Kosher Garlic Dills

Homemade kosher garlic dill pickles from scratch, packed into jars with a hot spiced brine, whole garlic cloves, bay leaf, mustard seed, and a head of fresh dill. These are proper canning pickles, processed in a boiling water bath so they’re shelf-stable all year.

The brine gets built in two stages. First, the pickling spices simmer tied in cheesecloth for 15 minutes, infusing the vinegar-water-sugar-salt base with warm, complex flavor. Then the brine gets brought to a hard boil before pouring over the packed cucumbers. That boiling hot pour starts the pickling process immediately and helps the jars seal properly.

Halving the cucumbers lengthwise means more surface area exposed to the brine, so flavor penetrates faster and deeper than it would with whole pickles.

Pro Tips

• Use pickling cucumbers, not regular slicing cucumbers. Slicers have a higher water content and turn soft and mushy instead of staying crunchy.
• Leave exactly ¼ inch of headspace in each jar, both for the pickles and the brine. Too much headspace and the jar won’t seal; too little and it overflows during processing.
• Use pickling salt, not table salt. Table salt has anti-caking agents that cloud the brine.
• Let the pickles sit for at least 2 weeks before opening. The flavor develops and deepens over time.

Variations

• Add a small dried chili pepper to each jar for spicy garlic dills.
• Tuck in a grape leaf or oak leaf per jar. The tannins help keep the pickles extra crisp.
• Use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar for a rounder, mellower brine flavor.