It's A Dill Pickle Kind Of Day

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     Today we canned the pickles we have been growing in our garden. Our neighbor, and very good friend, came over to help. This is not our first time making pickles. We LOVE our homemade pickles! I'm not sure why we can them, they never last long in our house. The best advice I ever received about making pickles came from one of the many youtube videos we watched. A guy in the video (It has been a while and I could not find the video again) said that even if you mess them up, your homemade pickles will be better than anything you can buy at the store. He was sooo right! 
     This is the first time we have canned our own homegrown cucumbers and dill. I am very proud to say I grew my own dill. I remember as a child visiting my grandparents house and their being jars of pickles with the funny looking plant in them. I could never figure out why it was in there. Those plants sure were hard, and not very yummy. I was little! Cut me some slack! :) 
     Here are our photos from today's pickling experience. We tried canning salsa as well, but it did not seal. Oh well, I guess we will just have to eat it! 

Here is my daughter mixing the brine and her cutting the cucumbers. (We got our brine recipe from Food.com) Photos courtesy of Neighbor Bree. 

Packing them in.

And season them up! 

We like lots of garlic, dill and a bit of mustard seed. 

A bay leaf is nice, too. 

Jalapenos added to one for my Brother In Law. 

(I lost a bet, so he gets his very own jar of pickles.) 

 Adding our brine mix. 

 Careful it's HOT!

Water Bath for 15 minutes.

 And Ta Dah!   

     There was actually a 5th jar of pickles, but they went home with Neighbor Bree. Like I said, the salsa did not seal. All I had left was the 'Big Box Store Brand' lids and it is common for them to buckle. I am thinking we are going to need more canning supplies soon. Our first jar of pickles has already been opened and are half gone... Ooops. :)

Another step towards self sufficiency! Food Preservation!

We would love to hear about your favorite canning recipes! 

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