Do you get a craving for deli food, when you look at this? I'm craving a Montreal smoked meat sandwich, with a crispy pickle on the side! This is Dill Weed, and while it has an other worldly appearance in these images, it's a down to earth herb found in many comfort foods.
Dillweed has two primary parts, both of which are used in culinary dishes around the world. There's the flowerhead, with its starbursts of tiny flowers. They look like mini fireworks! The seeds are harvested from this part of the plant. Below the flowerhead, are the delicate, feathery leaves which are used fresh, or dried. Dill has a lemony flavour, although it is often described as tasting similar to fennel. Dill weed is part of the same plant family as fennel, caraway, cumin and parsley.
Native to Eastern Europe, Scandanavia, and the Mediterranean, it's found in a wide variety of foods. If you've been to a Swedish smorgasbord, you may have enjoyed gravlax with fresh dill, lemon and thin slices of dark rye bread (and gone back for more). A little fresh dill in cream cheese is wonderful with lox and bagels. Dill adds a tangy note to balance the sweetness of the beets and carrots in Russian borscht soup. Greeks make delicious savoury pinwheel fillo pastries, stuffed with a mixture of spinach, feta, onion, garlic, and...dill.
Native to Eastern Europe, Scandanavia, and the Mediterranean, it's found in a wide variety of foods. If you've been to a Swedish smorgasbord, you may have enjoyed gravlax with fresh dill, lemon and thin slices of dark rye bread (and gone back for more). A little fresh dill in cream cheese is wonderful with lox and bagels. Dill adds a tangy note to balance the sweetness of the beets and carrots in Russian borscht soup. Greeks make delicious savoury pinwheel fillo pastries, stuffed with a mixture of spinach, feta, onion, garlic, and...dill.
Which brings me to dill pickles. Those bouquets of dill, stuffed into pickle jars of plump pickled cuccumbers are not just for looks - although they do make a jar of pickles look really pretty. The fresh dill gives dill pickles their unique flavour.
At this time of year, home canners are making small batches of crisp dill pickles to add some zip to Winter meals, and to give as gifts over the holidays. I love it, when my family and friends post photos of their day's worth of canning, lined up in sparkling jars on their kitchen counters!
If you've never done any canning, or if, like me, you've had a few disappointments, you may be thinking, "pickles and I scream"! There's nothing to scream about. The recipe is simple, and if you follow a few helpful hints, your pickles will be tasty and crispy.
Pre-sterilize the jars, lids and rings.
Clean the cuccumbers and the fresh dill. Slice the ends off of the cuccumbers (I'll explain later).
Place pre-sterilized pickle jars in the sink, and pour boiling hot water into the jars. The jars need to be hot, when you fill them with the cuccumbers and the "pickle juice", or brine as it is called. So, this is a way to keep them hot, until it's time to fill them with the cukes.
Fill a large canner (sometimes called a canning kettle) with water, and bring to a boil. If you don't have a canner, use the biggest stock pot, or soup pot that you have, making sure that it is deep enough, that your jars will be submerged in water during the processing time. Since glass jars can break if they come into contact with direct heat, canning kettles come with wire racks to raise the jars from the bottom of the pot. If you don't have a rack, use extra lid rings, and rest the jars on those.
While the water in the canning kettle is coming to a boil, prepare the brine, by bringing the vinegar, water and salt to a boil. We interrupt this process, to bring you an educational moment: Pickling salt has finer granules, and dissolves more quickly than kosher, or seasalt. Most importantly, pickling salt doesn't have any anti-caking agents to turn the brine cloudy; or, iodine to turn the pickles dark. And now, back to pickling...
Using tongs, empty the jars, and remove them from the sink. Stuff the jars with cuccumbers, garlic and fresh dill. Pour the boiling pickle juice over the cuccumbers, leaving about 1cm (1/2 inch) of headroom at the top of the jar. Put the lids on the jars, and seal with the rings.
When the water in the canning kettle reaches a rolling boil, place the jars inside the kettle. Start timing. If you are canning the four smaller jars, boil them for only ten minutes. If you are canning the larger quart jars, boil them for fifteen minutes. Do not boil longer than the times given. You don't want limp, mushy pickles!
Remove the jars from the canning kettle, and let cool. You'll hear a cool popping sound, as the lids seal, and the lids will have a slight dip to them. Store in a cool, dry place. Once open, keep refrigerated, for up to a year.
At this time of year, home canners are making small batches of crisp dill pickles to add some zip to Winter meals, and to give as gifts over the holidays. I love it, when my family and friends post photos of their day's worth of canning, lined up in sparkling jars on their kitchen counters!
If you've never done any canning, or if, like me, you've had a few disappointments, you may be thinking, "pickles and I scream"! There's nothing to scream about. The recipe is simple, and if you follow a few helpful hints, your pickles will be tasty and crispy.
Dill Pickles
Makes two 1 litre (quart) jars, or four 500ml (pint) jars of pickles:
10 small, firm, fresh picked cuccumbers
500ml (2 Cups) white vinegar
500ml (2 Cups) water
25ml (2 Tbsp) pickling salt
4 heads of fresh dill, or 20ml (4 tsp) dill seeds
4 small cloves of garlic
Pre-sterilize the jars, lids and rings.
Clean the cuccumbers and the fresh dill. Slice the ends off of the cuccumbers (I'll explain later).
Place pre-sterilized pickle jars in the sink, and pour boiling hot water into the jars. The jars need to be hot, when you fill them with the cuccumbers and the "pickle juice", or brine as it is called. So, this is a way to keep them hot, until it's time to fill them with the cukes.
Fill a large canner (sometimes called a canning kettle) with water, and bring to a boil. If you don't have a canner, use the biggest stock pot, or soup pot that you have, making sure that it is deep enough, that your jars will be submerged in water during the processing time. Since glass jars can break if they come into contact with direct heat, canning kettles come with wire racks to raise the jars from the bottom of the pot. If you don't have a rack, use extra lid rings, and rest the jars on those.
While the water in the canning kettle is coming to a boil, prepare the brine, by bringing the vinegar, water and salt to a boil. We interrupt this process, to bring you an educational moment: Pickling salt has finer granules, and dissolves more quickly than kosher, or seasalt. Most importantly, pickling salt doesn't have any anti-caking agents to turn the brine cloudy; or, iodine to turn the pickles dark. And now, back to pickling...
Using tongs, empty the jars, and remove them from the sink. Stuff the jars with cuccumbers, garlic and fresh dill. Pour the boiling pickle juice over the cuccumbers, leaving about 1cm (1/2 inch) of headroom at the top of the jar. Put the lids on the jars, and seal with the rings.
When the water in the canning kettle reaches a rolling boil, place the jars inside the kettle. Start timing. If you are canning the four smaller jars, boil them for only ten minutes. If you are canning the larger quart jars, boil them for fifteen minutes. Do not boil longer than the times given. You don't want limp, mushy pickles!
Remove the jars from the canning kettle, and let cool. You'll hear a cool popping sound, as the lids seal, and the lids will have a slight dip to them. Store in a cool, dry place. Once open, keep refrigerated, for up to a year.
What is the secret to crispy pickles? Start with crispy cuccumbers. They should be small, and firm. Fresh cuccumbers, picked right out of the garden are best. You need to prepare them as soon as possible after they've been picked, or leave them soaking in ice water if you can't get to them right away. The longer cuccumbers sit in the grocery store, or on the counter, the softer they get.
You may have heard about putting washed grape leaves, or oak leaves, or cherry leaves, or a half teaspoon of loose black tea leaves into pickle jars. This is because the those leaves have tannins, which keep pickles crispy.
I promised to explain why we cut the ends off of cuccumbers before pickling them. There are enzymes in the blossom ends of the cuccumbers, which contribute to the softening process. That little step at the beginning, makes a big difference!
Now, who'd get in a pickle over what is basically a three step process: stuff jars with cuccumbers, dill and garlic; pour brine over everything; boil for a short time. That's it! The hardest part is giving them a few weeks to marinate. It's worth the wait!
Thank you so much! There are now nearly 500 blogposts...hope you enjoy them all!
ReplyDelete