Tasty Brine Pickles

Makes about 8 jars of pickles / 10 pickles each jar

Equipment
- 8 quart wide mouth jars (Ball works). Rinsed with hot water, and dried; relatively sterilized.
- 8 quart sauce pan (lid could help)

Prep
- 20 [2.5 per jar / 10 spears] pickling cucumbers (firm ones with warts are best) quartered long ways. If they are too long to fit in the jar height-wise they should be cut to fit under the lid and liquid.

Brine (add all ingredients below to the brine in saucepan with lid on; bring to simmer, for 15 mins.
- 4 quart water
- 2 cup vinegar
- 1 cup salt
- 3.5 tsp mustard seed (black or red)
- 4 tsp whole cumin seed
- 4 tsp whole black peppercorn
- 4 tsp whole coriander
- 10 cloves garlic bruised
- 1 serrano chili cut in two

Per Jar
- About 2.5 cucumbers quartered per jar. they should fit tight
- 4 cloves garlic
- 4 sprigs dill
- 1/2 serrano chili
- 1 bay leaf

Adding The Brine To The Jars
put ladle in saucepan holding brine, stir to create a swirl that will bring the seeds and stuff towards the center of the pot. scoop one ladle full of this stuff and ladle into each jar. Then ladle mostly just liquid up to the line in the jar near the top. This will ensure an even amount of seeds in the jar amongst all jars. The pickles should be submerged in the brine in the jar.

Resting, Refrigerating and Eating
- Put jars on shelf in a dark and dry place for 5 days.
- After 5 days put the jars into the refrigerator. The pickles are ready to eat.
- The jars of pickles must stay in the refrigerator or they will go bad.
- The pickle taste will increase as the cucumbers sit in the brine, even in the fridge.
- They will last for about 2 weeks after they go in refrigerator and then they will get softer when they are getting old.