Pickles Anyone?

Yesterday Josh brought in a huge basket of cucumbers from the garden.  Obviously it was WAY MORE than we could possibly eat.  So it was time to make pickles.  The last time I did this several years ago they turned out very salty.  Hopefully this new recipe turns out better.

It all started with a big basket of cucumbers.

I am so LOVING the new sink, especially the colander attachment

for rinsing the brine off the cucumbers.

Bringing them to a boil in the vinegar water.

Safely sealing/preserving the jars.

One quart of dill pickles.

The total lot....four quarts and six pints.

The whole process began yesterday afternoon and I just finished late this morning.  AND I did not even use all the cucumbers.  I probably could have gotten another six quarts or so, but frankly I don't have the time right now to do more.  I'll save the jars for when the tomatoes come in....I predict canning a lot of salsa and marinara!  In the meantime our contractor is enjoying a lot of cucumbers!

If you look closely in the photo there are two different kinds.  Most of them are rather thin cucumbers.  I used the ceramic hand slicer at the thickest setting.  Turns out maybe it wasn't quite thick enough.  So the last two quarts I did today I dug out the mandolin from storage and got some thicker ones.  We'll find out in six weeks if they turned out!