Lemony Moroccan Hummus
Preserved lemons and Ras el Hanout turn standard hummus into a deliciously tart, aromatic dish.
Fresh Kosher Deli Dill Pickles
My Mom and Dad would can both bread & butter and garlic spear pickles from the family garden, but Dad would always save some of those tasty little cucurbits for these fresh deli styles.
He liked them half-ripe, or set on the counter for only a day or two before the pickles started to turn that lovely olive color in the brine. Me, I love full-on kosher deli flavor and as long as the brine remains mostly clear, I leave them on the counter for at least 4 to 6 days.
Submitted by: Jim from North Aurora, IL
Yield: 10 to 12
Preparation Instructions:
- Prepare jar by washing in hot soapy water, rinse well and air dry or wash in dish washer.
- Scrub cucumbers as described in "Helpful Hints".
- In a large container, stir together water, vinegar and salt until salt is completely dissolved.
- Place half of dill in the bottom of the gallon jar. Add all remaining spices, then fit half of pickles in the jar. Sometimes it's like a puzzle to get the right fit. Add remaining dill then pickles, ending up with a single pickle as described in the hints.
- Fill jar with brine, being sure to cover the final pickle completely. Lightly place the cover on the jar, put on a plate and set on the counter, out of direct sunlight, for at least 3 days. The brine should remain mostly clear and each day that it does is an extra day of flavorful fermentation. Your nose can tell you a lot about the process. After 4 to 6 days, place the jar in the refrigerator to stop the fermentation. Wait another day or two and enjoy! The pickles will be good for up to a month in the fridge, but they never last that long.
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More About This Recipe
Because these pickles are not pasteurized, the jar and the pickles need to be clean, clean, clean. I've used store-bought "pickles", but they MUST be unwaxed. The best choice is home grown pickling cukes about 4 to 5 inches long, scrubbed with a vegetable brush, particularly the flower end which has a brown or beige "caul" that contains the enzymes that make the cucumber decompose. The caul must be scrubbed off completely or you run the risk of having the pickles spoil before fermentation is adequate. A little "slime" on the top of the brine is OK, a lot means wasted effort. The pickles MUST remain under the brine at all times, so the final pickle in the jar should straddle the shoulders of the jar below the lid line to hold them all submerged in the brine.
My gallon jug only held 2 quarts of water after the cucs and spices were in the jar. I also added a couple cloves of garlic and some grape leaves. I just made mine…..Can’t wait to see how they turn out. Will keep you posted
That is indeed the way to do it. Only addition; to get the salt to dissolve properly you need boiling (or very hot) water. So do that first, and you need not boil all the water, just enough to get the salt dissolved. Then add cold to recipe proportions. I also add a few cloves of fresh garlic, peeled and smashed. I go right into the refrigerator and the pickles are pickles in 2 , more so in 3 and never around by 4. And if you are growing cucumbers, the more you pick, the more you get. Don’t leave them on the vine any longer than necessary, or the plant will stop producing. Add a few strips of red sweet pepper for color, and late in the season do this with green tomatoes. Halve them and give it a little extra time.