I Love Pickles
You know, I love pickles- dill, sweet, bread and butter, you name it. In college a dill pickle was always served with the sandwiches from Sons of Italy in Athens, GA, one of my favorite college spots. One such day over lunch at Sons’, the boyfriend of my good friend ate my pickle before I could finish my Jimbo Sub. Aghast, I just looked at him and thought this just isn’t going to have the right taste finish. I am still thinking about it 20 plus years later. And to think she would go on to marry this guy! (Shannon and Carlton Walstad, I love you and will share all of my pickles with you!)
My granny knew a woman in her hometown of Branford, Florida that would make sweet dill pickles. These pickles had such a unique flavor of tart and sweet. Granny bought all of her pickles from this lady and she would share them with us. So, we grew up with a variety of pickles, including sweet dills, in the house.
Then I met Walt. He and his family had their own version of sweet dills. It was a recipe passed down from his sisters’ grandmother, Mable Jones Coleman of Camak, Georgia. In their version of this recipe they would take a big gallon jug of dill pickle chips and use that as the base for these sweet dills. Pouring out the pickle juice was the first step. Then layer after layer of sugar, garlic, and dill pickle chips were put back into the jug. Once full, the lid was put back on and the jug would be placed in the refrigerator to let the pickles set. The sugar would dissolve and after 6 hours or so, sweet dills were made. Sometimes they would shake the ingredients around to help them mix up.
This weekend if you are enjoying some bbq or a burger on the grill, I hope this recipe brings you a tasty and easy treat!
You can certainly double or quadruple this recipe. I find 32 ounces (1 quart) to be the easiest to manage.
INGREDIENTS
32 ounces dill pickle chips
2 cups sugar, divided
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
DIRECTIONS
Empty the store bought jar of pickles along with the syrup in a bowl. Drain the syrup and discard.
Using the original pickle jar; or a lidded jar of your choosing, layer the ingredients accordingly: 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/4 garlic slices, 1 cup of pickle chips.
Repeat the layers until the jar is full and the ingredients are all used. Place the lid back on the jar and roll the jar around on your counter to mix the ingredients.
Refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving. It tastes better the longer is sits in your refrigerator!
Pour out the juice and use only the pickles in the recipe.
Sugar and garlic- that is all you add back to the pickle chips.
See how you layer the ingredients back into the jar. 4 equal layers of each ingredient works perfectly.
A peak inside while layering
At first, the sugar will be grainy. Roll the jar around to help mix the ingredients. Also, give the pickles at least 6 hours in the fridge and the sugar will turn into a syrup. And if you have more time to let the pickles set, they will taste even better! Enjoy!
