Vinegar pickles

• Prepare your canning pot and rack, and sterilize your jars and lids
• Wash and dry the cucumbers. Trim the ends.
• Place 8 cups of water and vinegar in a large pot with the salt
  and bring to a boil over high heat. Because cucumbers come in drastically different sizes, you may find that you need significantly more or less brine. Large pickles use more brine.
• Remove the jars from the caner and turn the heat to high.
• Divide the spices and garlic evenly among the jars, fill them
  with cucumbers (vertically or horizontally), and secure them by placing several cucumbers across the top but under the level of the jar neck completely cover with brine, leaving ½ inch of head space.
• Gently jostle the jars or use the handle of a spoon to release
  any air bubbles. Wipe the rims of the jars, apply the lids,and process for 15 minutes, 17 for additional processing time).
• Remove the jars and allow them to cool.

Excerpted from Batch: Over 200 recipes and Techniques for a Well-Preserved Kitchen. Copyright © 2016 Joel MacCharles and Dana Harrison. Food photography by Reena Newman. Published by Appetite by Appetite, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, a Penguin Random House Company. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.