Editing these pickles has me deep in nostalgia for this past growing season. Summer is at a close- thank God, because I miss wanting to go outside. There are days in the eighties on the 10-day forecast, so for us, that means onward with what Autumn’s growing season has to offer. We made the classic excited gardener’s mistake early on in our growing journey years ago of planting WAY too much variety, and not enough quantity. In short, we knew next to nothing about maximizing our small space, we work within a budget, and had no clue how to harness that into something truly productive. Cut to years later, and we made the choice to go all-in on what we know we like to grow, what we always use, and what has worked well in the past. Dedicating more space to greater quantity of a lesser variety of crops served us well this year.

We ended up with 24+ jars of pickles, pounds of tomatoes and jars of tomato pureé, 50 heads of garlic, over 120 onions, so many herbs we’ve dried jar upon jar, a whole bunch of fig jam, and so freakin’ much more, y’all. I’m not saying everything was a success- every season presents its own challenges, but dang it, if what we’ve learned isn’t showing itself. This past weekend, we took a seed inventory, then after church, we headed to one of our very favorite places, The Natural Gardener, and picked up some of the seeds we were missing- some shallots, Lisbon bunching onions, thyme, cilantro, lettuce, spinach, arugula. I also grabbed two basil plants because, unfortunately, two of ours got a little crispy in the sunshine. A couple blue daze plants also hopped into my cart- not sure how that happened. I grow a lot of orange/coral flowers, shock to no one who knows me, so I really love that little pop of blue here and there to compliment everything.

This fall, we’ll plant some Italian squash, beans, bunching onions, potatoes, lettuces, spinach, shallots, arugula, carrots, and of course, all the herbs. In addition to all these will also be a whole bunch of cucumbers. One of the great things about our growing zone- two pickle seasons a year! It’s funny to me that gardening, which used to have very “springtime” associations, now gives me the feelings about the fall. You can not tell me that stepping outside in a big sweater on a chilly morning with a hot coffee, and tending to the garden doesn’t sound lovely. That sounds like a Nancy Meyers movie, and I refuse to be convinced otherwise.

So, pickles…

A small cuke and pepper haul one morning this summer.

I’ve made a lot of pickles over these past 4ish years, and let me say, they are WAY better now than when I first began. When I first started making pickles, I didn’t have the right balance of vinegar to water (in fact, I think there was zero balance of water), and they were way too astringent. Then, I started adding more aromatics like herbs, garlic, and spices, but first, the spices were just not doing it for me. Also, it felt like I saw the ingredients in there, but they weren’t permeating the cucumbers. I just wanted more.

I recently made a video about this, and in it I say that this is not so much a recipe as it is a formula. Pickles are something that, in my kitchen, vary every time I make them because I’m using what I have readily available most of the time, from the backyard. That said, this general formula is a really great guideline for a delicious pickle, no matter what you swap in or out. Once you start making your own pickles, you probably won’t ever want to go store-bought again.

You can pickle that, but first a couple simple tips:

Use a 2:1 ratio of vinegar:water. I find this ratio to be the perfect amount of smoothness, from the water. I’ve used apple cider vinegar and white distilled, and the jury says they enjoy the ones using the plain white vinegar more. This is kind of shocking to me, but I give the people what they want.
To measure my 2:1 vinegar and water mixture, I like to use whatever vessel I’m going to be pickling in. The reason for this is that we are going to bring our vinegar and water to a boil along with some salt and sugar, and this will result in some small amount of evaporation, so I’d rather err on the side of more and not have to do any extra boiling. The second reason for this is that the amount of what I put in each jar will inevitably end up varying slightly- again, just a good reason to err on the side of more.
Ramp up those aromatics. More is more. Get in there with that garlic. For the 39-oz jar above, I used around 8 very large cloves. This is not a time to be stingy with spice, either. Take that from someone who is incredibly heat-sensitive- liberal use of black peppercorns, and a healthy sprinkle of dried chili flakes really add a nice background complexity to the pickles, without imparting too much actual spice. Fistfuls of fresh herbs are your friends. Obviously, I love the classic dill, however, either with dill, or sometimes when I’m without I’ll add in some thyme, oregano, rosemary, or all three. In this recipe, I also add in a bunch of sliced peppers from the garden- this is highly encouraged. Just remember to temper this with your individual spice tolerance. Our Serranos we grow tend to be on the more mild end of the spectrum, so I’m not shy with them, but on our individual pickle path, you do you.

Now that we’ve exhausted our way around the makings of a good pickle, let’s get into a little basic instruction. Now, this is a basic formula, and I still encourage you to use whatever you have on hand. I’ve used this basic method for everything from cukes and peppers like you see here, to carrots, beans, beets, radishes and onions. That is the beauty of this- have you ever made an autumnal pickle? Well, now you might. It’s the end of summer; let’s preserve all that bounty into something to put on tacos, sammies, charcuterie boards, and so much more.

Homegrown Garlicky Dill Pickles

Made for 1 40-oz Weck Jar

27 oz distilled white vinegar

13 oz water

1 T granulated sugar

1 T kosher salt

2 tbs peppercorns

8 large cloves garlic, minced

1 t crushed red pepper flakes

Herbs of choice- I used around 10 sprigs of dill here

12 small pickling cucumbers, sliced to your liking

8 peppers, thinly sliced- I used a mix of Serrano, cubanelle, and banana peppers

Bring vinegar, water, salt and sugar to a boil until sugar and salt are dissolved.
To your jar, add the peppercorns, red pepper flakes, garlic, dill, and then layer in the cucumbers. I am not precious about this, and really pack them in there. Sprinkle pepper slices on top.
Place a funnel atop the jar, and using a heat-proof liquid measuring cup, carefully pour in the hot vinegar mixture until just barely covering everything. Place the lid tightly atop the jar, and allow to cool completely before refrigerating.

The pickles will be good refrigerated for about 4 months. One word of warning, only give them away if you have it in your heart to continue to give, because these are a real crowd pleaser. We always give them to our friends, and I keep giving them to Ben to give to people at work because frankly, I love hearing how much people like them and I don’t care who knows it, haha.

I said we really ramped up our cucumber crop this past year, and I was not kidding, but next year, I’d like to do even more- we seriously can not keep enough of these on hand. I have around 4 more jars in the fridge I’m selfishly hoarding for myself until I can furiously restock. Obviously these are amazing on their own, but our current favorite combo is a grilled cheese featuring some of our pickles, our fig jam, onions from the garden, a good white cheddar/parm/gouda situation and a little dijon. Get the heck out of here. So freakin’ good. If that’s not your thing, I highly recommend a charcuterie board pairing with these bad boys. They just lighten everything rich up in such a great way- which is another endorsement to add to those cukes. Pickled peppers and onions make such amazing toppings for everything from pizza to tacos. TBH, I don’t even remember the last time I purchased pickles in a store.

You’d think I’m selling these. I wish!