Made Ball Dill Pickles tonight because Tsunami wanted a very vinegar pickle like we grew up with. Classic Vlassic. So I bought a boatload of Kirby cukes, some Ball Dill Pickle mix and gave it a whirl.
I put most of them in a huge kombucha jar I use for making kombucha tea and it looks so pretty. I also made whole pickles, spears, chips.
My Classic Vlassic Better Dill Pickle:
- caseload of fresh kirby cukes (I started with a case from Maria's Market, my local farm fresh green grocer)
- 2 cups of water
- 1 cup of vinegar
- 1/4 cup of the Ball Quick pickle mix (it smelled just like dill pickle juice)
- 1-2 red onions sliced
- Peeled, while garlic cloves as many as you like
*Cut blossom ends of cukes off as blossom end contains an enzyme that makes pickles soft.
I added red onion and garlic cloves as well because that is what was wanted and politely requested. 2 whole heads of garlic to be exact and 2 red onions, using the slivered onions to wedge into air pockets between the whole cukes. These are supposed to be ready overnight, according to the recipe and instructions on the back of the pickle mix. It turned out amazing.
I did not brine them beforehand as this recipe is a quick refrigerator pickle and it isn’t necessary because of the pickle crisp that is also in the mix.
This rocked on so many levels and the flavor was outstanding, but most importantly they are super crunchy! So successful, I made dill spears, whole pickles, hamburger chips/slices and added garlic to every batch. Just so yummy. Halfway through my pickle marathon, I ran out of my dill pickle mix.
Hm, what to do? I was so enthusiastic with my pickle achievement, I didn't calculate exceptionally well. But I had also ordered the Ball salsa mix. It occurred to me that this might work in a pinch and well, what the heck, it was what I had on-hand and I needed to finish the mission. I didn't really believe it would make good salsa anyway so I used it to replace the dill mix in a batch of tomatillos and onions. Damn. It was so tasty! Almost prefer it to the dills. It gave such a great savory, salsa flavor that when combined with the tomatillos and onions, it made for a superb pickled tomatillo.
Everyone in the family loves these pickles. Definitely, a keeper because it makes great garlic dills, can't keep em around. And I think the tomatillos will be awesome I suspect. And yes, I was right. These tomatillos are just freaking awesome. May never be able to eat another tomatillo any other way again. Just bet it would make perfect tomatillo salsa just put into the blender or food processor.
**These pickles or even just the juice from the dills and the tomatillos make an outstanding infused vodka for bloody mary's, FYI.
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