The challenge: Growing cucumbers. They simply don't care for my backyard. Next year, they're likely getting their own raised bed in a sunnier area, hopefully, the landlord doesn't mind too much;-).
I gave in bought a 1/2 peck of cucumbers. I didn't need that many, only 1 1/2# for this recipe and I didn't plan my time as well as I thought. I was able to make about half of them into cucumbers. The rest went towards the site of the future cucumber garden. Its unfortunate, but I can't change it now. So, I went to work cutting the pickles into 1/2" thick rounds and spears. I can't follow instructions exactly, and I'd rather eat spears. I then placed the cucumbers into sterilized jars and squeezed in the dill sprigs.
Next, I combined the water, white vinegar, kosher salt, 9 cloves of garlic, 2 bay leaves, crumbled, dried dill weed/dill seeds, black peppercorns and 1/2 tsp whole fennel seeds and brought it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
I scooped the brine into the jars, making sure there were at least 3 cloves of garlic in each jar. Then I set them aside for an hour to cool while I read a book.
After that, move the open jars to the fridge. Cool in the fridge for one hour. Finally, cover and store in the fridge for 3 months. Emeril optimistically believes homemade pickles will last three months? I trust his editors made him say that;-).
I will definitely make this recipe again, but James has asked for Icicle pickles which are a little more effort and would have to wait till Christmas or New Year's at this point(its the end of August now), and I'm curious to experiment some.
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