Sweet Dill Mix

Max, one of the first things you taught me how to preserve was your Sweet Pepper Relish and I have been making it for decades. It is always a hit when I serve it. I have even put out some corn chips and a bowl of Sweet Pepper Relish and called it an appetizer. Then guests want to know where they can buy it.

I’m sure that some time or another I have sent you Jane Hill’s recipe for Sweet Dill Mix. This is gourmet level preserving. And gourmet eating too. I always have some of these out on the table at Thanksgiving and Christmas. You will not find anything like this pickle in even the fancy foods section of the grocery.

Yes it does take some time, but not much effort. The cauliflower is out of this world. I once made it with nothing but cauliflower and onions. Yummy. I always put the turmeric in to give it a yellow color.

Sweet Dill Mix:

This recipe was originally printed in the “Louisville Courier-Journal” according to the woman who gave it to me thirty years ago. Her mother had been making it for at least 30 years before that.

Prepare about 5 pounds of vegetables. Include small cucumbers, head of cauliflower, 2 cups tiny onions or onion slices, a few long cuts of celery, and thin slices of carrots. A few red and green peppers add color.

½ cup canning salt
2 teaspoons powdered alum
6 cups white sugar
5 cups white vinegar

Put all vegetables into a glass bowl or earthenware crock. Dissolve the salt in 3 quarts of boiling water and pour over the vegetables. Let stand 6 to 8 hours. Taste and drain. This may need several rinses to get rid of the salt taste.

Dissolve alum in 3 ½ quarts of hot water. Allow to cool to room temperature and pour over the pickles. Leave overnight. Alum makes things crisp and is seldom used today.

Drain and rinse well. Mix 2 cups of the sugar and 3 cups of the vinegar; boil until the sugar dissolves. Cool and then pour over the pickles. Let stand overnight. After it has stood several hours, stir the vegetables so all are well coated.

Next day, add a boiled syrup of the remaining 3 cups of sugar and 2 cups of white vinegar, cooled to room temperature to the original mixture. The old recipe says adding the sugar in installments will keep it from shriveling.. Again let stand overnight.

Following day drain all the syrup into a large kettle and add the last cup of sugar.

Divide all the vegetables into 6 or 7 hot, sterilized pint jars, making sure that some of each vegetable are in each jar. For each pint jar add 1 head of fresh dill or ¾ tablespoon dill seed, 1 teaspoon mustard seed, and 1 tiny hot red cayenne pepper.

Bring the syrup to a boil and pour over the pickle. You can add some turmeric at this point if you want a yellow cast to the pickle.

Can process 5 minutes in Boiling Water Bath, but this is not called for in the original recipe, and I never have.