Recipe: How to Make Jalapeño Pickles

Although my garden is a bit woeful this year, I have ended up with plenty of pickling cucumbers, which is fine by me. After fresh tomatoes, cucumbers are the No. 2 reason I grow a garden. All the radishes, zucchini, lettuce, and carrots are just bonus. I love my cucumbers sliced fresh and mixed with onions and vinegar for a crisp summer side dish, but the majority of them end up as pickles.

Each year, I try a few new pickling recipes and have recently been experimenting with brining and fermenting. But, there are also a few pickles I have to make every year, mostly to appease the friends I hunt and tailgate with. One of those must-can recipes is my jalapeño dill pickles, which I’ve detailed below.

If you’ve never canned before, there are plenty of resources online that will provide good insight, but I suggest picking up a copy of the Ball Blue Book of Preserving, which details all the important steps to putting up your summer harvest.

Jalapeno Dill Pickles
(Makes about 8 pints)
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Ingredients:**_
– 4 ½ cups water
– 4 cups white vinegar
– 6 Tbsp. canning salt
– 8 jalapenos, sliced
– 16 sprigs fresh dill
– 8 red chili peppers, or 4 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
– 12 cucumbers, washed and sliced ¼-inch thick, crosswise
– 4 tsp. mustard seed
– Peppercorns
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Directions:_ **
In medium pot, bring water, vinegar, and salt to a boil, stirring until salt dissolves.

Put 1 sliced jalapeno into each jar, along with one sprig dill and one red chili pepper (or ½ Tbsp. red pepper flakes).

Pack cucumbers tightly into pint jars, leaving ¼-inch space at the top.

Add another sprig dill, ½ teaspoon mustard seed and a few peppercorns.

Pour hot vinegar/water mix over cucumbers.

Tighten caps, submerge cans in boiling water for 15 minutes.