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I get a little overwhelmed with multi-step processes when I’m tired. And it’s a safe bet I’ll be tired if I have a pile of cucumbers waiting to be dealt with in the middle of summer’s bountiful harvest peak.

So a few years ago, I exited Pinterest and just texted my mom. “Hey, I have too many cucumbers. Do you have a pickle recipe worth trying?”

Cuteface’s Bread & Butter Pickles

She didn’t have one, she had THE one. Well, technically it was two recipes that she combines, but her bread and butter pickles are the only ones I’ll ever eat again. Anyone else’s is inferior and unworthy of my enlightened tastebuds. (We feel pretty strongly about our pickles around here).

Dill Gherkins

But she doesn’t like dill pickles, so she didn’t have a dill recipe for me. I tried maybe 7 recipes before I hit upon the one that was worth re-using the next year and the next. And then I reconfigured it to be per-jar instead of per-pound-of-cucumber because I never know what kind of harvest I’m working with.


Small Batch Dill Pickles

Recipe by Cherith Mitchell
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

5

minutes
Cooking time

15

minutes

Can half pints as the cucumbers come in from your garden.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 tsp dill

  • 1/2 tsp mustard seed

  • 1/2 tsp peppercorn

  • 1/16 tsp crisp granules

  • sprinkle of crushed red pepper

  • 2 garlic cloves

  • Brine

  • 1 c vinegar

  • 1 c water

  • 1/8 c salt

Directions

  • To make the pickles: Slice cucumbers into wedges. Fill jars with spices & garlic cloves. Pack in cucumbers.
  • To make the brine: heat water & vinegar and disolve salt. Pour over pickles.
  • Process jars in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes.

Jake’s Favorite Spicy Dill Pickles

My sister and her husband have a weird appreciation for burning off their tastebuds, so when he mentioned he loved a good spicy pickle, I had to try my hand at burning his brains off. I failed, but in the meantime created a beautiful spicy pickle that even I enjoy. Simply create the above recipe and add 2-4 dried cayenne, jalapeno or thai peppers to each jar along with 2-3 cloves of garlic and a dash of red chili flakes. That’s it!

Spicy Pepper & Cucumber Relish

This recipe came about purely by accident. My mother asked me to try making some relish for her upcoming visit, so I obliged. But I accidentally used hot peppers instead of sweet and she never even tried it. But the rest of us thought it was a great addition to our cheese platters and sandwiches, so I keep making it!