Adapted from Ideals Family Cookbook · Edith Shaska
Russian Dill Pickles
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups vinegar (type and acidity unspecified in the original)
- 1½ cups sugar
- Thin cucumbers, about 5 inches long, enough to fill desired jars
- Per quart jar: 1 head fresh dill
- Per quart jar: 1 small red pepper
- Per quart jar: ½ tsp salt
- Per quart jar: 2 tsp mixed spice (blend unspecified)
Directions
- Combine the water, vinegar and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
- Wash the cucumbers and quarter each one lengthwise.
- For each clean quart jar, add a head of dill, one small red pepper, half a teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons mixed spice.
- Pack cucumber quarters into the jars. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the cucumbers, leaving room at the top. Close jars with lids.
- Modern refrigerator version: Let cool briefly, refrigerate promptly, and keep refrigerated. Allow time for the flavors to develop before serving. Do not treat closed jars as shelf-stable without a separately validated canning process.
Original cookbook directions
“Russian Dill Pickles,” contributed by Edith Shaska to the Ideals Family Cookbook. The original brine is one cup water, two cups vinegar and one-and-a-half cups sugar, heated to boiling. Thin cucumbers approximately five inches long are washed and quartered lengthwise. Each quart jar receives one dill head, one small red pepper, half a teaspoon salt and two teaspoons mixed spice. The cucumber quarters are packed in jars, covered with the hot brine, and the jars are “sealed.” The original gives no processing time, vinegar strength, cucumber weight, yield or precise spice blend.
Modern preparation and preserving note
The original says to seal jars, but does not identify a tested water-bath or other shelf-stable processing procedure. Closing hot jars is not itself a validated canning method. The adapted steps above are for refrigerator pickles only. For pantry-stable pickles, use a separately tested recipe from a reliable canning authority with its specified vinegar acidity, jar size, headspace and processing time; do not assume this historic formula is validated for shelf storage.
Ingredient notes
Quart jar: Four cups capacity, not a quarter-sized jar. Mixed spice: The original does not specify which spices; pickling spice might be a practical interpretation, but should be labeled as an interpretation rather than a confirmed ingredient. Red pepper: The variety is unspecified, so heat level is up to the cook.