Barry's International Kitchen

August 16, 2009


Sour Dill Pickles

My early years were spent in Revere and Malden MA.  You never had to walk more than a few minutes to find a great deli(real deli not like the ones that are part of the Supermarket.)  At noon time the places were full of  distinguished older men solving all the worlds problems each with a Corn beef or any one of the great sandwiches you could purchase with a half sour pickle on the side.  I haven't been able to find a good half sour pickle for years, I guess they exist but I just don't know where to find them and I don't go to the city often and when I do deli isn't on my mind it is usually for a funeral or a wedding.  What I liked about the half sour pickle is it wasn't over processed, you could still taste the cucumber with this great sourish overtone.  My mission was to make this pickle, but hence, I haven't cracked the code but in the process have come up with a good Sour Dill that is really good.  The trick is to use them before they get over processed so you can still tell it is a cucumber so I try to eat them between 1 and 3 weeks after making, 4 or 5 days will get you there but over a month they get like a store bought pickle, mushy and over processed.  I made this mistake once, when cukes were on sale I bought a ton and make them all up.  I still have some and they are only good for making tartar sauce or something similar and you still would need to scrape off all the mush.  Making Sour or Sour Dills is a really easy thing to do, and if you get the cukes cheap in the summer, very economical.  It isn't a price thing for me, they are just better than the ones I can buy.



Use a jar 30 - 32 oz for this recipe, adjust accordingly for larger or smaller jars.

1 - 2 Tablespoons of Sea Salt or a course salt not table salt

1 - 2 TBSP pickling spicies

1 TBSP Dill weed

Apple Cider Vinegar


Sterilize jar by filling jar and cap with boiling water for a minute or two

Measure and cut cukes to fit jar and cut into spares

Add Salt, pickling spices and dill weed (you can omit the dill if you like it better)

Pack tightly the cukes into the jar

Pour cider to cover cukes

cover jar and shake to distribute the spices and the salt, make sure nothing is still on the bottom.


Store in cool place like your basement.  Best used with 3 weeks but they will still be ok but not as good after that.  Refridgerat after opening.


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