I’ve always loved pickles – by themselves straight out of the jar, sliced on sandwiches, diced on hoagies, and diced in egg salad. Most of my life, I enjoyed the Claussen brand of pickles. You can find them in the refrigerated section of your supermarket.

In 2017, I came across Food in Jars, and decided to try my hand at making my own especially since I was growing my own cucumbers. That year, I only grew slicing cucumbers and ended up making maybe 4 pints of pickles. They turned out pretty good, but could use improvement.

Last year, I planted one pickling cucumber variety and it made a world of a difference. I harvested over 30 cucumbers from that plant alone, which resulted in 9 pints and 8 quarts of pickles. Some batches were Marissa’s original dill pickle recipe, but other batches I experimented a bit and added jalapeños I grew as well. I also use my own dill weed and dill seed. The only ingredients I by are the vinegar, pickling salt, and other spices that go in.

Of course, some of my jars have been shared with family.

This year, I will be planting cucumbers again…I’m thinking 2 slicer and 2 pickling plants. So, there will be a lot of cucumbers again. The plan is to never have to buy pickles from the store again, and maybe sell some jars this year, too.

Do you like pickles? Have you ever made your own?