Home-made Dill, Pepper, Garlic pickled Gherkins

Home-made Dill, Pepper, Garlic pickled Gherkins, originally uploaded by HyperBob.

Pickled Gherkins with dill, pepper,and garlic

I bought about a kilo and a half of gherkins to suppliment the ones I got from my allotment and decided to pickle them. This is the process.

Dump the gherkins in a basins and wash them, then take a fork and prick them all over. Transfer the gherkins to a container and cover them with 1/4 kilo of salt and leave for 4 hours. During this time the gherkins will become soft and they will loose water from the holes you have pricked on the surface.

Once the 4 hours is up wash the gherkins 5 times in cold running water ready for putting in preservative jars.

Pickle mixture.
1/2 cup of vinegar
2 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of mustard seed
1 tablespoon of jamacian allspice
3 heads of dill plant
6 cloves of garlic finely sliced.

Place all of the spices in a pot and add the vinegar and water and bring gently to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.

2 kilos of gherkins should fit nicely into 3 1/2 litre jars. Place the dill heads and mustard seed at the bottom of the jar, and then you can either pack the gherkins into the jar whole or you can slice them, then top up with the spiced pickling mixture and seal the jars.

When the gherkins go in the jar they are still rather green in colour but by the next day they will have drawn in the spiced pickling liquor and their colour will change to a more olive green, and believe it or not they are ready to eat the next day.

Great with cold ham or salmon.